Doping Kids

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" Healing Autism: No Finer a Cause on the Planet "

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Doping Kids

Sunday, August 22, 1999

[Another look at kids and drugs. From Insight Magazine by

O'Meara, June 22, 1999. Thanks to Candace Fellner. Edited for

space.]

http://www.insightmag.com/

Just three weeks after and Dylan Klebold went on their

April 20 killing spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.,

President Clinton hosted a White House conference on youth violence. The

president declared it a strategy session to seek " the best ideas from people

who can really make a difference: parents and young people, teachers and

religious leaders, law enforcement, gun manufacturers, representatives of

the entertainment industry and those of us here in government. "

There was, however, complete silence from the president when it came to

including representatives from the mental-health community, whom many

believe can provide important insight about the possible connection between

the otherwise seemingly senseless acts of violence being committed by

school-age children and prescription psychotropic drugs such as Ritalin,

Luvox and Prozac.

There are nearly 6 million children in the United States between the

ages of 6 and 18 taking mind-altering drugs prescribed for alleged mental

illnesses that increasing numbers of mental-health professionals are

questioning.

Although the list of school-age children who have gone on violent

rampages is growing at a disturbing rate -- and the shootings at Columbine

became a national wake-up call -- few in the mental-health community have

been willing to talk about the possibility that the heavily prescribed drugs

and violence may be linked. Those who try to investigate quickly learn that

virtually all data concerning violence and psychotropic drugs are protected

by the confidentiality provided minors. But in the highly publicized

shootings this spring, information has been made available to the public.

Prozac has not been approved by the FDA for pediatric use.

At the top of the list of so-called " mental illnesses " among children

is attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, which is diagnosed

when a child meets six of the 18 criteria described in the Diagnostic and

Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-IV, published by the American

Psychiatric Association, or APA.

ADHD was determined by a vote of APA psychiatrists to be a " mental "

illness and added to the DSM-IIIR in 1987. By definition, children with ADHD

exhibit behaviors such as not paying attention in school, not listening when

spoken to directly, failing to follow directions, losing things, being

easily distracted and forgetful, fidgeting with hands or feet, talking

excessively, blurting out answers or having difficulty awaiting turn. The

most common ADHD remedy among pediatricians and representatives of the

mental-health community is, as noted, Ritalin.

First approved by the FDA in 1955, Ritalin (methylphenidate) had become

widely used for behavioral control by the mid-1960s. It is produced by the

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis. According to the Drug Enforcement

Administration, or DEA, the United States buys and uses 90 percent of the

world's Ritalin. A U.N. agency known as the International Narcotics Control

Board, or INCB, reported in 1995 that " 10 to 12 percent of all boys between

the ages of 6 and 14 in the U.S. have been diagnosed as having ADD

[attention-deficit disorder, now referred to as ADHD] and are being treated

with methylphenidate. "

But opponents are concerned about evidence they say confirms a close

relationship between use of prescribed psychotropic drugs and subsequent use

of illegal drugs, including cocaine and heroin. While the United States has

spent more than $70 billion on the war on drugs, says Bruce Wiseman,

president of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a California-based

organization that investigates violations of human rights by mental-health

practitioners, " if you think the Colombian drug cartel is the biggest drug

dealer in the world, think again. It's your neighborhood psychiatrist ...

putting our kids on the highest level of addictive drugs. "

This complaint is not new and there is a lengthy list of government

agencies connecting the prescribed psychotropic drugs to use of illegal

substances.

Twenty-eight years ago the World Health Organization, or WHO, concluded

that Ritalin was pharmacologically similar to cocaine in its pattern of

abuse and cited Ritalin as a Schedule II drug -- the most addictive in

medical usage. The Department of Justice followed the WHO by citing Ritalin

in Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act as having a very high

potential for abuse. As a Schedule II drug, Ritalin joins morphine, opium,

cocaine and the heroin substitute methadone.

According to a report in the 1995 Archives of General Psychiatry,

" Cocaine is one of the most reinforcing and addicting of the abused drugs

and has pharmacological actions that are very similar to those of Ritalin. "

In the same year the DEA also made the Ritalin/cocaine connection, saying,

" It is clear that Ritalin substitutes for cocaine and d-amphetamine in a

number of behavioral paradigms, " expressing concern that " one in every 30

Americans between 5 and 19 years old has a prescription for the drug. "

Despite decades of warnings about the potential for abuse of Ritalin,

experts continue to argue that the benefits far outweigh the consequences.

Yet the INCB has reported that " Methylphenidate's [Ritalin] pharmacological

effects are essentially the same as those of amphetamine and

methamphetamine. The abuse of methylphenidate [Ritalin] can lead to

tolerance and severe psychological dependence. Psychotic episodes [and]

violent and bizarre behavior have been reported. "

These are, in fact, some of the same symptoms exhibited by .

