Gwen Olsen: We’re drugging children to death with stimulant

The onslaught of direct-to-consumer advertising to parents and educators about the benefits of stimulant drugs designed for focusing attention and curbing misbehavior has resulted in a large number of deaths and injuries to our nation's children. And to what benefit?

Even the most recent follow-up results of the prestigious Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD concluded that any minor benefits exhibited by stimulant drug use in the initial treatment stages of ADHD symptoms in children were not sustained in the long term.

The black-boxed warnings for stimulant treatments for ADHD, antidepressants, atypical anti-psychotics, mood stabilizers and anti-seizure drugs all indicate a causal link between these drugs and suicide. Some package inserts even contain warnings related to violence and homicide. Most labels warn of the possibility of experiencing anxiety, sleeplessness, aggression, loss of appetite, depression, hallucinations and psychosis.

Nearly all psychiatric drugs have withdrawal and addiction potential, as well as links to other serious illnesses such as excessive weight gain and diabetes. Yet, these drugs are marketed and prescribed nonchalantly to our children to control behavior. Is it because the drugs' benefits truly exceed their risks? Or, is it really because our children have been identified as the most lucrative expansion market available to the pharmaceutical industry?

Children are the ideal patient type for Big Pharma (pharmaceutical industry) because they represent refilled prescription compliance and "longevity."

Overall sales in the U.S. pharmaceutical market in 2007 experienced the lowest growth rate since 1961. Manufacturers are scrambling to make up lost revenues.

As insured patient populations capable of paying for exorbitantly priced pharmaceuticals diminish, the importance of government-mandated vaccinations, government-funded health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and mandatory mental health screenings that result in prescription psychotropic drug sales all will increase in value to Pharma. As a consequence, Pharma's lobbyists will intensify their efforts to promote government-endorsed programs.

In a study published in the May-June Journal of Health Affairs, from 1996 to 2006, prescriptions for psychiatric drugs increased by 73 percent among U.S. adults and 50 percent among children. In fact, more money was spent on the treatment of mental disorders for children than on any other medical condition in 2006.

Additional campaigns to screen our children for mental illness, newborns included, are being launched. In the April issue of Pediatrics, the government's U.S. Preventive Services Task Force urged physicians to routinely screen all American teens for depression using unscientific questionnaires that produce a high rate of false mental illness diagnoses. Treatment exposes our children to mind-altering chemicals proven to have only nominal efficacy.

Drugging our children for profit has exceeded all common-sense boundaries and is threatening the welfare of every American child. It is up to every one of us to stop this madness. We are drugging our children to death.

Gwen Olsen, a nationally known speaker and author, spent more than a decade as a sales representative in the pharmaceutical industry. She has testified before Congress and is a 2007 Human Rights Award winner.