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Ritalin, Et Al

Ritalin, Prozac -- and other mind-altering drugs -- have about all the appeal of the Spanish Inquisition, and at the same time, about as much justification.  For example...  

Ritalin is chemically similar to cocaine, including the deleterious effects.  

Ritalin is routinely prescribed for a medical condition which is fraudulent (i.e. it probably doesn’t even exist), and is fundamentally damaging to anyone taking it.  In a class action lawsuit, the law firm of Waters & Kraus have accused the makers of Ritalin (the Swiss-based pharmaceutical company, Novartis) and others of fraud; claiming that the manufacturers had a drug, created a diagnosis out of thin air that called for the drug, and then pushed for increased diagnoses.  In <http://www.ritalinfraud.com>, they list 46 known problems or risks that are associated with Ritalin.  

The U. S. military will no longer accept anyone taking Ritalin anymore than they would enlist someone on cocaine.  Both drugs are considered a Class II controlled substance.  The Columbine school disaster was in all likelihood caused by the withdrawal symptoms of one of the students going off his prescription of Luvox (similar to Prozac) in order to join the military.  Luvox is thus potentially indictable for crimes including murder.

Even more incredible is the drug, Acutane, which is used to treat, of all things, acne (i.e. pimples!).  The side effects (those effects which are inevitable in anywhere from a few to the vast majority of cases) include: drowsiness, upset stomach, dry mouth, restlessness, fatigue, diarrhea, yeast infection, kidney damage, [is there a trend here?], liver failure, heart problems, and... are you ready?  “May cause suicidal thoughts and actions.”

The U. S. Food and Drug Administration has actually admitted that the use of Acutane, a popular acne drug called isotretinoin, is making people suicidal!  Maybe not everyone, but enough people that flying a plane into a building in Florida is not unheard of!  What was thought to be a wonder drug for solving all of one’s romantic and love problems is now, according to one authority [Megan Sosne at <http://www.unc.edu/bounce/dyingforclearskin.htm>], turning the suitor into “a deranged, psychotic, spawn of Satan that submerges into a sea of dejection,” merely as a byproduct of taking the drug.  [Nice turn of phrase, Megan.]  

The drug companies should love this!  Prescribe Acutane for pimples, and then Ritalin to combat the depression, and then leap into all sorts of cures to achieve Mental Health, and pretty soon, you’ve covered most of the bases for the upcoming generation.  Alternatively, the teenagers could give up drinking Coke (originally containing cocaine).  

Included below are three articles on Ritalin and Prozac, and they only touch the surface of the problem.  But they do provide the essentials of the criminal basis for the legalized, corporate Drug Pushers, Medical Organizations, and the Medical Cartels, which dominate, subjugate, and inflict more pain and suffering than any number of Inquisitions.  

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 Generation Rx: The riddle of Ritalin

BY MISCHELLE MILLER                                               Nexus March/April 2000

All Rights Reserved;  Reproduced here by permission  

Last December, The Colorado State Board of Education voted six to one in favor of a proposal that encouraged “school personnel to use proven academic and/or classroom management solutions to resolve behavior, attention and learning difficulties.”   The point was to stem what some school officials see as an excessive and routine prescribing of drugs to treat disruptive children.  “Our intention,” says Patti Johnson of Broomfield, 2nd Congressional District Representative, “is to give parents the authority to make decisions and not be pressured by any school official to put their child on Ritalin.”           

The number of prescriptions for Ritalin and other stimulant medication like Dexedrine or Cylert has grown tremendously over the past decade. The most recent Merrow Report– a study commissioned by the Public Broadcast System use in the United States- estimated that 8 million children will be taking stimulant medications by the year 2000, and that 90 percent of these drugs are being taken by children in the United States.  And as more children are being treated with Ritalin, the number receiving treatment in the form of psychotherapy is dropping -- from 40 percent in 1989 to 25 percent in 1996.  Many feel that Americans are looking for a quick fix to solve a complicated problem.  

[The January 27, 2003 issue of Time Magazine reports that in 1987, 2.5% of children and adolescents took Ritalin, antidepressants or some other psychiatric drug; where in 1996, the percentage had risen to 6.2%.]  

