The View From 1776

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Responding to our recent telephone conversation, Pastor Harold Bolinger emailed links to several of his own essays.  The following essay is posted on one of his five websites, Liberty News Bureau.

It’s not straining a point to observe that drug treatment in place of teaching real subject matter is just what one would expect from a liberal-socialist education system that has become aggressively secular and materialistic, banishing all aspects of morality and spirituality.  See a recent related posting on this website.

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Say “NO” to drugs (but take your Ritalin)
By Pastor Harold W. Bolinger

(Prov. 22:6)  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

(Deu. 6:6-7)  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sit in thine house, and when thou walk by the way, and when thou lie down, and when thou rise up.

     As I have discovered, the education of children is not a “shared responsibility” with the state. They belong to their mother and father, and are only on loan to educators who do a better job at education than we can. Based on history, I think those days are over.  Based on the teachings of the Bible, I can say that professionals never were better at teaching what God commanded parents to teach their progeny.

     I was recently asked to comment on the subject of ethics, specifically the ethics of medical professionals who give so-called “psychotropic” (mind-altering) medication to children.  This is, of course, a “hot button” for many parents, where the school systems are encouraging doctor visits for “hyper” kids, and “compulsory” use of Ritalin (methylphendate) and similar chemical compounds as “treatment.”

     I worry about the ethics of anyone in bed with pharmaceutical companies for profit.  

     Frying the brains of children does guarantee the profession (on both sides) future repeat customers. But doctors who deliberately make their patients ill (or more ill, as the case may be) are doing their profession, as well as their clients, a huge disservice.  They are also exposing themselves to tremendous liability.

     Yes, I think many people should lose their licenses for this behavior.  In addition, they should be made to pay damages to the families who are harmed.  
     The problem is that the psychiatric industry, motivated and empowered by profits already earned, has become a formidable adversary.  Indeed, the industry has clout in government and law–to the point that both federal and state power structures are today coercing psychiatry and powerful drugs on children and their parents.  States are pushing model legislation aimed at giving the medical industry carte-blanche power over families.

     "Testing" kids without (or even against) parental consent is now the “buzz” on Capitol Hill.  Federal funding for this “health screening” is a mind-twisting ethical concern, and legislation of this nature surely would have made folks like Hitler and Stalin proud.  

     Don’t get me wrong, please. Both secular and religious counselors are needed for children in many cases.  (More of the later would be the best solution.) Yet drugs of the nature prescribed for most “behavioral problems” are the cosmic equivalent of hunting rabbits with a shoulder-fire nuclear weapon. Kids need love and discipline, and perhaps a father in the home–not “chemo for ADHD.”

     I come at this problem not only as a pastor, but as a parent of a misdiagnosed son.  For nearly  20 years now I have dealt with the education and medical systems in the State of Maryland.  To say that I am underwhelmed is an understatement.  I discovered (belatedly) that the original diagnosis of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) was a farce.  That label was a “quick fix” for the county school system to obtain federal grant money in the name of my son.  Getting him “help” for school was not their motivation.  Additional revenue for the school board drove both the educational establishment and the physician.  

     Six years later, a second set of Psychiatrists was called in for a second opinion–as medication was being continually changed, and the drugs weren’t doing what they were sold to do.  After intensive in-patient testing, it was determined that a pair of circumstances, that were known to his pediatrician originally, were the cause of a true disorder in my son.  After a long (36 hour) labor, my wife at the time was unable to deliver naturally.  The decision to do a C-Section was made after the Obstetrician discovered an oxygen deprivation (fetal distress) situation developing.  This, in addition to her being “given to wine,” caused a combination of fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal distress oxygen deprivation diagnosis to be given by this team.

     However, by this time the child had been on mind altering medication for 6 years.  It was far too late to start over with a program geared toward fine motor skill problems and the other legitimate learning disabilities he evidenced–once the proper evaluation and diagnosis had been made.  Now there were additional drug-induced problems, layered on top of plausible developmental disabilities.  Medications were changed, additional academic aids were put into place, but the cognitive skills he once had were all but gone.

     As I have discovered, more important than any of the medications is a discipline and support structure for any “a-typical” child. Rules, and ensuring that any one caring for your child follows the rules to the letter, is the first step.  Just because most of these children are “mentally busy” doesn’t mean they are incapable of learning.  The rules for imparting wisdom must change to match their cognitive skills, however.  

     Some are quicker than “normal” children. But a child with fine motor skill problems is NOT going to develop in the handwriting area like their peers–no matter how much you drug them to coerce compliance in a modern classroom.  They must be taught other strategies for communication.

     Another parent also wrote to me about a mis-diagnosed child, and I was furious.  That situation mirrored my own, and when that “blog” was over, numerous parents had chimed in war stories about threats to put kids in foster care if they refused the drugging, and etc.

     The fact is these ADHD diagnosis benefit not only the physicians & drug companies, but also the school systems. As usual, when corruption or conspiracy to commit fraud are involved, follow the money.

     It works like this: the more “Title One” handicapped students a school system has, the more federal grant money comes in. So the schools are quick to notice anything unusual and get at least an ADHD label to collect the checks. It matters little if the child even has a real handicap.  Simply putting them on the medication is adequate “proof” for the federal grant machinery.  As I have found out, there is little concern for the validity of the diagnosis, or for providing any extra helps to even truly developmentally disabled children.  Once the money is in the school system’s checking account, their cares are over.  

     If the child does have a legitimate concern in education, only a parent who fights relentlessly, possibly with the help of high-dollar lawyers, will get the genuine “special education” services.  

