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Study Claims “ADHD Boys” Get in More Car Accidents—Fails to Mention ADHD Drug Side Effects & Recommends…More Drugging

admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:57:34 +0000

It’s hard for anyone with a modicum of reason to understand how such glaringly flawed studies as the one posted below are pawned off on the public in the name of “mental health” recommendations. Case in point, a new study claims that “teenage boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are twice as likely to be involved in a serious car collision.” Now, by the researchers own admission, “they couldn’t determine whether the teens with ADHD were taking medication when the crashes occurred.” Well that’s a seriously major omission. Any teenager who has been diagnosed “ADHD” is almost assuredly on drugs. The most common of which is methylphenidate (Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, etc.)

According to the U.S. FDA methylphenidate is documented to cause: Hallucinations, Delusional Thinking, Sensory Disturbances, Mania, Psychosis, Aggression, Violence, Headaches, Nausea, Vomiting, Depression, Sleepiness, Drowsiness, Fatigue, Agitation, Irritability, Insomnia, Disturbed Sleep, Abnormally Tight Muscles, Cardiac Events, Stroke and Cerebrovascular Events. All side effects that would seriously impair a person’s ability to drive.

Yet even this glaring omission is not the worst part of this study, their recommendation is— “The researchers suggested the family doctors, psychiatrists and community health workers could help by treating ADHD patients with methylphenidate or Ritalin.” We weren’t sure we read that right, so we went to the actual study to see for ourselves, and sure enough, it said “Greater attention by primary care physicians, psychiatrists and community health workers can perhaps reduce the risk including medical treatments (e.g. methylphenidate.) It gets even more ludicrous, with this statement, “children with ADHD are known to go off their meds because of side-effects.”

Yes. Exactly. Side effects. Serious, motor- skill impairing and even life-threatening, side effects.

So to summarize;

1) Teenage boys diagnosed ADHD are getting in more car accidents.

2) Teenage boys diagnosed ADHD are almost certainly on drugs “recommended” for ADHD (methylphenidate)

3) The FDA says Methylphenidate causes hallucinations, mania, psychosis, sensory disturbances, an abundance of side effects that can seriously impair a person’s motor-skills and ability to drive.

4) They recommend putting more kids on methylphenidate.

And there you have it.

ADHD puts teen drivers at risk: study

CBC News —November 15, 2010

Teenage boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are twice as likely to be involved in a serious car collision compared with the general population, an Ontario study suggests.

The study in Tuesday’s issue of the online journal PLoS Medicine looked at 3,421 males between the ages of 16 and 19 who were involved in serious road trauma between 2002 and 2009, compared with a control group of teens admitted for appendicitis.

The researchers suggested listing ADHD the same way as other medical disorders like epilepsy, which require drivers to show they are road worthy to keep their driver’s licence.

Study author Dr. Donald Redelmeier, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, estimated if the crash risk for teenagers with ADHD could be reduced to that of teens without the disorder then it would prevent about 700 crashes a year in Ontario.

Teenaged girls with ADHD also showed an increased risk of crashes, but the study focused on teenaged male drivers because they have the highest incidence of road crashes, at twice the population average.

“The findings call attention to a widespread, preventable, and costly cause of death and disability,” the study’s authors concluded.

“Most people know that teenage males are prone to traffic injuries, but the current data show that prevailing adjustments are not sufficient.”

Compliance issues for meds

The researchers suggested the family doctors, psychiatrists and community health workers could help by treating ADHD patients with methylphenidate or Ritalin, as well as talking to patients about ways to reduce the risk, such as abstaining from alcohol and avoiding distractions like using cellphones while driving.

The researchers acknowledged limitations of the study, including that they couldn’t determine whether the teens with ADHD were taking medication when the crashes occurred.

But children with ADHD are known to go off their meds because of side-effects.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/11/15/adhd-males-traffic-collisions-ontario.html

Read the international drug regulatory warnings and studies on Methylphenidate (Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta and other psychostimulants) here http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/

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Death of Canadian Teen Under Investigation- Following Unwarranted Forced Antipsychotic Injections

admin — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:36:00 +0000

Note from CCHR: The use of antipsychotics on juvenile’s in custody as punishment or to control their behavior has recently been highlighted in a report by Youth Today, which found that antipsychotics were prescribed to many incarcerated youths in juvenile facilities in the US. “Fifty years ago, we were tying kids up with leather straps, but now that offends people, so instead we drug them,” according to Robert Jacobs, a former Florida psychologist and lawyer, “We cover it up with some justification that there is some medical reason, which there is not,” he said. The case below, of a young girl in Canada highlights this exact same abuse.

