PREYING ON OUR CHILDREN

HOW THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
IS PREYING ON OUR CHILDREN

K.L. Carlson, M.B.A.

“I want to sell drugs to everyone. I want to sell drugs to healthy people. I want drugs to sell like chewing gum.” With those words former Merck CEO Henry Gadsden established the aim of the entire pharmaceutical industry more than 30 years ago. With that aim, a monster was born. A monster that feeds on public tax dollars and then passes a portion of those dollars back to “public servants.” A monster that has bankrupted some state Medicare programs and caused other states to reduce the number of recipients in order to pay for the cost of drugs. A monster that injures, cripples, and kills, without regard for the age of its victims. More than one million Americans have died due to prescription drugs in the past ten years. The fact is, because of the aim
to sell drugs to everyone, the pharmaceutical industry has systematically devised ways to hook children on drugs at the earliest ages possible, including infants under the age of one year.

Unlike street drug pushers who must try to entice children before
they reach school, the pharmaceutical monster bought the rights to
legally drug millions of children in their classrooms.
The monster has bought the rights to mental health testing of all
children and teenagers without parental consent, per the New Freedom
Commission (NFC) created by a presidential executive order in 2002.
Created without votes or public awareness, the NFC is a commission of
people with strong financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry. The
commission exists for the purpose of getting mental health screening into
all public schools.

New FREEDOM Commission? Freedom is not mandatory testing
for disorders that are voted into existence without a single objective test
to diagnose; voted into existence by those who will profit.
Freedom is not labeling children with mental disorders; labels that
will follow them throughout life.

Freedom is not taking away children’s abilities to develop properly
because they are made to take drugs that actually destroy the brain’s
neurol functioning, kill nerve cells, and prevent natural brain
development.

Freedom is not making children take addictive, deadly drugs with
more than 100 serious side effects including suicide, sudden death,
heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, mania, paranoia, hallucinations, and
violence.

Freedom is not making children take mind-altering drugs that lead
to homicides and then incarcerate the children for the rest of their lives.
Freedom is not threatening parents that their child will be taken by
Social Services if they do not agree to drug their child.
All this is happening in the United States now because of the
pervasive control of the pharmaceutical industry relentlessly pursuing its
aim to sell drugs to everyone.

The results of the unscientific, non-objective mental health testing
promoted by the NFC has been that more than half the children tested
are labeled with psychiatric disorders and prescribed addictive drugs.
Label and drug, label and drug, label and drug…a monstrous,
continuous process that has limitless abilities to generate profits while
creating birth to grave prescription drug users.

Is the monster achieving its aim to sell drugs to everyone? The
2010 school year begins with 20 percent of all high school students
addicted to one or more prescription drugs.

The 2010 school year begins with 42 percent of foster children,
including preschool age, being made to take addictive, deadly drugs –
that have no health benefits, but do have extreme health risks.
The 2010 school year begins with 8 million children labeled with
mental disorders that are voted into existence. Labels that make the
children believe something is wrong with them, that they are not normal.
The 2010 school year begins with 4.5 million children being made
to take toxic, addictive drugs rated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency
(DEA) in the same Schedule 2 of the Controlled Substances Act as
cocaine, barbiturates, and opiates.

The 2010 school year begins with an autism rate of 1 in every 100
children who were normal, healthy babies before vaccinations. Autistic
children are often treated with drugs.

And the 2010 school year begins with more than 200,000 parents
grieving for children who are no longer alive to attend school because of
prescription drugs and vaccines.

This story could be called “The Beginning of the End” because it
has been literally the end for more than 100,000 children in the past
decade. And it is creating the beginning of an entire society where the
majority of people will be drug addicts.

Is the monster achieving its aim? Absolutely. In 2005 the National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia
University reported an astounding 15.1 million Americans were addicted
to prescription drugs. Their report also described the 212 percent
increase of prescription drug abuse by children ages 12 to 17 years old.
An increase that was predictable if you look at the larger picture.
Drug addicts do not have futures filled with promise and potential.
Yet, we are allowing millions of our children’s futures to be wiped out by
the pharmaceutical monster.

