In a resounding affirmation of personal liberty and freedom, the Alaska Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Myers v. Alaska Psychiatric Institute today. The court found Alaska’s forced psychiatric drugging regime to be unconstitutional when the state forces someone to take psychiatric medications without proving it to be in their best interests or when there are less restrictive alternatives.
Faith Myers, the appellant in the case, reacted to the decision saying, “It makes all of my suffering worthwhile.”
AbleChild’s parent members and children rallied against labels and drugs on June 22, 2006 in West Haven , CT. Members protested outside the Savin Rock Conference Center where a “Children’s Behavioral Health Expo” was being held.
Accidental overdoses and side effects from attention deficit drugs likely send thousands of children and adults to emergency rooms, according to the first national estimates of the problem.
Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated problems with the stimulant drugs drive nearly 3,100 people to ERs each year. Nearly two-thirds — overdoses and accidental use — could be prevented by parents locking the pills away, the researchers say.
ABC News has learned that a Massachusetts hospital is currently recruiting pre-schoolers to test the safety and effectiveness of a powerful antipsychotic drug called Quetiapine. (SEROQUEL AstraZeneca – Vince)
The study, conducted by the Department of Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital, is testing subjects from four to six years of age with Bipolar Disorder. An earlier Massachusetts General study of the antipsychotic drugs Risperidone and Olanzapine recruited children as young as three years old.
CHILDREN as young as five have suffered strokes, heart attacks and hallucinations after taking drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Almost 400 serious adverse reactions to the two most used ADHD drugs, Ritalin and Dexamphetamine, had been reported to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), The Australian reported today.
Almost 60 of the adverse reaction reports dating back to 1980, obtained under freedom of information laws, involved children under the age of 10, the newspaper said.
GAITHERSBURG, Md., Feb. 9 — Stimulants like Ritalin could have dangerous effects on the heart, and federal regulators should require manufacturers to provide written guides to patients and place prominent warnings on drug labels describing these risks, a federal advisory panel voted on Thursday.
The panel’s recommendation promises to intensify a long-running debate about whether the medicines are overused. Nearly four million patients take the drugs to treat attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity, and committee members said they wanted to slow explosive growth in the drugs’ use.
(Reuters)WASHINGTON – Deaths of 51 U.S. patients who took widely prescribed drugs to treat attention deficit disorder prompted regulators to start watching for heart attacks, high blood pressure and other problems in 2004, a report released on Wednesday said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff did not say the drugs were responsible for the fatalities, but they urged close monitoring for “the rare occurrence of pediatric sudden death during stimulant therapy.”
Sheila Matthews
National Vice President www.ablechild.org
(203) 966-8419
Victims and Advocates who plan on testifying before the February 9th FDA Risk Management Advisory Review Panel on ADD Drugs’ Link to Deaths, Heart Attacks are asking for one of it’s panel members to step down due to a concern over a conflict of interest. Stephanie Crawford, an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy has been selected to sit on the advisory panel to weigh-in on ADD Drug Risks.
Parent and child advocates question Ms. Crawford’s longstanding affiliation with the University of Illinois and its long history with ADHD Research. The University of Illinois receives millions of dollars in Attention Deficit Drug Research. Both ADD and ADHD known as Attention Deficit Disorder with or without hyperactivity are subjective psychiatric labels for which there are no demonstrable objective tests. Without legitimate scientific testing to verify the existence of these labels, researchers have resorted to using highly subjective questionnaires, surveys, or rating scales in determining a diagnosis. A widely used and controversial rating scale, the “Acter’s profile for boys (or girls)” comes from the University of Illinois and its research department. This one screening method or random survey is being unlawfully used within the public education system without the approval of any Local, State, or Federal Government to diagnose school children throughout the United States . These research screenings are being casually passed off to parents and school personnel without full informed consent and are currently being legally challenged within Federal Courts. “Parents are simply not being told that their children are participating in research,” says Sheila Matthews Founder of Ablechild a non-profit organization.
Ms. Crawford’s own participation in ADHD Research under grant application PA-98004 Drug Abuse and ADHD in Adults and Their High Risk Offspring further demonstrates the just cause for her removal from the panel. Though the FDA has a conflict of interest screening process and waiver criteria, there are still some conflicts of interest that are simply not manageable and should be challenged.
