The Drugging of Our Children by Gary Null

A generation ago, no one had heard of ADD or ADHD. Today 10% of the children aged 6-12 will be diagnosed to have these diseases and prescribed psychotropic drugs (Ritalin, Paxil, Prozac, Luvox, Zoloft, amphetamines, Dexadrine). Today some children as young as 2 years old are getting this diagnosis.

Diseases are supposed to be diagnosed by doctors but in some cases this disease is diagnosed by special education teachers or school administrators

These diseases are very difficult to diagnose. There is no blood test, brain scan or any other test for this disease. The diagnosis is based on personal observation of things like fidgeting, squirming, answering without putting up your hand.

It has been identified that these same symptoms can be due to blood sugar levels (diet), food allergies (PCBs, lead), lack of sleep, too much TV, too many video games, problems at home or in the school yard

Michael Moore is convinced that he exhibited these same symptoms as a child and today he would have been given Ritalin which could have completely frustrated his childhood development. Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin would have all been diagnosed with ADD, ADHD as children.

A generation ago, the family worked together to prepare the evening meal, they ate together and spent time in the living room together after dinner. There was no TV, there were no video games. Children got little or no supervision for their playtime and created their own fun.

Today children are pushed to achieve and are loaded heavily at school starting with kindergarten. There is little time to relax and play on their own. Families often don't eat together and communicate. Children are pushed to fall “into the groove”. Creativity and non-conformity is discouraged

Low income families are given financial incentives to use Ritalin. ADD and ADHD are only recognized as diseases in US, Canada, Australia and Great Britain. Elsewhere in the world it is not recognized.

Ritalin puts the brain on overdrive then the brain fights back trying to slow things down.

The side effects of Ritalin and other psychotropic drugs are not explained by many doctors. The side effects are: child feels tired and dopey, child feels wasted, blackouts, headaches, child won’t go out for recess, child is afraid to go to school, hallucinations, nightmares, voices, suicidal tendencies, homicidal tendencies, heart problems, heart attacks

Ritalin is distributed by Novartis. It has been called “kiddy cocaine” because it is in the same class list (Cycle 2) as cocaine.

The children involved in the shooting sprees at Columbine and Colorado were on psychotropic drugs. The press seemed to focus a lot on bullying that had gone on beforehand but now many doctors are seeing the shooting sprees as a result of the drugs.

The drug industry spends $8 Billion per year on their sales reps to get out and promote their drugs. The sales reps in turn hand out another $8 Billion per year in free samples to encourage use of their drugs. In addition the drug companies pay for research in universities, conferences, journals, credit courses for doctors.

It turns out that all academic psychiatrists are all on the payroll of the drug companies i.e. none are independent as to recommending or not recommending drugs.

Eli Lilly did their own studies that identified suicidal tendencies of Prozac and they covered it up.

Doctors are supposed to make you better. In the case of ADD or ADHD they can make you much worse – you could be scarred for the rest of your life.

We should stop the labeling of behaviour as a disease and stop the drugging.

Kids get depressed for a reason. We need to look at the reasons for depression and give our children hope. And hope does not come from a pill.