Little Gabriel Myers was facing a tough life as a foster child at only
7 years old. He needed love and patience. They gave him multiple
psychiatric drugs. He won’t be starting third grade this school year
because he hung himself in 2009. Seven-year-old children do not
naturally think of suicide. They think of running away from home. The
suicide rate of adults taking antidepressant drugs in clinical trials is an
astronomical 718 per 100,000. The suicide rate for people not taking
any psychiatric drugs in the general public is about 11 in 100,000.
Jeremy Strohmeyer was a high school honor student taking no
drugs. A teacher diagnosed him with Attention Deficit Hyperactive
Disorder (ADHD) and he was put on Dexedrine. Within days, this
teenager with so much potential raped and murdered 7-year-old Sherrice
Iverson, then attempted suicide. Jeremy survived but is now serving a
life sentence with no chance of parole. If Jeremy had been taking an
illegal drug, his actions would have immediately been seen as caused by
the drug. Mind-altering drugs are mind-altering drugs, whether they are
labeled legal or not.

Matthew Smith would be fresh out of college and beginning his
career now, if he hadn’t died as a 14-year-old boy from “long term use of
methylphenidate” (Ritalin) as stated on his death certificate. Matthew’s
parents had never wanted him to take Ritalin. When Matthew was only 7
years old, school officials told his parents that Matthew had ADHD. The
school threatened that if Matthew, a healthy active boy, was not put on
Ritalin, they would contact Social Service Child Protective Services.
School authorities claimed his parents could be charged with neglecting
Matthew’s educational and emotional needs. His parents did not want
Matthew on drugs and saw nothing abnormal about his behavior. But
they felt helpless to the school’s authority. Matthew’s parents did what
millions of parents in the U.S. have done. They complied under duress.
Now their beautiful, creative son is dead. The monster won. For seven
years, Matthew’s parents paid the monster to poison their child. Now
they can’t pay anyone to bring him back.

Stephanie Hall would be a young woman now, maybe a mother, if
she hadn’t died in her sleep from a massive cardiac arrest six days before
her twelfth birthday. She had been in first grade less than one month
when her teacher told Stephanie’s mom she thought the little girl had
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Stephanie’s concerned parents took the
perfectly healthy child to a physician and everything was found to be
normal. But because the teacher had already labeled the child with
ADD, the physician wrote a prescription for Ritalin. Poor Stephanie was
too young to make her parents understand how ill the drug made her
feel. It began with headaches and over the years led to hallucinations.
Her heart disease was a silent side effect of the drug. Her parents paid
the monster for six years to poison and terrorize their daughter. Even
when Stephanie began to suffer hallucinations from the mind-altering
drug, the answer was always to increase the dosage. No one considered
the drug as the cause of Stephanie’s problems. Now Stephanie has no
problems and her parents live with the loss.

The loving parents of Candace would be seeing their beautiful
blonde daughter off as a freshman in college this fall, if she hadn’t hung
herself in her bedroom at the age of twelve. A pediatric psychiatrist had
prescribed Zoloft to Candace because “she was anxious about school
exams.” In 2004 when the drug took her life, the antidepressant carried
the FDA’s most severe warning, A Black Box Warning, for suicide for
anyone under 18 years old. But the psychiatrist didn’t tell her parents
about the risk. He told them the drug would make Candace “happy.”
Now Candace is not alive to be happy and her parents live with the loss.
Dominique Slater would be graduating from college this year if she
hadn’t committed suicide in 2003 after being put on a cocktail of
dangerous, mind-altering drugs including Celexa and Wellbutrin. The
drugs caused erratic behavior in the 14-year-old girl. Her physician’s
answer was to put her on high doses of Effexor, another deadly
antidepressant. Fifteen days later, Dominique committed suicide.
That is the extremely dangerous fact about labeling anyone,
especially vulnerable young children, with any type of mental disorder,
including ADD/ADHD. Once people are labeled, all their reactions
will be blamed on the label, not the prescription drugs. The monster
knows this and takes full advantage by teaming with the organization
that votes mental disorders and their symptoms into existence, the
American Psychiatric Association (APA). The number of mental disorders
created by the APA has exploded to over 350, not one with an objective
diagnostic test. Every new disorder has a drug treatment, therefore
reaping profits for both psychiatry and the drug industry. They are
conjoined twins – joined at the wallet. Most physicians who are not
psychiatrists remain naïve about how this system works.
The manual of mental disorders that the APA creates is called the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, usually just
referred to as the DSM. In the documentary film, Where the Truth Lies, a
British psychiatrist candidly states, “DSM stands for diagnosis as a
source of money. It brings in a lot of money.”

The APA receives more money from the pharmaceutical industry
than any other medical association. In July 2008, Senator Charles
Grassley’s demands that the APA provide an accounting of its finances
uncovered that in 2006 drug industry payments accounted for nearly 30
percent of the APA’s financing; more than $20 million dollars. While the
conjoined twins bask in wealth, people die from the drugs; children die
from the drugs.