Novartis, formerly Ciba-Geigy, the company that makes Ritalin, says the diagnosis of ADHD [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder] is generally accurate and appropriate, and that heightened public awareness of the disorder is the reason for the increase in Ritalin prescription.  Other disagree. Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D., author of The Myth of The ADD [Attention Deficit Disorder] Child (Dulton, 1995) claims a diagnosis of ADHD is more subjective and routine than many doctors are willing to admit.  Because no testing methods exist for confirming a diagnosis of ADHD, he says, drawing the line between energetic and hyperactive is largely a judgment call.  “Society presumes a standards behavior for children,” Armstrong says.  “ADHD is a diagnosis aimed at forcing children to behave in a particular, narrowly defined manner.”   

After over 10 years of research, no one knows the exact cause of ADHD. Some researchers suggest that, since Ritalin affects dopamine – hormone-like chemicals in the brain that enhance alertness- the disorder may be caused by a biochemical imbalance in the brain.  However, there has been no consistent or conclusive data to support the theory. Nor is it clear why cases of ADHD have increased so dramatically.  Some say environmental stresses like television, video games and constant noise overwhelm the nervous system and predispose kids to ADHD. “I can tell when one of my students watches too much TV,” says Charmaine Cook, a teacher at the Shepherd Valley Waldorf School in Boulder.  “They’re more easily distracted than other students, and have a hard time concentrating.”  Other theories say that environmental toxins and dietary factors, like sugar, pesticides and artificial ingredients, have caused an increase in ADHD.  

Some suggest that children, not circumstances, have changed. Lee Carroll and Jan Tober, authors of The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived (Hays House, 1999), says that kids today won’t accept being told what to do without a rational explanation, or be forced to memorize without asking why.  He suggests that these characteristics are causing kids to be diagnosed as ADHD by frustrated teachers, parents and physicians.  Some teachers concur with Carroll’s theory. “I have definitely seen a shift in children over the last 18 years,” says Waldorf teacher Cook.  “They show a higher level of awareness, and they have the ability to see what they want and go after it.”

Research indicates that stimulant medications like Ritalin do work to increase attention span, coordination, impulsively and compliance, but it has not been shown to improve reading skills, athletic skills or social skills.  And there are down sides.  Ritalin offers only superficial healing and masks the root of the problem according to Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman, N.D. and Robert Ullman, N.D., author of Ritalin Free Kids (Prima Publishing, 1996).  And because it comes from the same family as cocaine, it can have negative side effects, including suicides, psychotic behavior or paranoid delusions in extreme cases.

Some alternatives to dealing with ADHD -- or overly exuberant children -- do exist.  Alternative medical treatments, like Homeopathy, can be helpful.  So can dietary changes, like cutting out sugar and artificial ingredients and focusing on whole, organic foods.  Most importantly, says Anderson, recognize that each child is an individual with unique gifts.  Celebrate those individual differences, he says, and encourage kids to use their gifts in a constructive manner.  

________________________

Mischelle Miller is an expert on raising naturally healthy children.  Her background in counseling combined with her knowledge of whole foods and natural living makes Mischelle a powerful speaker, writer and counselor.  Her holistic approach to helping children combines emotional therapy and a life style analysis designed to help children and caregivers achieve healthy, happy lives. You can reach Mischelle Miller at 303-554-6296 or 1-877-900-4441.  For more information visit <http://www.mischellemiller.com>.  

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 Ritalin Proven More Potent Than Cocaine - Nearly 10 Million Kids Drugged

By Kelly Patricia O'Meara

<komeara@InsightMag.com                                                   Insight Magazine 9-8-01

A recent study reveals that the drug being prescribed to tens of millions of school-age children for a scientifically unproved mental disorder is more  potent than cocaine. Thirty years ago the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that Ritalin was pharmacologically similar to cocaine in the pattern of abuse it fostered and cited it as a Schedule II drug - the most addictive in medical use.  The Department of Justice also cited Ritalin as a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act, and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) warned: “Ritalin substitutes for cocaine and d-amphetamine in a number of behavioral paradigms.” [emphasis added]  

Despite decades of official warnings and supporting research confirming the similarities of methylphenidate (Ritalin) and cocaine, tens of millions of children in the United States have been prescribed this psychotropic drug for a widely accepted yet scientifically unproved mental condition: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Now a recently concluded study at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) not only confirms the similarities of cocaine and Ritalin, but finds that Ritalin is more potent than cocaine in its effect on the dopamine system, which many doctors believe is one of the areas of the brain most affected by drugs such as Ritalin and cocaine.  

