8. DR STEVEN E HYMAN

[Guest guest]

" ...The previous director, Dr. Hyman, a neuroscientist who is

an expert in how psychotropic drugs work, published articles noting

that repeated exposure to stimulant drugs leads to addiction and

alterations in gene expression: Hyman SE: " Initiation and

adaptation: a paradigm for understanding psychotropic drug action, "

Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153:151-162 Yet, Dr. Hyman endorsed a Ritalin

experiment that is being conducted on toddlers... "

http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/0902/30.php

Ritalin Outrage: Congress_ Big Media Under the Influence of Big Drugs

September 30, 2002

Two hard hitting editorials--one by Regush of

Redflagsweekly.com. the other by Tony DiGirolamo of CutureShockTV.com

focus on the scorge of Ritalin and the victimization of millions of

children who are pushed to becoming addicted to drugs because of

irresponsible public policies motivated by greed.

Despite the fact that the DEA has evidence showing that Ritalin is

the number 2 drug illegally sold in our schools today,Ritalin pushers

continue to claim it is non-addictive. Regush notes: " This is a

crisis that should erupt as large in scale as the ongoing interest in

CEOs of major corporations. "

Yet, save Congressman Dan Burton, Congress has been asleep. When

pressed by Burton at a hearing (prompted by a series in The NY Post),

the pushers of Ritalin demurred, acknowledging that a problem exists,

but pretending they haven't a clue about how to tackle the problem.

Regush calls CHADD (Children And Adults with ADHD) " loathsome "

and " despicable. " CHADD is the largest of Ritalin's promotional

groups that acknowledges getting $1 million from drug companies. Dr.

K. Nakamura, the new director of the National Institute of

Mental Health (NIMH) could only bring himself to mutter that a

problem exists--but failed to call for any measures to contain the

problem. http://www.redflagsweekly.com/regush/2002_sept30.html

The previous director, Dr. Hyman, a neuroscientist who is an

expert in how psychotropic drugs work, published articles noting that

repeated exposure to stimulant drugs leads to addiction and

alterations in gene expression: Hyman SE: " Initiation and adaptation:

a paradigm for understanding psychotropic drug action, " Am J

Psychiatry 1996; 153:151-162 Yet, Dr. Hyman endorsed a Ritalin

experiment that is being conducted on toddlers.

DiGirolamo blasts the major media for ignoring the Ritalin issue as

well. He blames the undue influence by big pharmaceutical companies

since they have been allowed to advertise in the media. Their

advertising dollars ensure that the major media soft-pedals the

problem.

http://www.cultureshocktv.com/internews/2002/sep14200203352.shtml He

cites an example that aired on NBC4 in which at least 11 high school

students were recently hospitalized for Ritalin overdose. Authorities

confiscated at least 150 pills from a 14 year old.

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/1663027/detail.html

An example of soft-peddling by the press, is a recent Newsday story

by Talan. Her uncritical description of the Ritalin experiment

on toddlers--an experiment that some categorize as addiction by

design--failed to address any of the problematic issues. Talan's

article put such a favorable spin on irresponsible tinkering with

little children's brains, that it could have been written by one of

the investigators who usually fail to acknowledge their financial

contracts with drug companies. See:

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,405023453,00.html?

When future generations of Americans examine the irresponsible

drugging policies and the harm done to children's developing brains

and emotional development, they will cringe at this man-made outrage.

They will recoil from this legacy of shame--as did the offspring of

the Nazi generation who recoiled from the silent complicity of their

parents and grandparents. "