PAGEONE :: 
 
       FREE Subscription
The World’s Most Popular Natural Health Newsletter   
 
 
POSTED BY
Dr. Mercola
June 19 2008
19299 Views
ARTICLE TOOLS
Email a Friend
Print Article
Save this Article
Bookmark & Share


BROWSE BY CATEGORY

Online Shopping Click Here!
Share your stories here!
Previous Article
Current Newsletter
Drugging Children to Keep Them Quiet

This stunning news report finds that children, even toddlers as young as 2, are being given powerful psychotropic drugs in order to manage their behavior. Are these children being drugged because it is cheaper and easier than providing real care -- and because the practice is very lucrative for the pharmaceutical companies?


Dr. Mercola Dr. Mercola's Comments:
This video is proof of just how outrageous things have become in conventional medicine. Drugging 2 and 3-year-olds? Two out of three foster kids in Texas on medication, sometimes several of them?

This is just reprehensibly irresponsible.

Allegations of babies as young as 2 and 3 being given mind-altering drugs exist against foster care systems across the United States, including Texas, California, Ohio and Florida.

I don’t even advocate giving children cough syrup, Tylenol or antibiotics, as these alone can be very harmful. But when you’re talking about powerful psychotropic, mind-altering drugs, you’re entering an entirely different ballgame.

The number of prescriptions for psychotropic drugs for children has more than doubled between 1995 and 2000. And psychotropic drugs, by definition, alter your mind, your emotions and your behavior.

These drugs, many of which are not even approved for kids, act on your central nervous system, reduce your mobility and, as Gwen Olsen, the former pharmaceutical rep in the video told CBS News, “are sort of like a chemical straightjacket.”

Even when prescribed properly, the various side effects of drugs like Prozac, Paxil, Ritalin, Zyprexa, Depakote and others are dizzying:
  • Anxiety, depression, impulsivity and obsession
  • Anger, compulsion, temper tantrums and mood instability (this one, ironically, from a mood stabilizer drug)
  • Social awkwardness, withdrawal, tics
  • Sleep disturbances
  • Separation anxiety
  • Behavior problems
  • Inattention and distractability
But give them to toddlers, whose brains and bodies are not fully developed, and combine them in hefty doses of two, three or more different meds, and the side effects are anybody’s guess.

There may even be a chance that as these kids get older, the mind-altering drugs could lead to violent “hostility events” like those that occurred at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School.

Drugs Are Not the Answer to Children’s Behavioral Problems

Imagine being a 5-year-old entering the foster care system. Who wouldn’t display some signs of mental upset at a time like that? Yet, what these kids need is some love and tending to their emotions, along with replacing all their toxic processed junk foods with life-giving, vital, healthy food -- not medications.

Sadly, foster care systems are not only overloaded, they’re controlled by the government and their biggest supporter, the drug companies.

For parents out there, I realize that many decide to put their children on a psychotropic drug because they believe it will help them and they have no choice. However, I have treated many hundreds of children with these types of disorders and have consistently seen them improve once the underlying toxicities and food changes were addressed, so parents let me assure you that there is hope!

You can view my interview with the late pediatric expert Dr. Lendon Smith on this topic.

There can also be extreme pressure to give your kids prescription drugs, with some public schools even accusing parents of child abuse when they resist giving their kids drugs such as Ritalin.

In fact, parents who try to resist this insanity in their own homes can even have their children taken away. In one such case, a 6-year-old mildly autistic boy was taken into state custody after his mother refused medications for him.

Without the presence of a single doctor, the court decided to put the child on five powerful anti-psychotic drugs, even though none of the drugs have been approved for use in children.

So it’s highly unlikely that kids entering the government-controlled foster system will be given the care they really need. Maybe one day down the road, but sadly, not today.

Correcting Behavioral Problems Without Drugs

Behavioral problems in children are very frequently related to improper diet, emotional upset and exposure to toxins. To address these underlying toxins in your own child, without resorting to drugs:

1. Give your child plenty of high-quality, animal-based omega-3 fats like krill oil.

2. Balance your child’s intake of omega-3 and omega-6 fats (from vegetables oils), by limiting their intake of vegetable oils.

3. Avoid giving your child ANY processed foods, especially those containing artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives.

4. Replace soft drinks, fruit juices, and pasteurized milk in your child’s diet with pure water. This is HUGE since high fructose corn syrup is the NUMBER ONE source of calories in children -- remember this includes fruit juices!