The outcome of this research was so surprising that team leader Nora Volkow, a psychiatrist who is associate laboratory director for life sciences at BNL, told the media that she and the team were “shocked as hell” at the results. “The data,” explains Volkow, “clearly show that the notion that Ritalin is a weak stimulant is completely incorrect.”

This revelation should be of no surprise to the medical and psychiatric communities, given the already documented warnings about methylphenidate by federal law-enforcement agencies and international organizations, but it is noteworthy on one level. Volkow’s newly released research reinforces what critics long have known -- that the “medication” being prescribed for ADHD is not merely similar to cocaine but is in fact more potent. And the results raise further questions about the validity and repercussions of having an entire generation of children diagnosed with a “mental disorder” or “brain disease” which to date has no basis in physical science.  [emphasis added]

Volkow’s findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience and reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, may act as a wake-up call to parents, educators and lawmakers who have yet to address the question of whether ADHD is a real physical, medical or neurological disease that can be scientifically confirmed or is even confirmable. Because the ADHD diagnosis is the No. 1 reason for drugging school-age children, and Volkow’s research reconfirms that Ritalin isn’t just kid stuff, parents may want to re-evaluate their child’s treatment.  

The numbers alone are a telling sign of where the push to medicate is going.  According to the DEA, the number of prescriptions written for Ritalin since 1991 has increased by a factor of five (2.2 million), and about 80 percent of the 11 million prescriptions written for Ritalin are to “treat” ADHD. This means that nearly 9 million children have been prescribed the cocainelike “medication.”  

Furthermore, according to a study published last February in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “Trends in the Prescribing of Psychotropic Medications to Preschoolers,” psychotropic medications have tripled in preschoolers ages 2 to 4 during a five-year period.  More disturbing, say critics, given Volkow’s recent revelations, is that during the last 15 years the use of Ritalin increased by 311 percent for those ages 15 to 19 and 170 percent for those ages 5 to 14.  

The most recent figures available reveal that in 1998 there were approximately 46 million children in kindergarten through grade 12. Twenty percent - one of every five children in school - have been doped with the mind-altering drug. [emphasis added]  

This can be good news only for investors in the Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Novartis, which makes Ritalin.  For instance, if the number of children taking the drug increased fivefold, so did the drug company's resultant profits and (presumably) stock value. In a June 28, 1999, article, “Doping Kids,” Insight estimated that Novartis generated an increase in its stock-market value of $1,236 per child prescribed Ritalin. Based on these evaluations, the drug company would have enjoyed an increased stock-market value of approximately $10 billion or more since 1991.  

In fact, the number of children being prescribed the cocainelike drug is rising at such a rate that, while good for investors, if ADHD were based on science and were a communicable disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would consider it a major medical epidemic among America’s youth.  In the meantime, prescriptions continue to increase even as researchers continue to focus on the effect of psychotropic drugs such as Ritalin rather than on how scientifically to verify or validate the diagnosis.  And critics of this mass drugging have become convinced that is no accident.  

Take neurologist Fred Baughman for example, who tells Insight, “Yes, they have proved and we’ve known for decades that Ritalin alters/damages/changes the brain.  But with no evidence that ADHD is a disease, we also know that these children are normal.  All this research [from Volkow at BNL] says to me is that 9 million children diagnosed as having ADHD are being damaged by Ritalin just as with cocaine and every other psychotropic drug.” “The point,” explains Baughman, “is that normal children are being drugged exactly like the Cali and Medellín Cartels, but under the guise of medication to help and with all in the medical community being knowing participants. She [Volkow] found something very alarming about Ritalin and at the same time is writing like ADHD is a proven thing -- that ADHD is a real disease. It just isn’t so.  It's pure propaganda and there never has been proof of a specific chemical [or] physical abnormality in children diagnosed with the alleged ADHD.  None.”  

