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Drugging Children to Keep Them Quiet

  • June 19, 2008
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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'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.

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