5. Reduce or eliminate grains and sugars from your child’s diet -- yes even healthy organic whole grains can cause problems. Try eliminating them first for 1-2 weeks and see if you don’t notice a radical and amazing improvement in your child’s behavior.

6. Make sure your child gets plenty of exercise and outdoor playtime in the sunshine.

7. Give your child a way to deal with his or her emotions. Even children can benefit from the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which you or an EFT practitioner can teach them how to use.
Previous Article
Current Newsletter
Did you find this article interesting?  Interesting Not Useful
Community Comments ( 59 )
 Comment on this Article
  
  
GRAYWOLF
 [ Joined on 06/06 ] [ Posted on June 19, 2008 ]
11 Points        
   
 
Apprentice User

I see a lot of folks on here blaming the pharmaceutical industry for doing their job. Their job is to create chemical concoctions to sell to people to treat symptoms.

The real source of problem is unconstitutional federal government. The pharmaceutical industry uses the government because it can (just like everyone else). If we had not handed over our duty to the government, they would not have any control to sell (laws) to the buyers (industry). Anytime you say "the government should do something about"...whatever...you are giving up your rights. It makes no difference whether it is gay marriage, gas prices, gambling, prostitution, alcohol, radio/tv/newspaper, drugs,  etc. The Constitution grants no power over these things to the federal government...we have given that power to them over the years.

If we had not given this authority to the government, they would not have it to sell to the lobbyists.

The same mentality that convinced us to give away our rights is the same mentality that causes us to trust whatever the government tells us to believe..."This drug has to be save, the FDA approved it"..."There is a difference between the Democrats and the Republicans"..."We are safer on planes because they won't let us carry water bottles through checkpoint charley in the airports"...etc...etc...etc...in stead of actually being responsible for ourselves!
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
Capt. Awesome
 [ Joined on 08/07 ]  [ Posted on June 19, 2008]
6 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

YES GRAYWOLF!!  Everyone needs to not only read and commit to memory Constitution in its entirety, but understand it!  The enumerated powers of the Federal Gov't are extremely limited, but we as a people have been dumbed down and sissified to the point where even if someone figures out the clowns on the hill are screwing them, they are too afraid or indifferent to do anything about it.

REFUSE/RESIST
  
  
Aaltrude
 [ Joined on 04/07 ] [ Posted on June 1, 2008 ]
11 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
If you are wondering if you have the time to watch it, this video is 9 min 47 sec.

There was one part of this video that reminded me of a time when I worked near to a dept that dealt with problem children. We used to comment that the people that worked in this dept looked like they were in need of their own treatments.
 [ Reply ]
  
  
JWRM42
 [ Joined on 02/07 ] [ Posted on May 30, 2008 ]
11 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
Just another pityful example of how drug companys will even drug toddlers to get more money!

It's a shame that those kids will probably always have to be on meds and never get to live a normal, nature lifestyle.

42
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
Aaltrude
 [ Joined on 04/07 ]  [ Posted on June 2, 2008]
13 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
And of course this is exactly what the drug companies want. Get them hooked on prescription drugs early in life so they will continue to use them as adults and continue to line the bottomless pockets of Big Pharma.

Most folks are happy to let others tell them what is good for them rather than think and research things themselves.
Mercola
  
jayp
 [ Joined on 12/07 ]  [ Posted on June 19, 2008]
1 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

I am now even more scared for the future.... i cant imagine what these kids will be like and i dont want to know
Mercola
  
zzhumphreyt
 [ Joined on 10/07 ]  [ Posted on June 23, 2008]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

Don't be afraid jayp, instead fight for what you believe in. Being afraid and cowering is what has allowed the government and drug companies to get away with what they have. They know if they scare people enough they'll back down in their protests.

I mean in no way to put you down or anything in saying what I'm saying, it's just that being afraid only adds to the problem. Passively and not actively, i.e. not stopping something bad from happening, but it still contributes. Don't look to others to solve these kinds of problems, that mindset of "someone else will fight this" easily lulls you into inaction and fear. Instead rely on yourself and fight for what you believe in.

I'm sorry if I'm coming off as condescending or something similar but I really had to reply, it just seemed like you were giving up your power.
  
  
4Hand Healthy
 [ Joined on 06/07 ] [ Posted on June 2, 2008 ]
8 Points        
   
 
Apprentice User
It's child abuse...plain & simple!!
 [ Reply ]
  
  
Katee Roux
 [ Joined on 07/07 ] [ Posted on June 3, 2008 ]
6 Points        
   
 
<