[ChildOfThe60s]

Lance Clawson, MD, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Washington, says schools don’t have the power to force medications on parents.

Total baloney. Besides telling parents they will kick the kid out of school, they also threaten to notify Family Services. Here in Florida, once they do that, your life is ruined. Regardless of how baseless a charge is, Family Services NEVER removes you from their database.

[Liberty1970]

Where in the Constitution does it say Congress has the power to micro-manage school affairs? Maybe there is a problem here that needs to be addressed, but as usual the Republicans are doig virtually as poor a job as the other wing of the socialist/humanist party when it comes to governing *lawfully*.

[Angry Republican]

ADD is so horribly overused anyway.

[Born Conservative]

[Amelia]

Lance Clawson, MD, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Washington, says schools don’t have the power to force medications on parents.

Total baloney. Besides telling parents they will kick the kid out of school, they also threaten to notify Family Services.

Dr. Clawson is correct, at least here in Georgia. Teachers and administrators are not medical people, and are not qualified to diagnose or treat disorders such as ADD/ADHD.

[Born Conservative]

It's my opinion that this bill is appropriate; the schools should NOT be forcing children to go on meds. I see it all of the time; the schools think that they are the primary caretakers of the children, and they butt in on their healthcare issues, when they have no right to do so.

I agree that there are many children that are labeled as ADHD, but don't necessarily have it. Many of these kids are conduct problems, or kids that are just being "kids". However, I DON'T dismiss that there are kids and adults with ADHD; I've seen it many times, both in the patients I took care of, and in several co-workers. Meds are appropriate in some cases, and can allow the person to focus better and to slow down to a normal pace. Some people don't like the effects of the meds, and would rather be hyper; if so, that's their decision, and it should be respected. But so many people dismiss the diagnosis of ADHD as bogus; it isn't.

Also, it sounds as though Florida's Family Service system is out of control.

[thoughtomator]

This is a very pleasant surprise. I had long since thought the Congress to be too beholden to pharmas to ever consider such a measure.

[Coleus]

says schools don’t have the power to force medications on parents. >>

No, they just call family services and have the parents arrested for abuse and neglect.

[RavenATB]

One out of every eight American boys is taking Ritalin. The United States consumes over 90 percent of all the Ritalin used worldwide.

This is a potentially dangerous drug, and if you're a parent of a child who is taking it, you need to spend time studying the long-term health consequences.

[wolfcreek]

If you live in Cali, your exempt.

[moog]

They can't do that in my area. The ONE teacher that did here got dealt with pretty severely. I sure haven't done that for any kids in my class. Any med-taking has been parent initiated and NOT suggested by me nor any other school or administration staff. Besides, I and many other teachers simply don't have the TIME to make sure 25 kids all take their medicine.

I agree with the premise and aim of the bill, but often something like this brings out the teacher bashers. A similiar thing happened here last year when the teacher bashers came out in force and said we were drugging the kids like crazy (without one example) and forgetting that we AREN'T allowed to do so.

Teachers shouldn't be in the business of drugging kids. Any "condition" should be on a case by case basis and the parents should have any final say.