News Flash archive—Child Safety and Medication Act

I subscribe to a service that sends me via e-mail what happened in the House and Senate in Washington the past week. The following message is one that I received recently.

Dr. Wright

CHILD SAFETY AND MEDICATION ACT

On May 21st the House passed the Child Medication and Safety Act (HR1170) by an almost unanimous vote of 425 to 1. The bill, introduced by Congressman Max Burns (R-GA), would put a stop to teachers and schools demanding that students be placed on drugs for their convenience or profit. (A school gets additional funds for every student it claims has ADD and for which some prescription is issued. Some poor school districts claim as many as 70% of their students as ADD to obtain these funds.)

Imagine being called into a school office and being told your B+ average child must take a drug because the teacher thinks he is not attentive enough and your only other option is to take him out of the school. This happens to parents every day. One school in Congressman Max Burns' home state of Georgia has 40% of its kids on Ritalin.

Congressman Burns' bill requires a medical diagnosis for a child, not a demand from a frustrated teacher. The bill specifically forbids a school from requiring drug use as a condition to continue attending. Believe it or not, this needed legislation which was voted for by almost every member of Congress, is going nowhere fast in the Senate. The Senate version was introduced by Senator John Ensign (R-NV) and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN). The Senate bill number is S-1390. No hearings have as yet been scheduled by the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee (HELP) which is chaired by Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH). If you have an interest in the bill moving through Senator Gregg's committee, you may contact him by clicking here. You may also want to contact your own Senator and ask him to support this much needed legislation which protects the rights of parents and the health of children.

News Flash archive