To have a panel member that works for this particular University that receives a tremendous amount of pharmaceutical and psychiatric financial support to conduct research on this very same label defeats the purpose, authority, and function of the panel itself.
Sheila Matthews
National Vice President www.ablechild.org
(203) 966-8419
Lisa Payne
Parent
(920) 592-9558
AbleChild Rings in the New Year by Giving a Voice to those Clearly Forsaken by State Mental Health Vendors.
Lisa Payne of Green Bay , Wisconsin found little to be joyful about during the Christmas and Holiday season. Her daughter is still locked away in an Illinois State psychiatric “treatment” center, having been placed on a variety of mind-altering drugs by State appointed legal guardians.
Previously featured on Montel Williams, Lisa Payne was a survivor of domestic violence. A victim at the hands of her abusive husband, she was left for dead and her mother was murdered. Her daughter saved her life, called 911, and stayed by her side as help arrived. “I know my daughter needs my help now, I just don’t know how I can ensure that she gets it,” she said.
When Lisa awoke from a coma induced by the beatings, she discovered the Department of Children and Family Services had taken custody of her daughter. An agency originally designed to help children “at risk” or in traumatic situations; they had resorted to simply placing her daughter on psychiatric drugs and refused any input whatsoever from her as the biological mother. Making matters even worse, Lisa has now been court ordered to take antidepressants, undergo urine tests to ensure that she is complying with their drug regiment, and mandated to counseling. The Supreme Court ruling on the right to “treatment” never intended to result in the forced drug “treatment” of individuals.
Lisa Payne is up against a legal system that has been unchallenged regarding forced drugging of children in State care. Her chances of ensuring the safety for her child, looks grim. Her daughter is in another State and she cannot afford to travel to visit her. The court in Illinois has also refused to allow her daughter to transfer to a different psychiatric center closer to home. Her next court date is not scheduled until May of 2006.
She thinks about her possible visit sometime in January to bring her daughter gifts for the Holiday. “Maybe a pair of jeans” she tells Ablechild . “She doesn’t fit in her jeans anymore; her clothing size has been reduced from a size 9 to a size 3 due to the drugs effects. I am watching from an unbelievable distance as my daughter suffers in pain, and I have no say in her “treatment”. Now she is hearing voices. They tell me that it is from all her “trauma”, I know it’s from the drugs,” she adds.
Sheila Matthews
National Vice President www.ablechild.org
(203) 966-8419
Lisa Payne
Parent
(920) 592-9558
Lisa Payne of Green Bay , Wisconsin finds little to be joyful about during these most holy days of Christmas. Her daughter is locked away in a psychiatric “treatment” center having been placed on a variety of mind-altering drugs by the State of Illinois . She thinks about her possible visit sometime in January to bring her daughter gifts for the holiday. “Maybe a pair of jeans” she tells Ablechild . “She doesn’t fit in her jeans anymore; her clothing size has been reduced from a size 9 to a size 3 due to the drugs effects. I am watching from an unbelievable distance as my daughter suffers in pain, and I have no say in her “treatment”. Now she is hearing voices. They tell me that it is from all her “trauma”, I know it’s from the drugs,” she adds.
Previously featured on Montel Williams, Lisa Payne was a survivor of domestic violence. A victim at the hands of her abusive husband, she was left for dead and her mother was murdered. Her daughter saved her life, called 911, and stayed by her side as help arrived. “I know my daughter needs my help now, I just don’t know how I can ensure that she gets it,” she said.
When Lisa awoke from a coma induced by the beatings, she discovered the Department of Children and Family Services had taken custody of her daughter. An agency originally designed to help children “at risk” or in traumatic situations; they had resorted to simply placing her daughter on psychiatric drugs and refused any input whatsoever from her as the biological mother. Making matters even worse, Lisa has now been court ordered to take antidepressants, undergo urine tests to ensure that she is complying with their drug regiment, and mandated to counseling. The Supreme Court ruling on the right to “treatment” never intended to result in the forced drug “treatment” of individuals.
Lisa Payne is up against a legal system that has been unchallenged regarding forced drugging of children in State care. Her chances of ensuring the safety for her child, looks grim. Her daughter is in another State and she cannot afford to travel to visit her. The court in Illinois has also refused to allow her daughter to transfer to a different psychiatric center closer to home. Her next court date is not scheduled until May of 2006. Lisa Payne can be reached at 920-592-9558.
