Thursday, April 13, 2006

Demand the FDA Fulfill Its Obligation To Public Safety

I am sending this request to get your assistance on a very vital action that will only take a few minutes of your time. The issue is ADHD drugs. We have received confirmation that many of you have written your letters and THANK YOU. If you haven't yet done it, please write your letter immediately and email me confirmation that you've done it.

Recently, the FDA held hearings on “ADHD” drugs due to numerous reports of hallucinations and psychosis attributed to them. And while the FDA panel did recommend new warning language for these drugs, the panel refused to issue “black box” warnings – the agency’s most severe warning label.

Why? Consider this: There has been a lot of public outcry about millions of children being prescribed ADHD drugs with increasing reports of the drugs causing suicide, psychosis and hallucinations. A few months ago, a leading cardiologist recommended the FDA issue black box warnings due to reports of heart attack, stroke and sudden death from ADHD drugs. So this latest FDA panel --which included psychiatrists with ties to the pharmaceutical industry – had to take some action – so issued increased warning language about the drugs. But why not the black box? Because the FDA appears to be more interested in protecting psychiatric/pharmaceutical interests, than in the public’s interest. When black box warnings are issued, drug manufacturers have to disclose the risks in all advertising.

This is why many of the experts and medical doctors attending the FDA hearing on ADHD drugs called it a sham and said that the FDA yielded to the profit-driven psychiatric/pharmaceutical industry.

The Deputy Director of the Office of Drug Safety himself has stated, “…. products that carry box warnings also have to carry that in their advertising and quite frequently that makes it quite difficult to explicitly advertise that product in direct-to-consumer advertising."

So the issue is simple. Black box warnings mean drug sales go down. The FDA’s own mission statement says it is responsible for “protecting the public health and ensuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs.” So CCHR is asking everyone to fax letters to the FDA demanding black box warnings on these drugs – and reminding the FDA that they are there to protect the public’s safety and interests–- not psychiatric pharmaceutical interests.


Emails or letters should be sent to the Acting Commissioner of the FDA at:


Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.,
Acting Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857-0001
Email: andrew.voneschenbach@fda.hhs.gov

(please blind copy your emails to CCHR at fieldactivities@cchr.org

We want to send copies of all these emails to Senator Charles Grassley, the member of Congress who has been addressing the need for oversight of the FDA.

Or you can fax him yourself at 202-224-6020

Senator Charles Grassley
135 Hart Senate Bldg.
Washington, D.C., 20510-1501

Your help is needed on this. So thanks in advance for your assistance.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Legal Help For Psych Victims

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International has a new feature on their www.psychcrime.org website – a section for referral to attorneys.

CCHR is affiliated with the Church of Scientology. To learn more about the church and its social betterment programs, check out the site at Center for Studies on New Religions.

CCHR is contacted regularly by individuals who have been harmed or violated by psychiatry, or whose loved ones have been harmed, damaged or even killed.

For instance, psychiatric drugs are notorious for causing suicidal thoughts and actions. Indeed, thousands of such cases have resulted in compensation to victims. Psychiatrists often take sexual liberties with the patients, even calling it "therapy", causing substantial and indefensible harm.

These victims often seek attorneys and need attorneys to preserve their rights and to seek compensation for damages caused by psychiatric abuses and pharmaceutical injuries. CCHR therefore endeavors to get victims in contact with attorneys who are potentially interested in helping these individuals protect their rights and receive proper restitution for wrongdoing.

Therefore, as a non-profit, public benefit organization, CCHR has developed a section of our website, www.psychcrime.org where abused individuals can post information about the abuse they have been subjected to, sorted by state and type of abuse. Then attorneys can view these files to see if there is someone they feel they could assist. In addition to the cases posted at the time of the section's launch, new cases will be added regularly as we prepare the information from complaints received in recent months, as well as new ones coming in.

If you know individuals who have been abused by psychiatric treatments and are seeking counsel, have them fill out the Abuse Case Form on the website. If you know attorneys who want to assist such abused individuals, please have them fill out the Attorney Form on the site. The attorney's name will then be provided to the potential client.

This service is being offered as a public service and there is no charge for it.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Quest for Profit Yields New ADHD Patch

"Main ADHD stimulant more potent than cocaine", says D.E.A.

While billions in tax dollars are paid each year to fight the “War on Drugs,” psychiatrists continue to promote and prescribe addictive mind-altering ADHD drugs to children -- evidenced by the latest "ADHD patch". While two separate FDA panels have warned of ADHD drugs' lethal effects, Australia reported nearly 400 adverse reactions with children as young as 5 suddenly dropping dead and children as young as 7 having heart attacks or strokes caused by ADHD drugs. Many others worldwide suffer induced hallucinations, psychosis, mania or suicidal ideation.

Even the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says Ritalin is more potent than cocaine.

It is appalling that the FDA would allow a new ADHD patch when they should be issuing black box warnings on these addictive life-threatening narcotics known as ADHD drugs.