The New Freedom Commission is not the first time the
pharmaceutical industry has bought Federal government actions to drug
children. In 1991 the Federal Education Department began to pay
schools hundreds of dollars for every child diagnosed with ADD/ADHD.
Schools are always looking for additional sources of funds and drugged
children sit zombie-like in a classroom. A national epidemic of these
contrived disorders that are not even recognized in other countries was
absolutely predictable. The 2010 school year begins with 4.5 million
labeled children being made to take methylphenidate or amphetamine
drugs.

U.S. sales of ADD/ADHD drugs in 2008 were $4.8 billion. The U.S.
uses 95 percent of all the methylphenidate and amphetamine drugs
produced annually. And more than 90 percent of it is given to children.
Without ADD/ADHD there is no market for these drugs because they
have no health benefits. Methylphenidate and amphetamine are rated by
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as Schedule 2 drugs, the most
addictive and deadly drugs. Schedule 2 includes cocaine, opiates and
barbiturates. Would you give a child cocaine daily? Try to imagine how
children feel with these drugs in their young systems.

Adderall, an amphetamine, is now the most prescribed drug for
those labeled with ADD/ADHD. It was originally a weight loss drug for
adults only, called Obetrol. Obetrol was taken off the market because it
is extremely addictive. But the FDA allowed the exact same drug to be
renamed Adderall and marketed to children. The pharmaceutical
industry’s control is ubiquitous and insidious.

In 1970 the Committee on Government Operations of the U.S.
House of Representatives studied the use of behavior modification drugs
on children. At that time, 200,000 to 300,000 children were made to
take these drugs. The Committee’s report stated that “hyperactivity is
considered a disease because it makes it difficult for schools to be
run like maximum security prisons, for the comfort and the
convenience of the teachers and administrators who work in them.”
The government had it right in 1970, but children don’t have
money to hire powerful lobbyists. The drug companies do. So the
children lose. That is how the pharmaceutical industry continues to prey
on the children every day, month after month, year after year.
Why are 4.5 million children fed amphetamine and
methylphenidate drugs daily? For profit. The schools profit by receiving
hundreds of dollars of Federal money for every child labeled ADD/ADHD.
Some parents profit because a child can be declared as disabled and
receive monthly Social Security payments. The psychiatric profession
profits. And the pharmaceutical industry profits the most, $4.8 billion in
sales in just one year. The monster is achieving the aim by creating
prescription drug addicts at very early ages. Addicts mean continued
profits. The children do nothing but lose.

“We are taking away their future,” Dr. Tony Appel, a
neuropsychologist (brain specialist) and expert child advocate, told NBC
News. “We are taking away their ability to relate to people. Trust, love,
caring, the ability to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and to see
how they see you. We take all that away from these children.”
They lose their ability to develop mentally and socially as indicated
by approximately 35 percent of all children made to take these drugs
never complete high school. Thirty-five percent of 4.5 million children
are 1,575,000 who will not graduate from high school because of
prescription drugs. Don’t blame it on the labels ADD/ADHD. Would
you expect to see a high graduation rate from children drugged with
cocaine or opiates?

They lose their ability to develop socially and emotionally. They
grow up thinking they are not normal, that something is wrong with
them, when nothing is wrong with them. Certainly they are not mentally
ill. There are treatable physiological reasons why some children are
especially active or unable to focus. They may have lead poisoning. They
may lack sufficient vitamins and minerals. They may be living on
unhealthy junk food that can cause hyperactivity, as shown in research.
They may not spend enough time as physically active children releasing
their natural energy. They may live in an extremely chaotic home
environment. But very likely, they are simply healthy normal children
like Stephanie and Matthew were. And like Stephanie and Matthew,
hundreds of thousands of children will die because of prescription drugs.
Ritalin has been found to increase sudden death of children by 500
percent. And the suicide attempt rate of both amphetamines and
methylphenidate has been ten percent in multiple studies. Ten percent
of 4.5 million children are 450,000 children at risk of suicide – for
financial profit. It is monstrous.

And the pharmaceutical industry has turned the suicides into a
campaign to test children for emotional disorders and put the children
on antidepressant drugs. It always comes back to how the monster can
make more profits. And, for the most part, the public has allowed
themselves and their children to be led along like lambs to the slaughter.
“We don’t have an independent, valid test for ADHD, and there is
no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction.” The
National Institute of Health’s consensus statement clearly indicates that
ADD/ADHD is a contrived label; a label that is given no legitimacy in
most countries.