Ashley Smith’s sedations in custody unwarranted: report

CBC NEWS CANADA November 15, 2010

Ashley Smith, 19 at the time, was in solitary confinement and on suicide watch when she strangled herself with a piece of cloth in October 2007 at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, a federal prison in Kitchener, Ont.

Three months earlier, Smith had been at Quebec’s Joliette Institution, and it is her treatment there that is the subject of a January 2010 report by psychiatrist Paul Beaudry.

The report was done at the request of the federal Office of the Correctional Investigator and provides a medical opinion on Smith’s treatment from June 27 to July 26, 2007.

“We saw the use of medication where it was, in our opinion, not clinically warranted,” Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers said. “So, in other words it was medication that was being used to manage her behaviour but not necessarily being used for a therapeutic purpose.”

Sapers ordered the investigation after information in a report by the Correctional Service of Canada on the use of force on Smith during her stay at Joliette contradicted what was shown in videotape recordings of the incidents.

Inquest should look at whole time in custody: lawyer

Julian Falconer, the Smith family’s lawyer, filed Beaudry’s report with a coroner’s court in Toronto on Monday in an effort to expand the scope of an upcoming inquest into Smith’s death.

He argues the inquest should not be limited to the few months Smith spent in Ontario jails but rather look at the entire time she spend in federal custody.

Smith, who first entered the youth criminal justice system at 13 when she was charged with assault and creating a disturbance in a public place, spent the last four years of her life in federal custody. In the last year alone, she was shuttled 17 times among a series of institutions across Canada — including ones in the Maritimes, Ontario and the Prairies.

The Psychiatrist’s Report Read the medical opinion by Dr. Paul Beaudry.

In the report, Beaudry says Smith suffered from an anti-social personality disorder with borderline traits.

On July 22 and 23, 2007, Smith was removed from her cell, placed in restraints and given injections of tranquilizers and anti-psychotic drugs because she had pulled a metal plate off a cell wall and began hurting herself with screws.

The nursing staff found she was agitated and posed a danger to herself and others.

But a review of the recordings of the incidents helped determined there was no medical condition affecting Smith’s capacity to give free and informed consent and her behaviour didn’t pose an imminent danger to herself or others.

“Ms. Smith was therefore placed in restraints and received anti-psychotic and axiolytic medications that were not medically indicated during these events,” Beaudry concluded.

Furthermore, several comments made by the nursing staff on Smith’s state of health do not match the state she presented and raise doubts about the information conveyed by phone to the psychiatrist on call.

“A psychiatrist prescribed medication without ever seeing her,” Falconer said. “Another health professional force administered, through forced injections, chemical restraints on Ashley.”

In Beaudry’s opinion, Smith could have instead been removed from her cell, had her injuries examined, been strip searched and placed in segregation as is often done under such circumstances.

Laws may have been broken

Ashley Smith is shown being restrained in a New Brunswick correctional facility, in footage obtained by CBC’s The Fifth Estate. (CBC)Sapers told the Fifth Estate ‘s Hana Gartner that physical restraints and administration of drugs without the prisoner’s consent have only been used a few times in Canada and that he thinks some laws might have been broken.

“We think it does [violate the law],” he said.

“This is very serious.”

In late September, an Ontario coroner delayed an inquest into Smith’s death from Nov. 1, 2010, until January 2011 and agreed to hear arguments from the family on whether to widen the scope of the probe.

The family wants the inquest to look at why Smith was transferred so many times across Canada and denied adequate mental health care in the final year of her life.

Late last week, a report from a psychologist retained by the Correctional Service of Canada as part of a national board of inquiry into Smith’s death concluded her death was likely an accident, not a suicide.

Smith’s mother, Coralee, said it comes as no news to her that her daughter’s death was probably not a suicide.

“I’ve learned a bunch of horror stories,” she said. “I’ve learned that this just can’t be — this just can’t be what happened, but, you know, you have to face reality.”

