Should the government force drugs on kids?

WorldNetDaily ^ | November 15, 2003 | Samuel L. Blumenfeld

[FourPeas]

LOL, no problem at all. I use SAHM as an abbreviation for "Stay At Home Mom". I found the picture of the guy on my profile while doing a google for something and I just *knew* he would be perfect for a FreeRepublic post some day. :)

[netmilsmom]

He's da dude ;-)!

Do you use a curriculm or come up with your own? I'm still looking for a SAH income so I can homeschool.

[EdReform]

BTTT

[Marie]

I feel your pain. My 10 year old son has been a wild child since he was 5 months old. He's not mean, but he is destructive. (He's always liked taking things apart. Taking EVERYTHING apart.) He didn't like being held as a baby and was unrestrained as a toddler. When he was three, I finally saw that there was a real problem. I approached his behavior as symptoms of a problem, not as the problem itself. We spent 7 years looking for SOMETHING that would cause this go-go-go behavior. Last August, we found it. Gluten intolerance. He has the antibodies in the blood tests to prove it. The dr said that it would be 6 months with no gluten before he recovered enough for us to notice a difference, but it's only taken three for me to get a new kid. His body somehow converts gluten into a morphine-like substance and he has actually been drunk most of his life.

I am NOT saying that every kid who's hyper has this problem, but I do believe that most kids with behavior problems have something else going on. Whether it's an allergy, hearing problems, bad eyesight, a persistent dull head or tooth ache or any number of problems, kids will act out. If parenting, lack of exercise or distractions are not the issues, every other possible alternative needs to be exhausted before turning to the bottle. Behavior altering medication should be a last resort, and way too often it's the first.

[thoughtomator]

I've been railing against the forced-drugging outrage for a long time. I'm impressed the House took it up. I'm not at all surprised at the list of Democrat Senators who are blocking it.

[StriperSniper]

Democrat members of that committee include...

...something happened to this bill on the way to the Senate. The pharmaceutical and mental-health lobby got to the senators...

...held a hearing to which no parents supporting the bill were invited. The one parent who did attend was one acceptable to the mental-health lobby. That subcommittee is chaired by Sen. Mike DeWine, Republican...

Comming from WND, I can understand why this has a partsan slant whacking the Dims, but it would be far more effective to target the GOP for allowing this to happen.

[agrace]

Here, kids do not have ADD, they SUGAR RAGE, their diets are all sugar, and they are hyperactive.

Amen! Kids eat nothing but sugar (I saw an outrageous commercial the other day for chocolate fudge toaster strudel, you know, the kind you toast and then squeeze the icing onto, and it actually claimed to be "part of this balanced breakfast" along with a glass of OJ and a glass of milk - NOTHING but sugar there), they are given "balanced breakfasts" of sugar for at home or at school and then they're expected to sit still and listen. I'm trying to cut down on my own kids' sugar/carb intake and they always eat at home - thank God for homeschooling.

[wizardoz]

They can tell you they will report you to social services if you don't drug your kid. That's force.

Well, it's certainly intimidation. But you can say, "Go ahead, report. And I'll sue. And I'll deluge your school board with way more input than they really want." You can intimidate right back.

I know, I know... social services is a monstrous bully with a shocking amount of power. Nevertheless, giving in is the worst possible response. It only encourages them to encroach further.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

The fact that legislation is needed to stop schools from forcibly drugging students is pathetic.

Ninely-nine percent of the time, ADD is simply the normal activity of childhood being confronted by too-busy parents and idiot school officials.

Drugging kids is criminal child abuse and should be prosecuted.

[AdamSelene235]

The Chinese have Ritalin, in the form of DISCIPLINE.

In rural Mongolia, I noticed a older boy throwing rocks at a younger kid. A passing adult scooped up a stone and threw it full force at the offending child. Ouch! Bet he won't do that again. In the "land of the free" that man would go straight to prison.

[SSN558]

There are between 4 and 6 million schoolchildren now taking psychotropic drugs daily so that they can attend school.