“These entirely bogus junk science, pseudoscientific labels are
barcodes on the foreheads of children. And once the label gets in their
records, it sticks. They can’t get rid of them.” Fred A. Baughman, Jr.,
M.D. states emphatically. Dr. Baughman is a board certified neurologist
for both adults and pediatric neurology. He has been speaking out
against the labeling of children for two decades and is the author of The
ADHD Fraud.

“Those who can make you believe absurdities
can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire
The pharmaceutical industry has done exactly what Voltaire
described. It is absurd to believe millions of U.S. children have mental
disorders and it is an atrocity to drug children with addictive, deadly
drugs that take the children’s futures away from them.
When will this monster with its insatiable desire to have everyone
taking prescription drugs be seen for what it really is? How long will the
American public and physicians remain in a state of denial?
And now the monster preys on children using the Internet.
MSNBC.com reported on Sept. 3, 2010: “Consumer advocates worry
pharmaceutical companies are increasing efforts to reach teenagers
through online ads.” Musical videos featuring teen idols are now used
by pharmaceutical companies to directly market drugs to children using
the Internet. Also games, children’s books, and stuffed animals are
designed to lead children to drugs.

The only thing standing between a child and the monster is
dedicated, loving parents who are aware that their child’s life is not
enhanced by any drug – not even when the drugs are FDA approved.
That is why foster children and children in institutions are the most
vulnerable. No one is protecting them from the monster that simply sees
these vulnerable children as a means to make profits. The numbers show
it.

In Ohio in just one month (July 2004) physicians prescribed
psychiatric drugs for 696 babies aged newborn to 3-years-old who were
covered by Medicaid.

In Texas in just the months of July and August 2004, more than
63,000 teens were prescribed psychiatric drugs and billed to a public
funded program. In just 2 months!
In Florida, where 7-year-old Gabriel hung himself last year, the
Florida Department of Children and Family Services found that in the
year Sept. 2002 to Sept. 2003, nearly 42,000 children aged 12 years and
younger were given almost 200,000 prescriptions for psychiatric drugs.
The monster is winning. It is imperative that every parent and
guardian of a child become aware of the aim of the pharmaceutical
industry and the pervasive control that the monster has to achieve its
aim. Until the public becomes aware and alert, children will remain easy
prey to the monster.
Sources:
Henry Gadsden: Ray Monihan and Alan Cassels, Selling Sickness, How the World’s
Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients (New York:Nations
Books, 2005)
New Freedom Commission: http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov
Autism rate: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/05/autism-rates-government
Children on psych. drugs: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/04/20
Children labeled ADD/ADHD: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08
Gabriel Myers: http://www.cbsnews.com
Jeremy Strohmeyer: “Ritalin Kids: Prescription Drugs and Murder,” by Bruce Wiseman,
presented to the Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee,

http://www.oikos.org/ritalinkids.html

Matthew Smith: “Death from Ritalin, The Truth Behind ADHD,” by Lawrence Smith,

http://www.ritalindeath.com

Stephanie Hall: “ADHD – Exposing the Fraud of ADD and ADHD,” by Dr. Fred
Baughman, Jr., http://www.adhdfraud.com
Candace: Documentary film, “Making a Killing,” by CCHR.org
Dominique Slater: http://www.modbee.com
Senator Grassley’s investigation: “Psychiatric Group Faces Scrutiny Over Drug Industry
Ties,” by Benedict Carey and Gardiner Harris, The New York Times, July 12, 2008.
Federal Education Department paying schools: “Resolution to Ban Ritalin,” by Patti
Johnson, presentation to Colorado State Board of Education,

http://www.nfgcc.org/banritalin.html

Suicide rate of antidepressants: Dr. Arif Kahn’s study results

http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/04/06/10.php

Dr. Tony Appel’s quote: NBC News, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SFPJL66p4c
Fred A. Baughman, Jr. M.D.: http://www.adhdfraud.com
Ohio babies on drugs: “Even Babies Getting Treated as Mentally Ill,” by Encarnacion
Pyle, Columbus Dispatch, April, 25, 2005
Texas Medicaid children: “Big Phara Bankrupting US Healthcare System,” by Evelyn
Pringle, August 29, 2006, http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com
Florida children: “Biggest Off-Label Drug Marketing Scheme in U.S. History,” by Evelyn
Pringle, November 30, 2006, ibid