Read the report from Youth Today on children/adolescents being put on antipsychotics as punishment/behavior control, here http://www.naturalnews.com/030391_juveniles_antipsychotics.html

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Jury recommends major reforms in drug prescribing after investigation of 18-year-old’s suicide under the influence of Paxil

cchrint — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:32:28 +0000

Pharmalot
By Ed Silverman
June 30, 2010

There have been numerous claims that a medication caused a suicide, but few lead to sweeping changes. In Canada, however, the suicide of 18-year-old Sarah Carlin, who had taken the Paxil antidepressant, is a clear exception. Following a coroner’s inquest, Canada’s provincial and federal governments were told to ensure patients are better informed about drug risks, tighten regulations on drugmakers and establish an independent agency to regulate medications.

“If these things had been in place at the time Sara was prescribed Paxil, she would be alive today,” her father, Neil Carlin, said outside court. “We consider this a great victory…We are truly confident that if these are acted upon there will be young lives saved down the road.”

For more than a year before her death, Sara had been taking Paxil, an anti-depressant, which Health Canada warns can increase the risk of suicidal events in children and adolescents under 18. The teenager hanged herself in her parents’ basement in May 2007. The inquest made numerous recommendations, which you can see if you keep reading…

Of the various recommendations, the one that is garnering the most discussion appears to be the creation of a Drug Safety Board to investigate the side effects and issue warnings to the public, doctors and hospitals. The inquest specifically recommended the new board not receive any funding from drugmakers. Drugmakers must also report all adverse events to Health Canada within 30 days.

A Glaxo spokeswoman writes to says the drugmaker “is supportive of appropriate recommendations designed to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future, and will give the recommendations addressed to the broader pharmaceutical industry our full attention and consideration. Sara Carlin’s death was a tragedy and we continue to express our deepest sympathies to her family.”

1. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) should develop a Drug Information System. This system would promote:
• Patient safety in the prescribing and dispensing of drugs.
• Collection and compilation of data in a single repository for all drugs dispensed for all Ontarians.
• Research into drug and patient safety.

2. The Drug Information System should track and monitor all drugs dispensed in Ontario regardless of who is paying for the prescription.

3. The Drug Information System should collect, compile and release data upon request to scientists such as those studying population-based health outcomes at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.

4. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care should commit to developing a province-wide suicide prevention strategy as has occurred in other provinces such as Alberta.

5. The objectives of the province-wide suicide prevention strategy should include:
• Enhanced mental health and well being for Ontarians.
• The education of the public to de-stigmatize mental health disorders, including depression and substance abuse disorders.
• Improving intervention and support for Ontarians affected by depression and substance abuse.
• Improving intervention and treatment for those at risk of suicide.
• Increased efforts to reduce access to lethal means of suicide.
• Increased research activities in Ontario on suicide, suicidal behaviour and suicide prevention.
• Improved suicide and suicidal behaviour-related surveillance systems.
• Inform and educate the media into strategies when reporting deaths due to suicide to prevent ‘copy cat’ suicides from occurring.

6. Strategies in the province-wide suicide prevention strategy should be humane, effective and evidence based, respectful of community and culture-based knowledge, inclusive of research, surveillance, evaluation and reporting and reflective of evolving knowledge and practices.

7. The ministry of Health and Long-Term Care of Ontario and Government of Ontario should commit to supporting the development of a national suicide prevention strategy for all Canadians.

Read entire article: http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/06/sara-carlin-paxil-and-drug-safety-in-canada/

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IMS Health Canada: New study shows psychiatric drug side effects putting people at risk of an early death

cchrint — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:25:04 +0000

The Vancouver Sun
By Sharon Kirkey
June 14, 2010

The risk of coronary heart disease and a cluster of conditions known as metabolic syndrome increases soon after otherwise healthy, but depressed people are started on psychiatric drugs, putting them at risk for an early death, Canadian researchers are reporting.

Antidepressants, antipsychotics and other psychoactive drugs are the second most-prescribed drug class in the country, second only to cardiovasculars, according to prescription drug-tracking firm IMS Health Canada.

Across Canada, retail pharmacies last year dispensed 61.2 million prescriptions for psychotherapeutics, worth nearly $2.4 billion.

“Usually five of the top 10 prescribed medications worldwide are psychiatric drugs. We need to start looking at the impact of these medications on other systems,” says Dr. Valerie Taylor, an assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at St. Joseph’s health care and McMaster University in Hamilton.

In a study published this week in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Taylor and her colleagues followed 52 patients, age 16 to 40, newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder.

Many were university students who had become ill for the first time. All were “treatment naive” — they had never before been treated for a psychiatric illness.

