Disability Law

Proposed Law Seeks to Monitor Children?s Use of Psychotropic Medication

By Danielle

Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa introduced a bill earlier this month to “require state health officials to report annually on the amount of psychotropic drugs to treat kids in publicly funded health programs,” according to the Arizona Daily Star.

The East Valley Tribune describes the controversy surrounding the bill as follows:

Citing concerns about overmedicated foster children, a Mesa legislator wants to require state health officials to report annually on the amount of psychotropic drugs prescribed to kids in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and rein in their use.

Mental health advocates, physicians and parents worry the bill is a misguided effort to slash desperately needed care for the most vulnerable children and adolescents while furthering the stigma of mental illness.

While it may produce some numbers, they say the figures will be meaningless ? and misused ? without a deeper understanding of the children, their circumstances and their nondrug therapies.

And they contend this measure and others like it around the country are pushed by the lobbying arm of the Church of Scientology, which opposes mainstream psychiatry, including psychotropic medications.

The Tribune article goes into much greater detail on the alleged benefits of the proposed bill. However, the opinion piece in the Star decries it as a Scientologist ploy to deny children medication.

It’s a matter of how you frame the issue of psychotropic medication - are we talking about dangerous drugs with serious, lifelong side effects that our children should be protected from, or are we talking about valuable resources for treatment that our children should not be denied?

Scientology is beside the point. The origin of the bill is beside the point. The real question is, how should we frame the discourse regarding psychotropic medications?

Full post as published by Mental Disability Law Blog on January 24, 2008 (boomark / email).