The Citizens Commission on Human Rights Begins Informational Campaign to Combat Over-Drugging of Children

  SACRAMENTO, CA - 06/21/2017 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

The Sacramento Chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) kicked off an informational campaign this week at the state Capitol to help create greater awareness among state legislators about the over-drugging of kids with psychiatric medications.  CCHR is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious mental health watchdog co-founded by the Church of Scientology and the late Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse.

The Sacramento chapter’s informational program follows a powerful investigative series from the San Jose Mercury News released in 2015 entitled “Drugging Our Kids” which led to several new laws aiming to limit and monitor children on psychotropic medication within the foster care system in California.[1]  Children’s rights advocates and concerned citizens applauded the effort to curb the use of these drugs and their debilitation effects on children, some of whom were known known to be on multiple medications, even as many as ten or more at a given time.[2]

Executive Director of the local CCHR chapter Jim Van Hill wants to bring attention to this problem on a more comprehensive basis, saying, “We must protect children at all levels of society. While addressing the foster care system is a vital first step, those actions need to be broadened to address children throughout the state.”

He adds, “Due to the number of parents who have reached out to us because they were being urged to put their kids on psychiatric drugs, we have launched a two-prong attack on the situation.  First we are personally delivering a series of dvds and booklets to educate lawmakers as well as parents on the subjective nature of psychiatric diagnosis and the risks associated with these drugs.  Parents are often confused as to what their rights in these cases are.”

Van Hill finds many do not know that childhood disorders are not based on objective medical tests, that there are no scans, biopsies or blood tests, etc. available to prove a chemical imbalance exits in the brain.[3] The tests are subjective and based on a checklist of symptoms.  He commented, “It is like going to the doctor with severe pain and, based on symptoms alone, the doctor starts treating you for cancer using chemical treatments without confirming the disease with medical tests.”

As a result many children are put on drugs that may not be needed and have very serious side effects which include rapid-onset obesity, diabetes, persistent tics, increased risk of suicide [4], even brain shrinkage [5] to name just a few.  

 “This is why we are going directly to the legislators and parents - to bring attention to this problem because it opens the door for the profit-minded to expand the drugging of kids” said Van Hill.  In evidence of this are the currently estimated 8.8 million kids in the U.S., ages 0-17, who are on some form of psychiatric medication.”[6]

CCHR Sacramento recently kicked off their informational campaign for parents at a kids event in Rancho Cordova where they reached over 700 parents.  Volunteers handed out nearly 500 dvds and booklets to them.  

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was co-founded by Dr. Thomas Szaz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus and the Church of Scientology in 1969 to expose psychiatric violations of human rights and clean up the field of mental healing.   Alerted to the brutality of psychiatric treatment by author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard who wrote extensively about the abuses of psychiatric patients, CCHR today stands as a powerful voice of reason for those abused and their on-going advocacy for reforms. For more information log on to their website at: http://www.cchr.org/

[1] Tracy Seipel, “Drugging Our Kids: Governor signs bills to curb psych drugs prescribed to California foster youth,” San Jose Mercury News, September 29, 2016, updated September 30, 2016, http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/09/29/drugging-our-kids-governor-signs-bills-to-curb-psych-drugs-prescribed-to-california-foster-youth/

[2] U.S. Government Accountability Office Report, Foster Children, “HHS Guidance Could Help States Improve Oversight of Psychotropic Prescriptions” [Reissued on December 15, 2011] GAO-12-201: Published: Dec 14, 2011. Publicly Released: Dec 14, 2011. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-201

[3] Allen Frances, "Psychiatric Fads and Overdiagnosis," Psychology Today, June 2, 2010, psychologytoday.com/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201006/psychiatric-fads-and-overdiagnosis; "Diagnosis and Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder," National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement, November 16-18, 1998, consensus.nih.gov/1998/1998AttentionDeficitHyperactivityDisorder110html.htm.

[4] “Antipsychotic Drug Side Effects,” cchrint.org. CCHR International, compiled from Physicians Desk Reference, National Institutes of Health’s Medline Plus, and/or the drug label, http://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/antipsychoticsideeffects/

[5] Melissa Healy, “Brain shrinkage seen in those taking antipsychotic medications,” Los Angeles Times, February 7, 2011, http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/07/news/la-heb-antipsychotic-drugs-020711)

 [6] IMS, Vector One: National (VONA) and Total Patient Tracker (TPT) Database, Years 2008-2013, Extracted 2014.