Many of these children are already pschylogically addicted to speed. The kids trade and sell Ritaln to their friends. A percentage of them will become the future meth freaks of America.

[Missus]

I'm grateful we teach at home... my daughter does her math while dancing around the kitchen, reads on her bed or in the treehouse, dresses up in costumes for history, does interesting chemistry with Dad in the backyard... and spends about four hours a day just running around. That level of activity is NORMAL for a child, and trying to cram her into a stationary chair for 8 hours would make her crazy--literally.

Granted, we take the time to train our kids in how to behave appropriately in a variety of situations. Though my children require large amounts of physical activity daily, they can sit through three hour church services in silence and stillness (so long as they can draw).

Basically, I see schools and parents trying to drug kids out of childhood. I loved the comment about encouraging them to take drugs until they want to choose their own. LOL

FourPeas, try yoga--it's great for pregnant women, and children find the balancing and stretching a challenge as well. I find it gives mine a chance to focus, and have caught the 4yo doing a few poses to calm down when he's been upset about something. (And we do it maybe twice a week, so it's not a "lifestyle" thing at all. LOL)

Back in the early 90s, my mom took care of two little girls while their mom worked and finished up her GED. The oldest was a "terror" and was slated for drug treatment as a stipulation for remaining in public school. Mom noticed that some dietary things were amiss... and because we had the girls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, she was in a position to fix it. She removed all chemicals and gluten from this girl's diet. It took less than two weeks to see a totally changed child--and it was really obvious each Monday that their mom didn't have a clue about cooking. My mom had her come over for some chemical-free cooking lessons, and the child has been fine ever since. All those problems--mostly caused by ketchup and white bread.

I really do fear for the kids in government schools--my nephew among them. He's three months into kindergarten, and is already figuring out he'd better have a book on hand, because he's NOT going to have things to think about all day--the teacher has to deal with everyone else.

My husband's school coped with his normal activity level by suggesting Ritalin (back in the early 70s)... stunted his growth and messed him up emotionally (though at 6'2" he's hardly a shrimp). And yet, his "hyperactivity" problems magically disappeared when he was off drugs, at his grandparent's house.

Their fix? Wood chopping, strawberry gathering, 3 hour hikes with the neighbor's dog, runs up and down the driveway... after three or four hours of constant activity, he was fine to sit down and be still for several hours, when they'd read and chat and learn.

I don't have anything revolutionary to add--just that I fully support a parent's right to parent, and am dramatically opposed to the government education system, forced drugging, and the coercive measures taken with children.

Drugs are a very last resort.

Home education works.

Regards

[BBell]

Interesting article. I had not realized it but there is a whole lot more $hit plastered on the walls of my Daughter's classroom then there ever was when I was a kid. I had to look out the windows to be distracted. By the way, I was a ritalin kid when thier weren't any. I was always the only one in the school, and I went to alot of schools before I was out of grade school.

[Spirited]

" I'm not at all surprised at the list of Democrat Senators who are blocking it."

If Dems were the only ones opposed it would get out.
Look up the names and numbers of politicians who are paid very substantial salaries as employees of pharma firms while they are "out" of office and until they get voted back in and then tell me why there is such a problem.

This also is pushing the opposition to one's getting drugs from Canada. Too many in D.C. are paid healthily to see that pharma firms stay in control of our health and well being.

[SSN558]

Mom noticed that some dietary things were amiss...

Some moms never seem to notice. My ex sister inlaw, aka the cockroach, used to dump her kids on me for baby sitting so she persue drinking, men, and shopping binges. I got my revenge. I fed the little monsters soda pop and chocolate just before she picked them up. She never figured it out. I used to tell her, "well it must be your parenting skills, they behaved like angels the whole time I had them."

[Zipporah]

That is no longer an option believe it or not. These kids have an IEP in other words they are 'special needs' and if their behavior is a part of their diagnosis, there is nothing that can be done. We can all thank the Feds for the ADA.