At the start of the study, researchers measured waist circumference, blood pressure, blood fats and other markers of metabolic syndrome — the name for a grab-bag of health problems that increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

People with metabolic syndrome are twice as likely to die from, and three times as likely to have a heart attack or stroke compared to people without the disorder. They also have up to a nine-fold greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Read entire article: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Psychiatric+drugs+carry+serious+physical+health+risks/3153278/story.html

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Electroshock Survivor & Human Rights Activist Calls on Amnesty International to Deem Electroshock (ECT) as Torture

cchrint — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:45:36 +0000

Baby Care
June 14, 2010

Sue Clark-Wittenberg, director of the Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock in Ottawa, Canada is an electroshock survivor who is appealing to Amnesty International to deem electroshock (ECT) as torture. Sue is a torture victim of electroshock.

Dr. Peter R. Breggin, a psychiatrist from NY State wrote an article recently re ECT called “Disturbing News for Patients and Shock Doctors Alike” which proves ECT always causes brain damage 100% of the time. See the article in full at this URL: www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/

In America, electroshock is not deemed as torture by Amnesty International. ECT is being given more and more especially to women with post partum depression and to women over 60 years of age. Many people all over the world are working to ban electroshock universally. Yearly stats for ECT given:

Ontario, Canada – 14000 ECTs given
USA – 100000 Americans get ECT
UK – 50000 ECT given
Worldwide – 1 to 2 million people get ECT

Read entire article: http://babies.secretbest.com/19814/electroshock-is-torture/

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Psychiatric Industry claims 30 million kids in China have mental disorders—that’s nearly the entire population of Canada

cchrint — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 21:13:02 +0000

AllVoices.com
By BMcPherson
June 11, 2010

Information coming out of China has the number of young people with mental disorders pegged at 30 million. That’s nearly the whole population of Canada. This is compared to a Chinese population of over 300 million under the age of 17.

To think that nearly one in 10 young people in China have some sort of mental derangement is very disturbing, considering that they have the world’s largest standing army, are nuclear weaponized and are becoming the world’s big boy with regard to global trade.

“The number 30 million is based on regional researches in recent years. Since the mental health of children must have worsened over time, the real number could be even higher,” said Cui Yonghua, a child psychiatrist with the Beijing Anding Hospital.”China Daily

Further reading brings about a big sigh of relief, however. Most behaviors described by the experts in China are what we in the decadent West consider normal behaviors…

Read entire article: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6040479-30-million-youngsters-in-china-have-mental-disorders

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Children on antipsychotics 3 times more likely to develop diabetes (a known side effect of antipsychotics)

cchrint — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:51:58 +0000

Kelly Sinoski
Vancouver Sun
November 11, 2009

Children and youth on certain antipsychotic medications are more prone to getting diabetes and becoming fat, according to a new study published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.

But the British Columbia doctors involved in the two-year study say parents shouldn’t rush to take their children off the drugs and instead should consult their physicians on ways to monitor and beat the metabolic side-effects.

“On the one hand, the medication has significant and worrying side-effects,” said study co-author Dr. Jana Davidson, medical director of child and adolescent mental health and addiction programs at BC Children’s Hospital.

“On the other hand, in some of these cases the kids being on medication is what allows them to function in their lives and allows them to stay in their families.”

About 6,000 youth in B.C. are on antipsychotic medications and prescription rates have been soaring in the past five years, according to the study.

Between 2002 and 2006, prescriptions of atypical or second-generation antipsychotics for B.C. youth rose by about 22 per cent, from one in 200 youth to one in 154.

Read entire article: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Children+antipsychotic+drugs+more+prone+diabetes+Canadian+study/2212393/story.html

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CCHR International » Canada

Study Claims “ADHD Boys” Get in More Car Accidents—Fails to Mention ADHD Drug Side Effects & Recommends…More Drugging

ADHD puts teen drivers at risk: study

Compliance issues for meds

Related Posts

Death of Canadian Teen Under Investigation- Following Unwarranted Forced Antipsychotic Injections

Ashley Smith’s sedations in custody unwarranted: report

Inquest should look at whole time in custody: lawyer

The Psychiatrist’s Report Read the medical opinion by Dr. Paul Beaudry.

Laws may have been broken

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Jury recommends major reforms in drug prescribing after investigation of 18-year-old’s suicide under the influence of Paxil

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