URGENT: CHILD MEDICATION ACT

[Guest guest]

VERY URGENT UPDATE

CHILD MEDICATION SAFETY ACT!   

March 15, 2004

SPREAD THE WORD – IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO, PLEASE SEND THIS EMAIL TO YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL LISTS.  WE NEED TO 5X THE NUMBER OF LETTERS BEING WRITTEN IMMEDIATELY.

 

NOTE: YOU should be a part of the victory to pass the Child Medication Safety Act. Together, we've been fighting for years to bring change to the current scene, and you should be a part of the team when we win. Your faxes, emails and phone calls to the Senate will make all the difference. It takes real people back home - real, live voters - for Congress to sit up and take notice.  Thank you in advance for taking the time and making the effort to raise your voice!

 

Even if you have already emailed or faxed your two Senators from your state about co-sponsoring or passing the Child Medication Safety Act of 2003 (S. 1390) in the Senate, please do so NOW!  Contact information can be found at www.congress.org.  All you have to do is type in your zip code and go from there.

 

The bill is currently sitting in the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee and indications are right now that if it is to move at all, it will move in the next 5 weeks, as education issues will be coming up in the Senate, and then they take their mid-April recess.  However, we’ve heard that the National Association of School Psychologists has flooded the Senate with the following false data about the bill to slow it down:

 

FALSE DATA:  “The Child Medication Safety Act (S. 1390) will have a ‘chilling effect’ on the communication between parents and teachers.â€

TRUTH: The bill has this language in it: “Nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed to create a Federal prohibition against teachers and other school personnel consulting or sharing classroom-based observations with parents or guardians regarding a student's academic performance or behavior in the classroom or school, or regarding the need for evaluation for special education or related services under section 612(a)(3) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(3)).â€

 

If anything, we want MORE communication between parents and teachers, but the bottom line is that teachers cannot give parents the ultimatum that their child cannot attend school unless drugged – that’s all the Child Medication Safety Act of 2003 says.

 

You can counter this false data by making it well known to your 2 Senators from your state, as well as the Senate Leadership that you want the Child Medication Safety Act (S. 1390) to pass the Senate and be signed into law THIS YEAR.

 

Please let me know via email that you have faxed or emailed copies of your letters to your Senators and the following members of the Senate Leadership:

 

The Honorable Bill Frist

Senate Majority Leader

Washington, D.C. 20510

FAX: 202-228-1264

 

The Honorable Mitch McConnell

Senate Majority Whip

Washington, D.C. 20510

FAX: 202-224-2499

 

The Honorable Rick Santorum

Republican Conference Chair

Washington, D.C. 20510

FAX: 202-228-0604