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Feds Target Children
by Rep.
Ron Paul, MD
Every parent in America should be made aware of a presidential
initiative called the “New Freedom Commission on Mental
Health.” This commission issued a report last year calling for
the mandatory mental health screening of American
schoolchildren, meaning millions of kids will be forced to
undergo psychiatric screening whether their parents consent or
not. At issue is the fundamental right of parents to decide
what medical treatment is appropriate for their children.
Forced mental health screening simply has no place in a free
or decent society. The government does not own you or your
kids, and it has no legitimate authority to interfere in your
family’s intimate health matters. Psychiatric diagnoses are
inherently subjective, and the drugs regularly prescribed
produce serious side effects, especially in children’s
developing brains. The bottom line is that mental health
issues are a matter for parents, children, and their doctors,
not government.
Unfortunately, however, the mental health screening initiative
received funding from House and Senate appropriators in the
2005 federal budget. This funding allows states to create or
expand mental health screening programs with your tax dollars.
More importantly, the commission recommends a broader federal
program in the near future.
Last fall I introduced an amendment to eliminate any funding
for the proposal in a year-end spending bill. Although the
amendment failed, the response to my office was overwhelming
and highly supportive. The notion of federal bureaucrats
ordering potentially millions of youngsters to take
psychotropic drugs like Ritalin strikes an emotional chord
with American parents, who are sick of relinquishing more and
more parental control to government.
Accordingly, the first bill I introduced this year forbids
federal funds from being used for any mental-health screening
of students without the express, written, voluntary, informed
consent of their parents. The bill is known as “The
Parental Consent Act of 2005,” or HR 181. This
legislation strikes a vital blow for parents who oppose
government interference with their parental authority, and
strengthens the fundamental right of parents to direct and
control the upbringing and education of their children.
It is important to understand that powerful interests, namely
federal bureaucrats and pharmaceutical lobbies, are behind the
push for mental health screening in schools. There is no end
to the bureaucratic appetite to run our lives, and the
pharmaceutical industry is eager to sell psychotropic drugs to
millions of new customers in American schools. Only tremendous
public opposition will suffice to overcome the lobbying and
bureaucratic power behind the president’s New Freedom
Commission.
Your help is needed. Please tell everyone you know about HR
181, and ask them to call their representatives and senators
in Washington to voice strong opposition to forced mental
health screening. Demand that the Department of Health and
Human Services receive no tax dollars in this year’s
appropriation bill for screening programs, and that states
receive no federal dollars for programs of their own. Refer to
my congressional website for articles from September 2004
about mental health screening, and sobering statistics about
anti-depressant drugs and kids in the text of HR 181. Most of
all, talk with your friends, family, and colleagues about the
underlying issue of whether the state owns your kids. Remind
them that freedom can be maintained only when state power is
limited, especially when it comes to fundamental freedoms over
our bodies and minds.
February 1, 2005
Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.
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