Fassler, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and chairman of the APA

group on Children, Adolescents and Their Families, says he is unaware of any

research to suggest a correlation between the recent cases of violent

behavior in school-age children and the widespread prescription of

psychotropic drugs. Fassler argues that the number of school-age children

suffering from mental illnesses such as depression is " more than earlier

believed and it is important that there be a comprehensive evaluation by a

mental-health clinician trained in this area. " He stresses that " treatment

should be multimodal -- not left to medications alone. "

Mike Faenza, president and chief executive officer of the National

Mental Health Association, the country's oldest and largest mental-health

group, notes that " there is little known about how the drugs affect brain

function. " Faenza adds that " we do know that a hell of a lot of kids commit

suicide because they aren't getting the help they need. It's irresponsible

not to give them the help just because we don't know what causes the mental

illness. "

Opponents are quick to capitalize on this admission. " There is no such

thing as ADHD, " declares Wiseman. " It's not a deficiency of 'speed' that

makes a kid act out. If you look at the criteria listed in the DSM-IV for

ADHD, you'll see that they are taking normal childhood behavior and

literally voting it a mental illness. This is a pseudoscience, entirely

subjective. Unlike medical conditions that are proved scientifically, with

these mental illnesses the only way you know you're better is if the

psychiatrist says you're better. That's not science. "

Pediatric neurologist Fred Baughman not only agrees that there is no

such illness as ADHD, but says: " This is a contrived epidemic, where all 5

million to 6 million children on these drugs are normal. The country's been

led to believe that all painful emotions are a mental illness and the leader

ship of the APA knows very well that they are representing it as a disease

when there is no scientific data to confirm any mental illness. "

Breggin, a psychiatrist and director of the International Center

for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology and author of Talking Back to

Prozac, Toxic Psychiatry and Talking Back to Ritalin, for years has waged a

war with the APA about what he regards as its cavalier diagnoses of mental

illnesses. " Psychiatry has never been driven by science. They have no

biological or genetic basis for these illnesses and the National Institutes

of Mental Health are totally committed to the pharmacological line. " He is

concerned that " there is a great deal of scientific evidence that stimulants

cause brain damage with long-term use, yet there is no evidence that these

mental illnesses, such as ADHD, exist. "

Breggin points out that the National Institutes of Health, or NIH,

admitted as much at their 1998 Consensus Development Conference on the

Diagnosis and Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Thirty-one individuals were selected by NIH to make scientific presentations

to the panel on ADHD and its treatment. The panel made the following

observations and conclusions: " We don't have an independent, valid test for

ADHD; there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction;

existing studies come to conflicting conclusions as to whether use of

psychostimulants increases or de-creases the risk of abuse, and finally

after years of clinical research and experience with ADHD, our knowledge

about the cause or causes of ADHD remains speculative. "

If so, there is little evidence to support a scientific basis for

classifying ADHD as a mental illness. On the other hand, there is an

abundance of evidence that stimulants such as Ritalin can produce symptoms

such as mania, insomnia, hallucinations, hyperactivity, impulsivity and

inattention. And the DEA's list of potential adverse effects of Ritalin

includes psychosis, depression, dizziness, insomnia, nervousness,

irritability and attacks of Tourette's or other tic syndromes.

While Ritalin is the drug of choice for treating ADHD, other mental

illnesses such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, from

which Columbine shooter suffered, are being treated with new SSRI

antidepressants. ' autopsy revealed that he had used Luvox

(Fluvoxomine), an SSRI, prior to the shooting spree. And days earlier he had

been rejected by the Marine Corps because he was taking the psychotropic

drug.

Luvox, a cousin of Prozac, has been approved by the FDA for pediatric

use, although research shows that a small percentage of patients experience

adverse effects such as mania, bouts of irritability, aggression and

hostility. But many physicians still prescribe it to children.

More disturbing to those who believe sufficient evidence exists that

prescription psychotropic drugs may play a role in the violence being

carried out by school-age children is the response of physicians to the

issue. Rather than erring on the side of caution by reducing the number of

kids on mind-altering drugs, physicians instead are prescribing psychotropic

drugs even to infants and toddlers. The warning label states that " Ritalin

should not be used in children under 6 years, since safety and efficacy for

this age group has not been established " and " sufficient data on safety and

efficacy of long-term use of Ritalin in children are not yet available. "

A report in the July 1998 issue of the Clinical Psychiatric News

revealed that in Michigan's Medicaid program, 223 children 3 years old or

younger were diagnosed with ADHD as of December 1996. Amazingly, 57 percent

of these children, many of whom are not yet capable of putting together a

complete sentence, were treated with one or more psychotropic drugs

including Ritalin, Prozac, Dexedrine, Aventyl and Syban. Thirty-three

percent were medicated with two or more of these drugs.

But it is Ritalin that is being prescribed to 6 million American childr

en. Children's Hospital in Washington has been running television

advertisements expressing concern. According to its spokeswoman, Lynn

Cantwell, the ads were part of a series covering many medical issues. " We

wanted to advocate that children get a comprehensive evaluation because we

are finding that children were coming in who were taking Ritalin who

actually did not have ADHD. "

Wiseman has suggested that the only way to gain control of the

situation is to expose widespread " fraudulent diagnoses " of psychiatrists.

" Without the diagnoses, you can't get the drugs, " he says. Baughman's answer

isn't too far from Wiseman's. He says, " A big-time class-action lawsuit

needs to be filed. "

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editor: Lenny Schafer east coast editor: , Ph.D.

schafer@... CIJOHN@...

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