Today in the United States approximately 7.2 million children between the ages of 0 to 17 are using prescription psychiatric drugs, and almost half of them are on drugs due to being labeled with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This epidemic of drugging children is not just occurring in the U.S. A recent report revealed that there has been a 500% increase in the number of children prescribed psychiatric drugs over the past decade in Ireland. [1]
The psychostimulant, methylphenidate, also known as Ritalin, is one of the drugs prescribed to children who have been labeled as ADHD and comes with such side effects as nervousness, agitation, anxiety as well as psychosis. [2] Methylphenidate is a Schedule II drug, which means the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classifies it as having a high potential for abuse. At the same time, the DEA warns that methylphenidate produces many of the same effects as cocaine and that psychotic episodes and severe psychological addiction have all been associated with methylphenidate use. [3]
One Dayton, Ohio father recounted how his son had complained of having “dark thoughts” while on drugs for what was labeled as attention deficit hyperactivity. This same father buried his son in 2018 after the teen committed suicide within 3 weeks of having been prescribed an antidepressant with a black box warning. The father states that the “black box warning was never brought up” and “neither was the fact that the drug prescribed is not FDA-approved for patients younger than 25 and therefore was off-label.” [4]
Outraged at the significant number of children prescribed psychiatric drugs, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit mental health watchdog dedicated to the protection of children, is calling upon lawmakers to take action and hold the psychiatrists prescribing these deadly drugs accountable.
“Parents are not being told the dangers associated with these drugs,” said Diane Stein, President CCHR Florida. “True informed consent is not being done and the psychiatrists doling out these drugs need to be held accountable when they violate the law.”
As part of a campaign to educate parents on their rights, CCHR hosts regular seminars and workshops on the mental health law, parental rights and the dangerous side effects of psychiatric drugs. To learn more or to reserve seats at the next seminar please call 727-442-8820.
Sources:
[2] https://www.rxlist.com/ritalin-side-effects-drug-center.htm
My son will turn 50 next year. I won’t go into the long story about how it came about, but he was prescribed Ritalin as a young boy. I saw nothing wrong with him other than normal child behavior and he was very smart. His first grade teacher told me that he was her brightest student. Then came the one who thought he needed medication. He was put on it. By the time he was in the fifth grade, he could no longer comprehend what he read, he had a learning disability, and could barely write. I went to court twice but the judge refused to agree to take him off even though the mental health counselor wrote that he needed to be reevaluated for the need of this drug. He was kept on it till age 18. Because of the damage it did, he now has to be on risperdone. His mental facilities do not allow him to function without it. His hands shake so bad that he can barely do anything that requires a steady hand. He can’t follow conversation too well. He focuses on unimportant things. In the last couple of years, he has lost the ability to raise the front of one of his feet when he walks, like a horse walking with a lame leg. When I mention it, he accuses me of just making fun of him. He does not like doctors and refuses to admit that anything is wrong even though I know that he knows there is. This breaks my heart because he is such a good man and these drugs ruined his ability to have a normal life. Please get our children off drugs.
I am so very sorry to hear your story. If you have not already done so, please consider reporting what happened to your son to the FDA at this link: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/index.cfm?action=reporting.home