Mental health watchdog reaches out to local parents to let them know why psychiatric drugs often prescribed to children carry the FDA’s black box warning (issued when there is reasonable evidence of an association of a serious hazard with the drug).

Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) Sacramento took their message directly to parents attending Rancho Cordova’s 29th annual Kids Day in the Park, warning them about the dangers of psychiatric drugging of children. CCHR, a nonprofit charitable mental health watchdog, spread the message “Know your rights—the life you save may be your child’s.”

Local CCHR Executive Director Jim Van Hill realizes this may be a tough message for parents to hear but he says it’s a vital one. “Parents regularly reach out to us because they are being urged to put their kids on dangerous psychiatric drugs, often by school personnel.”

Van Hill says parents are right to be worried about giving these drugs to their children. There are more than 400 international drug regulatory agency warnings that psychiatric drugs can cause dangerous and potentially life-threatening effects. As an example, psychotropic drugs have been shown to double the risk of suicide and aggression in children. Other serious side effects include diabetes, depression, mania, irregular heartbeat, obesity, even brain shrinkage to name a few.

“Although one may think there must be a good reason for a psychiatrist or doctor to prescribe such dangerous drugs to kids, there isn’t,” said Van Hill. No “medical” or scientific test exists that proves any child has a “mental disorder” or “mental illness.” The tests are subjective and based on a checklist of symptoms.

“It‘s like going to the doctor with severe pain,” Van Hill continued, “and, based on symptoms alone, the doctor starts treating you for cancer using chemical treatments without confirming the disease with medical tests.”

Dangerous mind-altering drugs are currently being prescribed to over 8.4 million children and adolescents in the United States alone, including nearly 1 million between the ages of 0 to 5 years.

CCHR cautions parents to know their rights and arm themselves with documented facts. Federal law (Title 20 of United States Code: Chapter 33, Subchapter II, ASSISTANCE FOR EDUCATION OF ALL CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES § 1412, State Eligibility) prohibits school personnel from requiring parents to drug their child as a requisite for attending school.

“If they need help, parents can call us at (916) 447-4599,” said Jim Van Hill, “or go to our website at http://www.cchrca.org.”

Continuing their efforts to warn parents, CCHR is airing the film Dead Wrong on Access Sacramento May 15 at 11:00 pm. It can be streamed live at www.accesssacramento.org/program_schedules/internet.html. The video is also available for on-demand streaming at www.cchr.org.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was co-founded by Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus and the Church of Scientology in 1969 to expose psychiatric violations of human rights and clean up the field of mental healing. Alerted to the brutality of psychiatric treatment by author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard who wrote extensively about the abuses of psychiatric patients, CCHR today stands as a powerful voice of reason for those abused and their on-going advocacy for reforms. For more information log visit www.cchr.org.