Posted on 06/22/2004 3:27:46 AM PDT by George Frm Br00klyn Park
WorldNetDaily
LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER
Bush to screen population for mental illness
Sweeping initiative links diagnoses to treatment with specific drugs
Posted: June 21, 2004
5:00 p.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
President Bush plans to unveil next month a sweeping mental health initiative that recommends screening for every citizen and promotes the use of expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs favored by supporters of the administration.
The New Freedom Initiative, according to a progress report, seeks to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," the British Medical Journal reported.
Critics say the plan protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
The initiative began with Bush's launch in April 2002 of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which conducted a "comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system."
The panel found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children.
The commission said, "Each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional disorders."
Schools, the panel concluded, are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.
The commission recommended that the screening be linked with "treatment and supports," including "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific medications for specific conditions."
The Texas Medication Algorithm Project, or TMAP, was held up by the panel as a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes."
The TMAP -- started in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas -- also was praised by the American Psychiatric Association, which called for increased funding to implement the overall plan.
But the Texas project sparked controversy when a Pennsylvania government employee revealed state officials with influence over the plan had received money and perks from drug companies who stand to gain from it.
Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General says in his whistleblower report the "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that developed the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab."
Jones points out, according to the British Medical Journal, companies that helped start the Texas project are major contributors to Bush's election funds. Also, some members of the New Freedom Commission have served on advisory boards for these same companies, while others have direct ties to TMAP.
Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, one of the drugs recommended in the plan, has multiple ties to the Bush administration, BMJ says. The elder President Bush was a member of Lilly's board of directors and President Bush appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to the Homeland Security Council.
Of Lilly's $1.6 million in political contributions in 2000, 82 percent went to Bush and the Republican Party.
Another critic, Robert Whitaker, journalist and author of "Mad in America," told the British Medical Journal that while increased screening "may seem defensible," it could also be seen as "fishing for customers."
Exorbitant spending on new drugs "robs from other forms of care such as job training and shelter program," he said.
However, a developer of the Texas project, Dr. Graham Emslie, defends screening.
"There are good data showing that if you identify kids at an earlier age who are aggressive, you can intervene ... and change their trajectory."
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THIS article at WND
New Freedom Initiative
All, Ah,,, New Freedom,?,? O-KAY' fine. Peace and love, George.
I don't believe this report for one second.
There is probably some kind of mental health initiative going on in the Bush administration but mental health screening of every citizen? Nah! I'm not buying it.
This is the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard of. We don't need a mental health program in this country....we need a Spiritual program.
P, Right. Me neither. Peace and love, George.
Orwell would love the title. It seems fitting on Big Brother.
Joseph must be having another Les Kooksolving kind of day.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/freedominitiative/freedominitiative.html
I think I may not be a Republican anymore after the sun has set today.
...remember when Les Kinsolving ranted at Ari Fleischer, because Ari put that old, disruptive, left/liberal bat out of the press conferences? That was downright weird.
Fo, One thing Les depends on is FREEDOM of speech. For others as well as himself. Peace and love, George.
This thing is spinning so hard, it's liable to disintegrate at any moment. Truth is, the drug companies would be supporters of ANY administration - it's only good business.
Screening would be available, at govt expense, for every citizen, and not mandatory.
Turning the care over to local communities gets the fed gov out of the business and turns it over to local control. It's a program initiated by Reagan. It's not "kicking the mentally disabled out of the hospitals" - a canard leveled against Reagan. If they truly need inpatient care, they will still get it. If not, they will have assistance in integrating into the community and getting off the street. I see it working here in Hot Springs, SD. We have people in our apt bldg that wouldn't be able to live on their own without anti-psychotic drugs, and they are doing quite well. It's definitely "new freedom" for them!
Now there's a ray of sunshine.
Huh?
What I see in that link is primarily an effort to get the disabled into the workforce rather than just continuing to live off the public dole. No Democrat would ever go beyond simply handing out inexhaustible public assistance.
And I saw nothing in it that justifies Farah's claims. He says Bush "plans to unveil" all of this... well, I've seen MANY claims of what Bush "plans to unveil" wind up being total BS, so I'll believe it when I actually see it.
Qwinn
I agree. This sounds fabricated.
Schools, the panel concluded, are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.MF, Yeah. Nothing to it. It's a good thing. Good for "preschool children too". O'kay fine. Peace and love, George.The commission recommended that the screening be linked with "treatment and supports," including "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific medications for specific conditions."
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...don't know if this needs to be repeated again. Many who read here probably saw her in action. I agree that all of those journalists should have been allowed to speak, and that's the point. She had a habit of disrupting others' question and answer time. She often begged the question to heckle. Could it be that she was preventing others from exercising the same freedom?
I know that the sweet grandma figure factor matters in the eyes of many--even when it takes place in our government and media. But it's also easy to remember all of those grandmas shouting anti-Bush slogans under their NOW signs in Florida during the 2000 recounts.
That's already going on - students are screened for disabilities in order to tailor their education to fit their needs. Used to be, every child got an IQ test. Many schools gave the MMPI test, also. I only see it as a problem if it gets misused and/or abused.
Sounds like something dreamed up by a sick mind - more like a "liberal" rant than a factual story.
I read it, and it doesn't have anything to do with WND's latest Kooksolving/Thomas moment.
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