No Holiday Rest for Child Advocates in Toronto

TORONTO - May 22, 2015 - PRLog -- TORONTO, ON (Monday, 18 May 2015) – The American Psychiatric Association thought they would have a quiet getaway this Victoria Day weekend in Toronto, where they planned to discuss, among other things, their continued campaign to rob children of their bodies, minds, hearts and souls through psychotropic drugging.

Instead they were greeted by outraged parents, professionals and child rights advocates calling for an end to the wholesale drugging of children around the world in a block-long protest march, complete with banners, placards and posters and high-decibel chants. The motorbike cavalcade leading the march brought the 300 protesters and other child rights advocates to Citizens Commission on Human Rights* “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” traveling exhibit, here in Toronto for a limited weekend engagement.

It is the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual that dictates the drugging of Canadian children. An estimated $2.3 billion is spent annually in Canada on psychotropic drugs that can cause diabetes, strokes, heart problems, hallucinations, aggression and suicide in children.

While the American psychiatrists with huge financial ties to pharmaceutical companies came to advocate for more drug use in children, CCHR’s ribbon-cutting guest speakers made their way to the traveling exhibit at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts from as far away as Vancouver, Montreal, Los Angeles and Hamburg, Germany:

   Bruce Wiseman, former chairman of the Department of History at John F. Kennedy University and U.S. President of Citizens Commission on Human Rights.

   Stephane Duranleau, Québec lawyer who, on the eve of the CCHR exhibit opening, won a landmark settlement for children and adults, who for years had been abused in the province’s mental health system.

   Bernd Trepping, president of CCHR Germany and spokesperson for CCHR throughout Europe. (Mr. Trepping recently filed complaints to German federal and state authorities calling for the investigation into the psychiatric drug treatment of German Wings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who purposely crashed Flight 9525 into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board earlier this year.)

   Nutritionist Karen Ryan, founder of The ADDvocates, parents’ educational group and author of "ADHD is Not a Four Letter Word: Drug Free Strategies for Managing the Gift that is ADHD." Ms. Ryan’s advocacy stems from her intervention in her young son’s psychiatrist-prescribed Ritalin treatment, which nearly shattered his life.

Of her personal experience Ms. Ryan told the exhibit opening gathering, “My message is very simple: as a mother, as an educator, a nutritionist and an author who has virtually spent thousands of hours researching ADHD, I need the world to know that our youth don’t need to suffer with the side effects at the hand of a medication. And I need the world to know that ADHD is not a mental disorder, and certainly being a child is not a mental disorder.”

The weekend exhibit agenda culminated in a two-hour panel discussion “Harmful Consequences of Child Labeling & Drugging: What the Future Brings if We Don’t Act to Protect Kids Now.” Its purpose: to counter the onslaught of psychotropic drugs now besieging school children. Panelists challenged attending experts in the fields of nutrition, counseling, medicine, biochemistry and the media to propose effective guidelines for bringing this epidemic of child-drugging to a halt.

Canadian parents were advised to use the Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act to report dangerous psychotropic drug effects. Attorney and panelist Stefane Duranleau pointed to a trend of governmental support for parental consent, witness Quebec Minister of Health Dr. Gaetan Barrette’s recent declaration that the people of Quebec are over-consuming Ritalin and antidepressants, saying that just because kids are active is no reason that they should be prescribed Ritalin.

M. Duranleau cited his own recent court settlement of a class action lawsuit between former patients and Hospital du Suroit in Quebec as a harbinger for future legal safeguards when it comes to mental health issues and rights. Between 2005 and 2008, people were illegally put under physical and chemical restraints.

“This is a major win against restraints abuses in Canada,” said M. Duranleau. “More than 100 victims will benefit from the $600,000 out of court settlement that was approved by the Superior Court of Quebec,”

The panel concluded with the official launch of a petition drive calling for legislation to prohibit forcing schoolchildren onto psychotropic drugs and expand a parent’s rights to refuse such drugs on behalf of their children. The petition calls for the protection of foster children and children in care, as well.

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*CCHR was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and the late Prof. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry, Upstate University New York Health Science Center. CCHR is an independent psychiatric watchdog, which has helped to enact more than 150 reforms protecting patients from abuse. Its public awareness campaign includes an easily searchable psychiatric drug database that records adverse events reported to the Food and Drug Administration and international drug regulatory agency warnings on psychiatric drugs—provided as a free public service to the public. Log onto: http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/