SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 44
51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013
INTRODUCED BY
Sue Wilson Beffort
A JOINT MEMORIAL
REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE OR AN APPROPRIATE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THAT COMMITTEE TO RECOMMEND ANY CHANGES TO STATE LAW THAT MAY BE INDICATED FOR THE FOSTERING OF INCREASED OPPORTUNITIES FOR ATHLETIC, CREATIVE, SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN IN THEIR SCHOOLS, HOMES AND COMMUNITIES AND FOR INVESTIGATING AND ADDRESSING THE DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF OVERMEDICATION ON CHILDREN IN THE STATE.
WHEREAS, there are an estimated nineteen million seven hundred eighty-six thousand six hundred forty-nine children worldwide who are taking psychiatric drugs; and
WHEREAS, in the United States, there are an estimated eight million four hundred thousand children on psychiatric drugs, which include two million five hundred thousand on stimulants, two million on antidepressants, two million five hundred thousand on antipsychotics and one million four hundred thousand on mood stabilizers; and
WHEREAS, in the face of enormous societal pressure to prescribe psychiatric drugs for children, parents have the right to be fully informed about the consequences of their children taking psychiatric drugs in order that they may decide what is right for their children; and
WHEREAS, the American psychological association
reports:
[m]any Americans visit their primary-care physicians and . . . walk away with a prescription for an antidepressant or other drugs without being aware of other evidence-based treatments — such as cognitive behavioral therapy — that might work better for them without the risk of side effects;
and
WHEREAS, a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry reports that, since 1993, the rate of antipsychotic psychiatric drugs prescribed to children has increased by a factor of nearly eight, with much of the prescribing being for "off-label" uses that the federal government has not specifically approved; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Bruce Perry, a senior fellow at the child trauma academy whose work is well known in New Mexico, has raised concern about off-label use of antipsychotic psychiatric drugs for children, stating that the "actual evidence base that would support" these uses is "scant to non-existent"; and
WHEREAS, the federal food and drug administration has directed manufacturers of psychiatric antidepressant drugs to revise the labeling for their products to include a boxed warning and expanded warning statements that alert health care providers to an increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children and adolescents being treated with these agents; and
WHEREAS, thirty-one regulatory agencies in eight countries have issued warnings relating to drugs used for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, linking these drugs to suicidal ideation and behavior, violence, aggression, agitation, anxiety, depression, heart attacks, strokes, sudden death, drug addiction and abuse, hallucinations, convulsions, hostility, weight changes, disturbed sleep and seizures; and
WHEREAS, Sydney Walker, a medical doctor, observes that creative or intelligent children become bored and will not focus — they fidget, wiggle, scratch, stretch and start looking for ways to get into trouble — and thousands of them are put on psychiatric drugs simply because they are smart and bored; and
WHEREAS, the president of the United States' commission on excellence in special education has found that forty percent of American children who are in special education programs and have been labeled as having learning disorders have simply never been taught to read; and
WHEREAS, pediatric neurologist Dr. Fred A. Baughman, Jr., states that parents, teachers and children are "horribly betrayed" when a child's behavior is labeled as a "disease"; and
WHEREAS, the federal centers for disease control and prevention found that individuals with regular access to health care were two and seven-tenths times as likely to have used prescription drugs in the past month than those without regular access to health care; and
WHEREAS, with the expected increase in access to health coverage through private health insurance, medicaid and school-based health clinics, children may have a greater likelihood of receiving health care; and
WHEREAS, while it is advantageous for children to have access to all of the health care they need, with greater exposure to health care comes the risk that they will receive medication to correct behavior that is not actually illness but is merely a reflection of normal childhood energy levels, curiosity and reactions to boredom;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the legislative health and human services committee or an appropriate subcommittee of that committee be requested to consider the effects of overmedication on children's health in the state; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislative health and human services committee or an appropriate subcommittee of that committee hear testimony from experts in education and in health on increasing children's opportunities to be active and maintain sound mental and physical health without medication through increased opportunities for athletic, creative, social and intellectual activities in their schools, homes and communities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislative health and human services committee or an appropriate subcommittee of that committee consider recommendations for changes to state law that may be indicated for the fostering of increased opportunities for athletic, creative, social and intellectual activities for children in their schools, homes and communities and for investigating and addressing the deleterious effects of overmedication on children in the state; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the director of the interagency behavioral health purchasing collaborative and the chair and vice chair of the legislative health and human services committee.
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