New Law Bans Forced
Psychiatric Drugging
Of Children
News Release
Citizens Commission On Human Rights
December 4, 2004
President Bush Signs Landmark Legislation
Prohibiting Forced Psychiatric Drugging of Schoolchildren
Celebrities, Parents, Legislators and Civil
Rights Groups Win Victory for Children's Rights with Passage of
the "Prohibition on Mandatory Medication Amendment"
LOS ANGELES -
Celebrities Lisa Marie Presley, Kelly Preston, Kirstie Alley,
Jenna Elfman and Juliette Lewis joined the Citizens Commission
on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog established by
the Church of Scientology, in applauding Congress for passing
precedent-setting legislation that bans school personnel forcing
parents to drug their children for classroom or behavioral
problems. In order to receive federal funds under the
Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), the
"Prohibition on Mandatory Medication Amendment," was
signed into law by President Bush today and requires schools to
implement policies that prohibit schoolchildren being forced
onto psychiatric drugs as a requisite for their education.
Hundreds of parents across America have been
pressured to put their school-aged children onto cocaine-like
stimulants or antidepressants for which the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has just ordered a "black box
label" warning of the drugs' high risk of causing suicide
among children and adolescents. Ms. Kelly Preston, who met with
members of Congress in June last year to enlist support of the
amendment, said, "Every mother has an inherent right to
protect her child from harm. However, many mothers have been
denied that right because psychiatrists have inundated unwitting
teachers with the false opinion that educational and behavioral
problems are symptoms of 'mental disorders' that require
mind-altering drugs. This law gives hope for a new era in
education, one where teachers are free to work with parents to
find academic solutions instead of unworkable and harmful
psychiatric treatments that benefit no one but the psychiatric
industry."
Many groups supported the amendment, including
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
the National Foundation of Women Legislators (NFWL), Parents for
a Label and Drug Free Education, as well as numerous state and
federal legislators.
Bruce Wiseman, the U.S. President of CCHR
says, "Psychiatrists did not want to let go of their
stronghold of American schools and launched massive counter
efforts to kill this legislation. However, people are waking up
to the fact that psychiatric 'mental disorders' have absolutely
no scientific/medical validity and that psychiatrists falsely
portray them as a disease or physical condition to convince
teachers and parents that these are medical issues, which is a
complete fraud. Psychiatric 'disorders' are simply checklists of
behaviors-symptoms presumed to be related-and voted by members
of the American Psychiatric Association to be included in their
insurance billing bible, the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders. This has been used to justify the
administration of dangerous drugs to more than 8 million
children. Parents and teachers were never informed about
documented side effects of many of these drugs, including
suicide, violence, mania and psychosis."
CCHR says the next step in educational reform
is to remove psychiatric and psychological testing and screening
from schools which are the feeder lines to psychiatrists who
have made turning schools into mental health clinics a business.
Millions of students are now dependent upon psychiatric drugs or
are taking them illegally. CCHR, joined by scores of parents and
civil rights groups, say the New Freedom Commission on Mental
Health's recommendations for mandatory mental health screening
in school is a frightening representation of Aldous Huxley's
Brave New World, in which Huxley describes a controlled
"utopian" civilization achieved with the
"technique of suggestion-through infant conditioning and,
later, with the aid of drugs." While the "Prohibition
on Mandatory Medication Amendment" will help prevent some
of psychiatry's propensity to drug all normal childhood behavior,
many charge that the spurious sounding "Freedom Commission
on Mental Health" and its recommendations will open another
door to dangerous conditioning leading to massive increases in
psychotropic drugging of a new generation.
Dr. Julian Whitaker, director of California's
Whitaker Wellness Center warns that the motive behind mandatory
mental health screening of children is obvious: "That means
drugging them!" For psychiatry, this means, "52
million potential customers." He offers this advice to
parents: "First of all, refuse to sign those consent forms
when they come home from your child's school-if they can't test
them, they can't drug them."
CCHR will monitor the implementation of this
law so that any parent who may still experience coercion to drug
their child can contact CCHR to report this and for assistance.
For more information on psychiatric screening
of schoolchildren, read CCHR's new publication "Harming
Youth: Psychiatry Destroys Young Minds," by clicking here.
(You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free by clicking
here.)