Submitted by the Compton, California NAACP
NOTE: This resolution was approved and signed as a Presidential Emergency Resolution by President/CEO Kweisi Mfume, Chairman Julian Bond and unanimously approved by the NAACP Members on July 15, 2003, at the 94th Annual National NAACP Convention in Miami Beach, Florida.
The Resolution was written in support of the Child Medication Safety Act 2003 (HR1170, S1390).
Subject: The Concerns and Discrepancies in Special Education and the Use of Psychotropic Drugs on Children and Teens
WHEREAS, Research by medical professionals have indicated considerable controversy and diverse opinion about the validity of childhood behavioral or learning disorders such as, but not limited to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and
WHEREAS, eight million children each year (which is about ten percent of the school age population) are prescribed behavior and mind-altering psychiatric drugs for learning and attention difficulties,
WHEREAS, Ritalin, one of the more commonly known behavior modification drugs, is a Schedule II drug, in the same category as Opium, Morphine, Dexedrine, Concerta and Cocaine. Schedule II means those drugs with a medical use that have the highest potential for abuse or drug dependence. A 1995 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) report on Ritalin said that the drug is more potent than cocaine. A side effect of its withdrawal is suicidal impulses.
WHEREAS, African American Students account for only 16 percent of the U.S. student population, yet they represent nearly a third (32 percent) of all students in programs for mild mental retardation. A New York study had found that minority boys are 11 times more likely to be on mind-altering medications than is the general student body. The suicide rate among African American males between the ages of 15 and 19 has risen 219% since 1964, around the same time that stimulant drug use in school children began in earnest, and
WHEREAS, There are documented incidents of highly negative consequences in which psychiatric prescription drugs have been utilized for what are essentially problems of discipline which may be related to lack of academic success, and it has been suggested that recent incidents of school violence and other occasions of violence are the result of children being unnecessarily medicated by Schedule II and other psychotropic drugs.
WHEREAS, the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) has found that children taking prescribed stimulants for ADHD still have a higher level of some behavior problems. Studies have found that children who take prescribed amphetamine-type stimulants do not perform better academically and, in fact, fail just as many courses, and drop out of school just as often, as children who did not take the drugs. And,
WHEREAS, it costs $28 billion a year for the Special Education programs in the U. S., the Economic Policy Institute estimates public schools spend as much as 38% of each new tax dollar on special education, and the Presidents commission on Special Education found that 40% of children being labeled with learning disorders simply hadn't been taught to read, and
WHEREAS, in predominantly White schools districts, minority students are classified as learning disabled at significantly higher rates. National reading tests confirmed that public schools are failing at alarming rates to teach reading to elementary students and 60% percent of African American fourth graders tested scored below basic on the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress Examination, and
WHEREAS, the largest growth in special education populations is among children classified as learning disabled. Nearly 2 million children have preventable learning disabilities and the number of students classified as learning disabled could be reduced by as much as 70 percent with rigorous early reading instruction, and
WHEREAS, studies have shown that psychotropic drugs are often a first choice for a child displaying learning and behavioral problems yet no medical testing is done on the child prior to the prescriptive order. Studies such as the Goldwater Institute Policy Report in March 2003 showed that learning disabilities involved subjective diagnoses, not objective medical diagnoses. There is no definitive physically based definition of learning disability, and the terms Serious Emotional Disturbances, Emotional Disturbance and Specific Learning Disabilities have no scientific merit, are subjectively determined, and
WHEREAS, many behavior problems displayed in children labeled with learning disabilities are also the same types of behavior problems caused by diet, high mercury and lead levels, exposure to pesticides and other toxins, and iron deficiency, and
WHEREAS, Nationwide reports of parents being threatened with medical neglect or child expulsion have prompted five (5) states [Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota and Virginia] to enact laws and 14 more introduced bills prohibiting school personnel from recommending children be put on psychiatric drugs. The other 14 states are: Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Nevada, New York, Texas, Vermont and West Virginia.
WHEREAS, labeling a child with these disorders have led to school personnel coercing parents into accepting psychiatric diagnoses for their childs behavior or learning problems and insisting that parents place their child on psychiatric drugs. This exceeds the teachers role and denies parents access to information (and, thereby, violates, in principle, informed consent standards) about other known medical and educational causes for disruptive behavior or learning problems. This includes but is not limited to: poor reading and math skills, environmental toxins, allergies, nutritional deficiencies, and abnormalities in the endocrine system or thyroid function.
WHEREAS, A parents or legal guardians refusal to allow a child to be labeled with a disorder or refusal to medicate the child with psychotropic drugs is not grounds for expulsion of the child or removal of the child from the classroom or from the parental or guardians custody. Parents or guardians should not be charged with abuse if they refused to label or medicate their child with psychotropic drugs.
WHEREAS, The American Medical Associations (AMA) standard for informed consent includes communicating the nature and purpose of a proposed treatment or procedure and the risks and benefits of such treatments and the alternatives (regardless of their cost or the extent to which the treatment options are covered by health insurance.)
WHEREAS, in 2000-2001 the NAACP had resolved to call upon the United States Congress, Federal, State and Local agencies to revise regulations to prevent placing children on Ritalin or similar behavior medication drugs in the absence of professional, medical and psychiatric diagnosis,
THEREFORE, be it resolved by the 94th Annual Convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) that its members on a national and local level recommend and undividedly support legislation which stipulates that as a condition of receiving funds under any program or activity administered by the Secretary of Education or by the Department of Children and Family Services, and other government agencies, that each State will be required to establish policies and procedures that prohibit school personnel from demanding a child take any psychiatric/psychotropic medication as a condition for attending or remaining in school, and
IT SHALL FURTHER be resolved that the NAACP demands a proper and equitable definition for a (learning) disability that includes appropriate medical evaluations by health care professionals; and
IT SHALL FURTHER be resolved that the NAACP Branches will communicate to its members and the African American community as well as recommending to schools and institutions to ensure that written information is available for parents that clearly states there is controversy and diverse medical opinion about ADHD and learning disorders and that according to medical opinion, such problems can be attributed to various causes such as environmental toxins, allergies, nutritional deficiencies, and many other similar causes;
THEREFORE, be it further resolved that funds be sought for Special Education to those children suffering from physically based/caused disabilities and intellectual disabilities that have been physically caused.
Approved on July 15, 2003
Kweisi Mfume - President/CEO NAACP
Julian Bond - Chairman NAACP National Executive Board
Alice Huffman - President of the California State Conference for NAACP
Fred D. Shaw, Jr. President of the Compton NAACP
Mikki Jenkins Executive Secretary and Legislative Rep of Compton NAACP
