Bush's Mental health screening program: New Freedom Commission

[BornagainDUer]

...
On April 29, 2002, Bush kicked off the whole mental health screening scheme when he announced the establishment of the New Freedom Commission (NFC) during a speech in in New Mexico where he told the audience that mental health centers and hospitals, homeless shelters, and the justice and school systems, have contact with individuals suffering from mental disorders but that too many Americans are falling through the cracks, and so he created the NFC to ensure "that the cracks are closed."


A little over a year after Bush announced the formation of the NFC, on July 22, 2003, government report was released that called for redesigning the mental health systems in all 50 states.....

.....The NFC recommends TMAP as the model program for "specific medications" to be used in all 50 states. The "specific medications" are the most expensive drugs on the market and include drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors antidepressants (SSRIs), like Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, and Effexor, and the atypical antipsychotics, that include Zyprexa, Risperdal, Geodon, Seroquel, Clozaril, and Abilify.

Other "specific medications" include the ADHD drugs, fondly known as "speed" to street addicts, such as Adderall, Dexedrine, Concerta, Ritalin and Strattera, and a garden variety of "downers," like Valium, Xanax, Librium and sleeping pills.

Critics have constantly attacked Big Pharma's involvement in choosing the drugs on the lists. As far back as January 1999, Peter Weiden MD, one of the "experts" on the original Texas panel, openly criticized the approval process in the Journal of Practice in Psychiatry and Behavioural Health, because so drug company money was involved.

For instance, he said, the guidelines for the atypical antipsychotics were funded by Janssen, the maker of Risperdal, and most of the guidelines' authors also had received financial support of one kind or another from the drug companies with atypical drugs on the list. "This potential conflict of interest may create credibility problems," he wrote, "especially concerning any recommendations supporting the use of atypical antipsychotics."

The way the NFC scheme is set up, tax dollars not only fund the implementation of the screening programs, but also a large portion of the costs for "specific medications" that are prescribed to patients to treat mental disorders detected by the screenings through government health care programs like Medicaid.

The fact is, when Bush took office, he owed Big Pharma a lot favors in return for all the money he raked in from the industry and the mental health screening scheme represents a major part of his efforts to cover those debts.......


:scared:

more here
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/pharma_business.html

[LSparkle]

1. Before any schoolchild is tested, * should reveal his own medical data

What meds is HE on?

[Cetacea]

5. Most likely the "meds" that your not allowed to have: Opiates.

Many of the medications listed are basically chemical lobotomies. Their side
effects include psychosis,diabetes, kidney and liver,damage, etc...

The relatively benign SSRI and SNRI ADs have horrible withdrawal symptoms, something that is very much covered up. (do a google search for Effexor withdrawal).

The golden age of psychiatry was when opium was used.
many people suffering from various forms of mental illness are rediscovering opiates by accident, usually as the result of an accident or surgery.

The problem with them is addiction, however, many of the same people are told that they will have to stay on the expensive drugs for the rest of their lives anyways.

Opiates are cheap, they work in one hour rather than a month, and they do far less damage to the body/mind.

http://opioids.com/antidepressant/opiates.html

[billyoc]

2. Void where prohibited.

Not available for Supreme Court nominees, Justice Department appointments, War Czars, DHS directors, US Attorneys
or West Wing employees.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Why am I reminded of Soviet "sanitariums"?

When Bu**sh** talks about giving anyone "treatment" it makes me nervous.

[melody]

6. exactimundo

Politics they didn't like = "mental illness"

[gollygee]

4. "New Freedom Commission" ??

I think they need to put a moratorium on use of the word "freedom".