Fw: [SSRI-Crusaders] Kennedy ties up drug bill

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[sSRI-Crusaders] Kennedy ties up drug bill

 

 

Kennedy ties up drug bill

 

By Jessica E. Vascellaro, Globe Correspondent | July 2, 2004

 

WASHINGTON -- A bill banning schools from coercing parents into putting

their children on psychotropic drugs, passed with near-universal support in

the House, is being tied up in a Senate committee by Senator Edward M.

Kennedy, who contends it requires more study.

 

 

 

Supporters of the bill, which sailed through the House 425 to 1, said it

will help prevent an epidemic of children on drugs like Ritalin and Prozac,

and that Kennedy is being influenced by his longstanding ties to health and

pharmaceutical associations, which contend the bill will discourage the

diagnosis of mental illnesses that could be easily treated.

 

The Child Medication Safety Act has sat in the Senate Committee on Health,

Education, Labor, and Pensions all year. Proponents say Senate leaders never

told them why the bill had not come up for a vote, but this week Kennedy,

who is the committee's ranking member, confirmed to the Globe that he is

seeking to delay its consideration.

 

''This is a complex question that demands a serious study, " Kennedy,

Democrat of Massachusetts, said in a statement. ''Until we know the extent

of the problem, any further action is unwarranted. "

 

The bill was prompted by complaints from parents that school officials were

threatening to keep their children out of class unless they took

behavior-altering medication. About 11 million schoolchildren and

adolescents took prescription drugs for mental health in 2002, and the

number is rising.

 

The bill denies federal funds to schools that fail to implement a policy to

''protect children and their parents from being coerced into administering a

controlled substance in order to attend school, and for other purposes, "

such as extracurricular activities.

 

Among the drugs it targets are behavioral drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin

and antidepressants such as Prozac and Paxil. Prozac is the only

antidepressant approved by the Federal Drug Administration for people under

18, and the FDA is expected this summer to release a study on whether

antidepressants increase the risk of suicide.

 

If the bill fails to make it onto a tight Senate scheduled squeezed by two

national conventions and an August recess, it would have to return to the

House next year.

 

Representative Max Burns, Republican of Georgia and sponsor of the bill in

the House, said that he will meet with the House leadership next week to

explore ways to pressure the Senate to bring the bill to the floor.

 

''It's hard to be optimistic because it has been there for over a year, " he

said. ''[but] we need to find a way to shake this bill loose. "

 

Kennedy's office said that it is important to separate the roles of schools

and doctors but that any legislation limiting schools' ability to push for

treatment of children with mental-health issues should wait until further

study of the benefits and detriments of psychiatric drugs.

 

Libby Nealis, director of public policy for the National Association of

School Psychologists, said that her organization has been fighting the law

and is confident that it will not pass.

 

Nealis called the bill a ''knee-jerk reaction to anecdotal stories " and said

it would deter schools from discussing crucial mental health information

with parents.

 

The battle over schools' role in recommending psychiatric drugs has been

fought on the state level for years. Nine states have already passed or

introduced legislation prohibiting schools from threatening to limit

children's participation in classes or activities if they do not go on

medication.

 

Personal stories have sparked political activism. Sheila Matthews of New

Canaan, Conn., said she was told by a school psychologist that her son had

attention deficit disorder and that psychiatric drugs was his only

alternative. In response, she helped found Parents for Label & Drug Free

Education, an organization advocating parents' rights to refuse medical

treatment for their children. Ablechild now has almost 200 members and has

launched a petition supporting the bill.

 

Matthews said that she has frequently contacted Kennedy's office about the

bill and believes his appeal for research is a cover for his support for

health and pharmaceutical groups. Since 1999, Kennedy has received $171,601

in campaign contributions from health professionals and $97,050 from the

pharmaceutical and health-product industry, according to the Center for

Responsive Politics.

 

But Dr. Harold Koplewicz, director of the New York University Child Study

Center, said Kennedy's opposition is warranted: The bill would undermine the

detection of children with mental health problems, a pressing concern when

80 percent of cases go undetected.

 

''There is no medicine in all of pediatrics that has been tested as many

times as Ritalin, " he said. ''We have definitive evidence that it's an

effective treatment. "

 

The greater danger comes not from overmedication but from failing to detect

mental problems in children. ''We are doing a horrible job, and this bill

will encourage less identification, " he said. ''This bill is offensive. "

 

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.