Renay Tanner, an expert in human rights and psychiatry and a doctoral candidate in sociomedical sciences at Columbia University, tells Insight, “Volkow isn’t saying anything new.  She’s just looked at the issue with a different technique.  The important thing to remember is that no child ever has died from ADHD, yet a number of children have died from the ‘treatment,’ not to mention the brain damage, stunted growth and suicidal feelings they experience.  One has to ask why children are being targeted for the myth of the chemical imbalance when no one can show that an alleged sufferer has a chemical imbalance and no one -- certainly not the medical community -- even knows what such a chemical imbalance might be.”  

Tanner continues: “The brain is too complex and our understanding of it is too minimal to be giving children these drugs.  We know the drugs cause harm to the brain but have yet to find any real evidence that they are helpful.  Sure, the drugs may shut them up, and I suppose that’s good for the parents and teachers, but is it good for the children?  I strongly believe that the federal government should remove the financial incentives from school districts as a kind of reward for the number of children put on these drugs.  After all, why does the government do this?  Is it good intentions gone bad or social policy with unintended consequences?  At the most, Volkow’s research is excellent evidence that children should not be given Ritalin.  One has to ask why this research wasn’t done before millions of children were put on a mind-altering drug.” [emphasis added]  

Despite Volkow’s revelations about Ritalin’s potency, critics don’t see changes in the status quo anytime soon.  Beverly Eakman, founder of the National Education Consortium, a nonprofit corporation specializing in education law, and the author of Cloning of the American Mind, tells Insight, “The agenda is to dope as many kids as possible because it makes them more suggestible - more open to doing what normally they wouldn’t do.”  [More attune to Nazi style suggestions?  Sounds like more Prussian style Education schemes -- just adding drugs to the mix.]  

According to Eakman, “These drugs make children more manageable, not necessarily better.  ADHD is a phenomenon, not a ‘brain disease.’  It is culture-caused, and what we need to focus on is that we are manufacturing drugs for diseases that don’t exist.  Because the diagnosis of ADHD is fraudulent, it doesn’t matter whether a drug ‘works.’  You’ve got doctors being encouraged to prescribe these drugs whenever a complaint from a patient is too difficult or costly to diagnose. Why aren’t people up in arms about the fact that children are being forced to take a drug that is stronger than cocaine for a disease that is yet to be proven?”  

Critics of the ADHD diagnosis have been asking this question for years, but the psychiatric community appears to have turned more and more to medicating.  A closer look at what leaders in psychiatry are saying may prove helpful.   

In January, for example, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Director Steve Hyman reported at the NIMH Advisory Council meeting that “we can make correct clinical diagnoses if the right kind of evaluation is available to children. When proper diagnosis is made, methylphenidate/Ritalin can be safe and effective.”  Hyman warned: “We ignore mood disorders in children at our peril.  Just because a child is in their seat doesn’t mean they are okay.”  

Critics suggest that it also doesn’t mean that they aren’t okay, and that Hyman's remarks only confirm that psychiatric diagnosis is subjective -- that diagnosis of mental health depends upon who is looking.  

[The implication that a student sitting quietly in their seat “doesn’t mean they are okay” is likely very convenient to that portion of the psychiatric community who may be looking for more business.  The idea of trusting our Mental Health to the psychiatric profession -- a collection of what has been described as the most insane people in the world -- does not seem to be a really good idea.  Does such an opinion make me a nut?  Hmmmmm...]  

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Spiral of violence blamed on Prozac

Drugs in Britain: special report

by Anthony Browne, Health Editor                                The Observer

Sunday March 12, 2000                                               Guardian Newspapers Limited  

Prozac, the world’s best-selling anti-depressant, is being blamed for turning healthy, placid people violent.  It is thought to have led to crimes that include murder.  

Clinical research to be published soon will show that up to one in 10 adults who take Prozac can become belligerent and pose a risk to others and themselves.  

The study is the strongest vindication yet of mental health campaigners, who claim dozens of people have been wrongly imprisoned because of the effects Prozac has had on their behaviour.  In the US, school shootings have been linked to number of children given Prozac and other anti-depressants. [emphasis added]  

In the first clinical trial of its kind, Dr David Healy, director of the North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Wales, gave Prozac to a volunteer group of mentally healthy adults and found even their behaviour was affected. He said: “We can make healthy volunteers belligerent, fearful, suicidal, and even pose a risk to others.”  Healy says between one in 20 and one in 10 people who take Prozac can be affected by akathisia, whereby they become mentally restless or manic and lose all inhibitions about their actions.  “People don’t care about the consequences as you’d normally expect. They’re not bothered about contemplating something they would usually be scared of,” he said.  

