The Psycho State

The Psycho State

by Ron Paul, M.D., Republican member of Congress from Texas.
Tue Sep 14, 2004 13:00
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul203.html
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cg...itle=Patr iot
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A presidential initiative called The "New Freedom Commission on Mental
Health" has issued a report recommending forced mental health screening for
every child in America, including preschool children. The goal is to promote
the patently false idea that we have a nation of children with undiagnosed
mental disorders crying out for treatment.

One obvious beneficiary of the proposal is the pharmaceutical industry,
which is eager to sell the psychotropic drugs that undoubtedly will be
prescribed to millions of American schoolchildren under the new screening
program. Of course a tiny minority of children suffer from legitimate mental
illnesses, but the widespread use of Ritalin and other drugs on youngsters
who simply exhibit typical rambunctious, fidgety, and impatient behavior is
nothing short of criminal. It may be easier to teach and parent drugged
kids, but convenience is no justification for endangering them. Children's
brains are still developing, and the truth is we have no idea what the
long-term side effects of psychiatric drugs may be. Medical science has not
even exhaustively identified every possible brain chemical, even as we alter
those chemicals with drugs.

Dr. Karen Effrem, a physician who strongly opposes mandatory mental health
screening, warns us that "America's children should not be medicated by
expensive, ineffective, and dangerous medications based on vague and dubious
diagnoses." She points out that psychiatric diagnoses are inherently
subjective, as authors of the diagnostic manuals admit. She also is
concerned that mental health screening could be used to label children whose
attitudes, religious beliefs, and political views conflict with the secular
orthodoxy that dominates our schools.

The greater issue, however, is not whether youth mental health screening is
appropriate. The real issue is whether the state owns your kids. When the
government orders "universal" mental health screening in schools, it really
means "mandatory." Parents, children, and their private doctors should
decide whether a child has mental health problems, not government
bureaucrats. That this even needs to be stated is a sign of just how
obedient our society has become toward government. What kind of free people
would turn their children's most intimate health matters over to government
strangers? How in the world have we allowed government to become so powerful
and arrogant that it assumes it can force children to accept psychiatric
treatment whether parents object or not?

Parents must do everything possible to retain responsibility and control
over their children's well-being. There is no end to the bureaucratic
appetite to rule every aspect of our lives, including how we raise our
children. Forced mental health screening is just the latest of many state
usurpations of parental authority: compulsory education laws,
politically-correct school curricula, mandatory vaccines, and interference
with discipline through phony "social services" agencies all represent
assaults on families. The political right has now joined the political left
in seeking the de facto nationalization of children, and only informed
resistance by parents can stop it. The federal government is slowly but
surely destroying real families, but it is hardly a benevolent surrogate
parent.

September 14, 2004