A recent article by Jessica E. Vascellaro in the on
line version of The Boston Globe, pretty much spelled
out for me what the problem with Democratic Senator
Edward M. Kennedy is, from where else, but
Massachusetts.
It appears he is purposefully oblivious to the fact
that The Child Medication Safety Act of 2003, an act
preventing schools from coercing parents in placing
their children on psychotropic "medications" as a
requisite of attending school, passed the House of
Representatives 425-1. Now this act, known as S.1390,
has been stalled by Kennedy and has remained all year
in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions. Why?
After Jessica E Vascellaro's article was published,
Kennedy wrote a letter to the editor and stated that
his "problem with the bill is that it does too
little." Sounds like a flip-flop, huh? He throws us a
clever line, "Schools are supposed to educate, not
medicate", but nothing excuses stalling S.1390 in the
manner in which it has been stalled.
Nonetheless, the Globe article was objective enough to
note that Kennedy since 1999 "has received $171,601 in
campaign contributions from health professionals and
$97,050 from the pharmaceutical and health-product
industry."
So what are we to make of this? A conflict of
interest? Certainly. However, Kennedy's true colors
of ignorance fly high when he states the delay in
Senate movement on this bill is because this is "a
complex question that demands a serious study."
Kennedy, I guess, unafraid of water and bridges, is
afraid to take action since "until we know the extent
of the problem, any further action is unwarranted."
If Kennedy were really honest about the epidemic of
children in this country being fed psychotropic drugs
and invented mental disorders, he would understand
co-founder of Parents For Label and Drug Free
Education, Sheila Matthews, was sincere in contacting
his office numerous times regarding this bill. She,
as well as millions of other parents, are sincere and
honest when it comes to exposing the myriad of ways
our culture is drugging children without a second
thought. You would think the very fact a "medication"
safety act for children in our culture is even
discussed would point to increasingly disturbing
realities.
One of these realities is that Kennedy, Libby Nealis,
director of public policy for the National Association
of School Psychologists, and Dr. Harold Koplewicz,
director of the New York University Child Study Center
are taking us into a Brave New World. Perhaps, we're
already there.
Think about it. Kennedy is seeking a delay because in
doing so it might be imagined it makes him an educated
advocate for "children with mental health issues."
Instead of being the director for "public policy" at
the National Association of School Psychologists,
perhaps Libby Nealis ought to shy away from the ivory
tower and talk to children and their parents more
often.
As for Dr. Harold Koplewicz, I feel he is a very
dangerous man who lacks a sense of perception. It
appears he is in the business of detecting children
with mental health problems, and unfortunately, only
20 percent of cases in our country have been detected.
Strange, but true, this amount of detection already
has resulted in at least 11 million of our children
being put on "legal drugs." Do the math. If we are
to embrace the Brave New World that Dr. Koplewicz
envisions, 80 percent of our children will have their
mental health problems go undetected if S.1390 were
ever moved on. It seems, then, Dr. Koplewicz in
calling this bill "offensive" would have no problem in
seeing another 44 million young minds drugged with
mind-altering "medications" like Ritalin.
In my heart of hearts, I would like to see Kennedy and
his kind just spend a few minutes looking at a
petition in support of The Child Medication Safety Act
of 2003, (S.1390) which shows hundreds of parents from
accross the country attesting to the very real fact
that they have been pressured and/or coerced by school
personnel to place their children on psychotropic
drugs.
The petition is at:
http://www.ablechild.org/bin/thelist.asp
These 797 parents (and counting) are just the tip of
the iceberg in terms of the number of lives played
with while Kennedy and his kind fake reality by hiding
behind the deceptive statement that more study is
needed before S.1390 can move.
The problem with Senator Edward M. Kennedy is that he
is allowing more children every day to be exposed to
the dangers of psychotropic drugs. Listening to him
morally judge Clarence Thomas, as well as more
recently stating absurdly that our troops opened up
Saddam Hussein's torture chambers again by mistreating
prisoners in Iraq, scares me in the sense he can
operate through so many contradictions.
Surely, the nation's mental health is in danger when
someone like Edward M. Kennedy and all of his kind are
against ensuring our children's health and safety by
supporting a simply stated anti-coercion bill, S.1390.
It's not a perfect bill, but we have a host of vastly
imperfect human beings about to continue our journey
to the Brave New World. It's not a pretty place.
Zizza is the Vice President/Georgia of
Parents For
Label and Drug Free Education.
A former Massachusetts resident for over twenty years,
he writes frequently about mental health issues.
Email comments to him at:
tz777@yahoo.com