The study is a potentially devastating blow for the US drug company Eli Lilly, which has made millions from Prozac.  In a statement last night the company said: “Since its discovery in 1972, Prozac has become one of the world’s most studied drugs. An extensive review of scientific evidence has demonstrated no causal link between Prozac and aggressive behaviour.”  Previous studies linking Prozac to violence have been discredited because aggressive behaviour could be caused by patients’ personality disorders, not the drug.  Healy’s study is the first to show Prozac can affect even healthy individuals. [emphasis added -- could be caused, but might not have been as well]

Pam Armstrong, co-founder of the Counselling and Involuntary Tranquilliser Addiction helpline, said: “I have come across a huge number of cases, from bizarre behaviour to aggression.”  Stephen Bryson, a surgical nurse, was prescribed Prozac after a close friend died, and his associates were alarmed by his increasingly bizarre behaviour.  “I was swearing, touching friends up in private parts and would pick arguments for the sake of it and threaten their lives.  I ran around town stark naked and ran up debts of £10,000.  I became quite violent,” said Bryson. “I had no awareness of... right from wrong. I was high as a kite.”  Bryson eventually attacked his partner with a knife.  “He was saved by the bell.  If the phone hadn’t rung, I would have killed him.”  Bryson was given a 12-month jail sentence. Three months after ditching Prozac, he was “back to my old self.”

Ramzia Kabbani, who set up the Prozac Survivors Support Group a year ago, said: “People are going to prison for what amounts to medical negligence. If they’re throwing the book at vulnerable individuals, they should be throwing the book at the doctors who prescribe the medicine as well.”  [How about the pharmaceutical companies?]  

In the US, the widespread use of anti-depressants and easy availability of guns is thought to be responsible for mass killings.  Eric Harris, 18, from Columbine High School in Colorado, who last year shot 12 fellow students and a teacher, had been taking Luvox, similar to Prozac.  In 1998 Kip Kinkel, 14, killed his parents before going on a shooting spree at his high school in Springfield, Oregon, killing two and injuring 22. He took Prozac. Last month a US judge in Connecticut acquitted a bank robber who blamed his behaviour on Prozac.  In what is thought to be the first ruling of its kind, Superior Court Judge Richard Arnold freed Christopher DeAngelo, a 28-year-old insurance agent, because the defendant was unable to appreciate his actions were wrong.  Defence lawyer John Williams said: “This was someone who was driven to commit crimes because of prescription drugs.”  

Eli Lilly said it has been successful in helping defeat 70 other cases where alleged criminals blamed their behaviour on Prozac.  However, Healy said: “Eli Lilly is legally trapped. They might like to admit that Prozac causes violence, but they could open themselves up to all sorts of claims.”  

<anthony.browne@observer.co.uk>  

• Prozac Survivors Support Group helpline: 0161 682 3296 [England]; Counselling & Tranquilliser Addiction helpline 0151 949 0102  

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001  

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Part of Corporate Rule and Corporate Politics is the mind-numbing focus upon profits at whatever cost.  Perhaps the psychiatric profession is missing a bet on not investigating the Mental Health (or total disassociation from it) of CEOs and high ranking corporate executives.  The really good news is that these people have millions of dollars with which to pay for their therapies!  And with the pharmaceutical companies’ top executives, you even have access to drugs by the truckload.  [Of course, the execs may not be sufficiently insane as to not recognize the dangers of the drugs they’re selling to others.]  

All of which leads to the Drug Enforcers (the governments, et al), the Politics of Health, and Medical Tyranny in all of its devastating forms.  The alternative route is to avoid all prescription [1] drugs.  It’s healthier that way.   

 

Health and Responsibility         Vaccines         Smallpox

Smallpox Vaccine Results         Smallpox Vaccine Resistance

Or forward to:

Drug Enforcers         Politics of Health         Medical Tyranny

Medical Organizations         Inexpensive Remedies         Mental Health

________________________

Notes:

[1]  Additional definitions of “prescription” include:  “an ancient custom viewed as authoritative; a claim founded on long use.”  This would have included at one time, leeches and blood letting, right?

  

               

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