Write, Phone, & SPEAK OUT AGAINST Mandatory Mental Health Screening

[Guest guest]

Ok, guys, let's make our voices heard! Let's contact our senators and

congressmen (Federal and state), and make it known that we OPPOSE

this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This type of legislation sounds like a

totalitarian state--keep your voices and your " non-mainstream " ideas to

yourself, or you risk being DRUGGED--as a child, teenager, or pregnant

woman, no less!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr . . . . This kind of

stuff REALLY makes me MAD, MAD, MAD!!!!!!!

Doctors Group Opposes Mandatory Mental Health Tests for Kids

Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com

Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004

Under new law being considered, the federal government would require that

every child in America undergo psychological screening and receive

recommended treatment, including drug therapies.

Next week the Senate re-convenes to consider an omnibus appropriations bill

that includes funding for grants to implement mandatory universal mental

health screening for almost 60 million children, pregnant women, and adults

through schools and pre-schools.

But officials of the respected Association of American Physicians &

Surgeons (AAPS) decry what they see as “a dangerous scheme that will heap

even more coercive pressure on parents to medicate children with

potentially dangerous side effects.”

One of the most “dangerous side effects” from anti-depressants commonly

prescribed to children is suicide, regarding which AAPS added, “Further,

even the government’s own task force has concluded that mental health

screening does little to prevent suicide.”

The bill would fund initiatives of the “New Freedom Commission on Mental

Health,” including a program designed to subject every school age child in

the country to psychological testing and recommendations for treatment. The

House has already voted to appropriate $20 million for the plan, and the

Senate will be considering whether to bump it up to $44 million.

Last September, AAPS lifetime member Rep. Ron , M.D., R-Tex., tried to

stop the plan by offering an amendment to the Labor, HHS, and Education

Appropriations Act for FY 2005. The amendment received 95 “yes” votes, but

it failed to pass.

tells NewsMax: “At issue is the fundamental right of parents to decide

what medical treatment is appropriate for their children. The notion of

federal bureaucrats ordering potentially millions of youngsters to take

psychotropic drugs like Ritalin strikes an emotional chord with American

parents, who are sick of relinquishing more and more parental control to

government.

“Once created, federal programs are nearly impossible to eliminate. Anyone

who understands bureaucracies knows they assume more and more power

incrementally. A few scattered state programs over time will be replaced by

a federal program implemented in a few select cities. Once the limited

federal program is accepted, it will be expanded nationwide. Once in place

throughout the country, the screening program will become mandatory.

“Soviet communists attempted to paint all opposition to the state as mental

illness. It now seems our own federal government wants to create a

therapeutic nanny state, beginning with schoolchildren. It’s not hard to

imagine a time 20 or 30 years from now when government psychiatrists

stigmatize children whose religious, social, or political values do not

comport with those of the politically correct, secular state.

“American parents must do everything they can to remain responsible for

their children’s well-being. If we allow government to become intimately

involved with our children’s minds and bodies, we will have lost the final

vestiges of parental authority. Strong families are the last line of

defense against an overreaching bureaucratic state.”

“Congressman and several of his colleagues will never give up,” adds

an AAPS spokesperson. “He and his colleagues have drafted a letter to

Chairman Ralph Regula, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health

and Human Services, Education Appropriations, asking for his help.”

The letter states in part:

“We respectfully request that the following language be included in the

final committee report on the Labor, Health and Human Services, and

Education Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2005, or any report

accompanying an omnibus bill containing the Labor, Health and Human

Services, and Education appropriations for fiscal year 2005:

‘None of the funds made available for State incentive grants for

transformation should be used for any programs of mandatory or universal

mental-health screening that performs mental-health screening on anyone

under 18 years of age without the express, written permission of the

parents or legal guardians of each individual involved.’”

By way of background: in April 2002, President W. Bush created the

New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Its objective was to enhance

mental health services to those in need.

Among other things, the commission concluded that there is a need to search

for mental disorders – especially in children – and the best way to do this

was with mandatory mental health screening for everyone, starting with

preschoolers.

According to the Commission's 2003 report: “Quality screening and early

intervention should occur in readily accessible, low-stigma settings, such

as primary health care facilities and schools.”

The report goes on to say: “...the extent, severity, and far-reaching

consequences make it imperative that our Nation adopt a comprehensive,

systemic approach to improving the mental health status of children.”

However, critics of the plan suggest that the random testing of millions of

people makes little sense to anyone but the drug companies that will stand

to profit from the potential customers.

The New Freedom Commission’s proposed treatment programs are based on the

Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP). TMAP, which was first used in

Texas in 1996 and has since expanded to other states, is a set of very

specific medication recommendations – most of them new, expensive,

psychotropic drugs.

Despite the criticisms, the White House has remained solid behind the

testing initiative, noting that the commission found that schools are in a

“key position” to influence the phenomena of young children being “expelled

from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors

and emotional disorders.”

But detractors are just as adamant that “problem” children in schools are

readily identifiable, making the universal testing an unnecessary tool that

does nothing but infringe on a parent’s right to make decisions regarding

their child’s welfare.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/11/11/140125.shtml