http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_24_15/ai_54968252

Doping Kids
Insight on the News, June 28, 1999 by Kelly Patricia O'Meara

* E-mail
* Print
* Link

Though shocked by bizarre shootings in schools, few Americans have
noticed how many shooters were among the 6 million kids now on
psychotropic drugs.

Just three weeks after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on their
April 20 killing spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.,
President Clinton hosted a White House conference on youth violence.
The president declared it a strategy session to seek "the best ideas
from people who can really make a difference: parents and young
people, teachers and religious leaders, law enforcement, gun
manufacturers, representatives of the entertainment industry and those
of us here in government."

Most Popular
5 Super Tips To Get Rid Of Your Public Speaking Fear: How To
Overcome Public Speaking Anxiety
Ten Tips For An Awesome Job Interview
How To Write A Strategic Plan: A Simple Outline
Job Interview: What Not To Do
Lethal Job Interview Mistakes

There was, however, complete silence from the president when it came
to including representatives from the mental-health community, whom
many believe can provide important insight about the possible
connection between the otherwise seemingly senseless acts of violence
being committed by school-age children and prescription psychotropic
drugs such as Ritalin, Luvox and Prozac.

There are nearly 6 million children in the United States between the
ages of 6 and 18 taking mind-altering drugs prescribed for alleged
mental illnesses that increasing numbers of mental-health
professionals are questioning.

Although the list of school-age children who have gone on violent
rampages is growing at a disturbing rate -- and the shootings at
Columbine became a national wake-up call -- few in the mental-health
community have been willing to talk about the possibility that the
heavily prescribed drugs and violence may be linked. Those who try to
investigate quickly learn that virtually all data concerning violence
and psychotropic drugs are protected by the confidentiality provided
minors. But in the highly publicized shootings this spring,
information has been made available to the public.

* April 16: Shawn Cooper, a 15-year-old sophomore at Notus
Junior-Senior High School in Notus, Idaho, was taking Ritalin, the
most commonly prescribed stimulant, for bipolar disorder when he fired
two shotgun rounds, narrowly missing students and school staff.

* April 20: Harris, an 18-year-old senior at Columbine High School,
killed a dozen students and a teacher before taking his own life.
Prior to the shooting rampage, he had been under the influence of
Luvox, one of the new selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, or SSRI,
antidepressants approved in 1997 by the Food and Drug Administration,
or FDA, for children up to the age of 17 for treatment of
obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD.

* May 20: T.J. Solomon, a 15-year-old at Heritage High School in
Conyers, Ga., was being treated with Ritalin for depression when he
opened fire on and wounded six classmates. Two other high-profile
cases from last year show a similar pattern:

* May 21, 1998: Kip Kinkel, a 15-year-old at Thurston High School in
Springfield, Ore., murdered his parents and then proceeded to school
where he opened fire on students in the cafeteria, killing two and
wounding 22. Kinkel had been prescribed both Ritalin and Prozac.
Although widely used among adults, Prozac has not been approved by the
FDA for pediatric use.

* March 24, 1998: Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, opened
fire on their classmates at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Ark.
Johnson had been receiving psychiatric counseling and, although
information about the psychotropic drugs that may have been prescribed
for him has not been made public, his attorney, Val Price, responded
when asked about it: "I think that is confidential information, and I
don't want to reveal that"

A great deal has been written about all of these cases. There have,
however, been no indications that all of these children watched the
same TV programs or listened to the same music. Nor has it been
established that they all used illegal drugs, suffered from alcohol
abuse or had common difficulties with their families or peers. They
did not share identical home lives, dress alike or participate in
similar extracurricular activities. But all of the above were labeled
as suffering from a mental illness and were being treated with
psychotropic drugs that for years have been known to cause serious
adverse effects when given to children.

At the top of the list of so-called "mental illnesses" among children
is attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, which is
diagnosed when a child meets six of the 18 criteria described in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-IV,
published by the American Psychiatric Association, or APA.

ADHD was determined by a vote of APA psychiatrists to be a "mental"
illness and added to the DSM-IIIR in 1987. By definition, children
with ADHD exhibit behaviors such as not paying attention in school,
not listening when spoken to directly, failing to follow directions,
losing things, being easily distracted and forgetful, fidgeting with
hands or feet, talking excessively, blurting out answers or having
difficulty awaiting turn. The most common ADHD remedy among
pediatricians and representatives of the mental-health community is,
as noted, Ritalin.

read at
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_24_15/ai_54968252