     Teachers are encouraged by management to compel parents in for meetings, leading to trips to the doctors, and in the end more federal funding for the schools.  Unless the parent is willing to fight every step of the way, the system will have them trapped.

     It’s horrid, and I for one would like to see a class-action malpractice suit on behalf of all the mis-labeled kids that are told to “say no to drugs but take your Ritalin.”

     This category of drug, which includes Aderall and other brand names, is chemically very close to cocaine.  Methyphendate and other psychotropics actually cause cognitive dysfunction. Small wonder teachers have problems, with half the kids on a cocaine-like high!  

     Of the most recent dozen school shootings, 7 of the shooters were either on an “anti-depressant” (Prozac, Selexa, Luvox, Paxil, etc.), a psychotropic (Ritalin, Aderal, etc.), or a combination.  Several were in withdraw periods from having taken them!  That fact was reported not long ago by Fox TV news.

     These drugs are dangerous business – especially in the minds of young people who are fraught with hormonal and other normal imbalances caused by their age.  Side effects of this “prescription crack” range from sickness, anxiety, amnesia, hallucinations, nightmares, and sadly, even violence and rage.  Added to it is an industry that is encouraging their use, rather than other more simple options.

     Dr. Peter Breggan stated on Fox news that depression is rarely a situation that causes violence.  Most people who are “situationally depressed” (which is completely normal) generally just withdraw and reflect on their problem.  “It has only been since the advent of these new SSRI drugs that we have a murderous, sometimes even mass murderous person taking anti-depressant drugs,” says Breggan.  

     Dr. Eric Hollander, of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, claims that adequate diagnosis, proper treatment, and improper dosages of these drugs are all potentially contributing factors to other problems.  

     People who would otherwise never exhibit sociopathic traits can be come dangerous when put on too strong a dose or on combinations of these chemicals.

     Bruce Wiseman, of the Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights, says all these drugs are well documented to have dangerous side effects, including mania, paranoia, psychosis, suicidal tendencies, violence and other episodes.  With industry sources claiming up to 4% of patients on these medications being likely to experience some maniacal episode, and over 2 million people on them, that indicates up to 80,000 “time bombs are waiting to explode,” according to Wiseman.

     Fox News obtained documents pertaining to Paxil showing that a patient on that medication is 8X more likely than those not on the drug to attempt or to commit suicide.

     Dr. Fred Baughman, a neurologist and psychiatric specialist, has charged the industry of deliberately “creating a disorder” for the purpose of selling drugs.  He charges that there is zero evidence of any chemical imbalance in the typical “ADHD” child, and that many of the behaviors are simple, normal, youthful activities that are subjectively grouped to create another tap onto the pharmaceutical well.  He also charges that doctors knowingly give medications to children who are below the “recommended age” set by the manufacturer, and that many of these chemicals have never even been FDA approved for use in children.  His collection of computer-viewable videos on the subject of ADHD is available here: http://www.adhdvideo.org/  (A high speed connection is recommended.)

     Jay Baadsgaard, the father of a 16 year old who shot up a school several years ago, says the answer is simple (and I am inclined to agree with him).  He says to stop drugging teenagers for every little pimple and problem they encounter on life’s highway.  

     In America, we have disarmed discipline in the family.  A combination of single-parent households and laws designed to take away the right of parents (and teachers) to “use the rod” when necessary, has greatly exasperated the problem.  21st Century wisdom says to deliver children unto CIBA, Inc., and the rest of the medical-pharmaceutical establishment.  The vast majority, if not all of these kids, need family structure, rules, and education that matches their cognitive abilities – not a cocaine substitute.  

     “Have a coke and a smile” is not the answer.  Yet in using this approach, the powers that be are creating several very foreboding monsters.  These should alarm every Christian in the nation.

     At the top of the list, new legislation criminalizes ownership or possession of any firearms by those who are on assorted medications.  As such, what the liberal left / New World Odor cannot achieve through the front door (eliminating the Second Amendment), they are sneaking in the back way by creating a generation where over 50% of males will be addicted to or verifiable previous users of psychotropic drugs.  The “male head of household” is being effectively and medically “neutered” in his role as family protector.  Moreover, he is having his brain fried with parental consent (albeit with a bit of arm twisting into compliance through fear of prosecution), and thereby mentally handicapped by a covetous school and medical establishment!

     This is a sure-fire way to eventually disarm the population of the United States without risking additional “licensing” laws for firearms.  Anyone who has ever been prescribed an “anti-depressant” or “psychotropic” will carry with them a label that will prohibit them very fundamental constitutional rights.

     Therefore, those that profess Christ with their lips – yet do not run their families outside the medical-education establishment and according to the biblical admonishment to instruct their children in the ways of God – will be easy prey for gun grabbers, as this generation moves into the next.

(Prov. 22:15)  Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
(Prov. 23:13)  Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
(Prov. 29:15)  The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame.

     Also totally forgotten are the many natural ways to reduce the bouncy behavior of youth.  In the first place, loading a pre-teen on common breakfast cereal in the morning is a recipe for disaster.  With as much as 40% sugar content in these mass-marketed brands, along with “red #5” and similar coloring and additives, half the hyperness would go away on its own if alternative foods were provided.  Caffeinated sodas, coffee, etc. should also be curtailed in children (and adults too, for that matter).  It’s not only hard on their ability to sit still, but those “candies” are wrecking havoc on their dental health.

     My next child (if I ever have one) will be born at home (no SSN/mark of the beast assigned at birth that way) and home schooled (the board of education can pick on easier prey from now on).

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