Priscilla Presley, Kelly Preston, Danny Masterson, Sofia Milos, Catherine Bell, Chris Masterson and Marisol Nichols speak out against psychiatry's new federal plan to massively increase psychiatric drugging of schoolchildren, despite international warnings of drugs causing suicide and violence.

CCHR's 36th Anniversary was held in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel Chris, Jordan and Danny Masterson were some of the many celebrities that attended.

LOS ANGELES: On Saturday, February 26th, at the 36th anniversary and awards banquet of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), Priscilla Presley, Kelly Preston, Danny Masterson (That 70s Show), Chris Masterson (Malcolm in the Middle), Sofia Milos (CSI Miami), Catherine Bell (JAG) and Marisol Nichols (Blind Justice) joined hundreds of human rights activists paying tribute to courageous individuals who have battled a billion-dollar-a-year psychiatric child drugging industry—and won. Awards were presented to parents, legislators and other human rights activists who helped win monumental protections for children's rights, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requiring all antidepressants to carry suicide warnings for children and adolescents and the passage of federal legislation prohibiting mandatory psychiatric drugging of schoolchildren.

Celebrities spoke out against a new federal plan to screen (test) all 52 million American schoolchildren for "mental disorders," an initiative they say will swell the already epidemic numbers of children being prescribed mind-altering drugs. Eight million children are legally taking cocaine-like stimulants and other psychotropic drugs in the United States.

The annual event, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, has become a focal point for celebrities to champion their causes-in this case, children's rights. Many legislators, attorneys, doctors, educators, parents and human rights activists attended the celebration.

Several of the celebrities have already been to Congress and are likely to be heading there again soon to oppose the largely unknown screening plan, recommended by the "New Freedom Commission on Mental Health"- a group of mental health vested interests advising the federal government. They say the initiative could increase the number of children prescribed psychiatric drugs to more than 40 million within the next decade.

Given the international outcry and publicity over the risks of these drugs, including suicide, violent behavior, rare blood disorders, heart irregularities and even death, the screening plan has outraged parents who say they have not been fully informed about the subjective and unscientific nature of the questionnaires used to screen children, which can lead to drug prescriptions.

CCHR Int. Human Rights Award winner, Tom Woodward, with Priscilla Presley

Questions include, "In the past month, how much of a problem have you had with feeling unhappy or sad?," or "Has there been a time when you felt you couldn't do anything well or that you weren't as good-looking or as smart as other people?" or "Has there been a time when you couldn't think as clearly or as fast as usual?" Any child undergoing mental screening is at risk of being diagnosed and drugged simply by filling out a questionnaire at school. Students have even been bribed with financial "incentives," such as $5 gift certificates, video rental gifts or "food vouchers" to secure the return of parental consent forms for "depression" screening to be conducted.

Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) has introduced The Parental Consent Act of 2005 (HR 181) to counter the mental health screening plan. "Psychiatric diagnoses are inherently subjective," Congressman Paul said. "And the drugs regularly prescribed produce serious side effects, especially in children's developing brains." The legislation "strengthens the fundamental right of parents to direct and control the upbringing and education of their children." The celebrities are more emphatic; they want all psychiatrists and their programs out of schools and let teachers get on with what they do best: teach.

CCHR's 2005 Human Rights Awards Recipients

Kelly Preston awarded Congressman Max Burns (R-GA) who introduced and championed legislation that was enacted on December 4 by President Bush as the Prohibition of Mandatory Medication Amendment. The precedent setting law prohibits schools requiring children to take psychiatric drugs as a condition of attending school.

Priscilla Presley awarded two parents, one was New Jersey mother, Lisa Van Syckel, whose 14-year-old daughter Michelle was misdiagnosed as "depressed" when she had an easily treatable physical condition. She was prescribed antidepressants and quickly transformed from an honor role student to a teen, hell bent on committing suicide, even carving the word "DIE" onto her belly. Mrs. Van Syckel testified before the FDA hearings into antidepressants that led to a "black box" label being added to the drugs' packaging, warning that the drugs can cause suicidal reactions, especially in children and adolescents. The second parent was father Tom Woodward, whose daughter Julie was "Screened" for depression at school, recommended to take Zoloft, and one week later her parents found her in their garage—Julie—who had no history of self harm, and was an A to B grade student, had hanged herself. Tom Woodward has become and outspoken critic of the psychiatric drugging of children, has testified twice before the U.S. FDA, and has been featured in the national media.

Catherine Bell, Sofia Milos and Marisol Nichols spoke out against proposed mental health screening of American schoolchildren

Sofia Milos presented the Thomas S. Szasz award to Italian doctor, Georgio Antonucci, for his lifelong work in helping and curing hundreds of mentally disturbed patients that psychiatrists had claimed were "incurable." Antonucci has become world renown for releasing patients from life-long incarceration in mental wards, treating their undiagnosed physical conditions, and helping to incorporate them back into society without barbaric psychiatric treatments such as restraints, electroshock or mind-altering drugs. He is testimony to the fact that workable non-drug therapies do exist. Dr. Thomas Szasz is a Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at Upstate University, Syracuse, New York, who co-founded CCHR in 1969 and is an acclaimed international author critical of psychiatry's coercive methods.

Carina Rico awarded Professor Yolanda Blanco Garcia, the Secretary of Education for the state of Neuvo Leon in Mexico, who removed psychiatric assessments for "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" (ADHD) from Nuevo Leon schools last year, due to subjective and unscientific nature of the diagnoses.

Published: February 27, 2005
Author: Marla Filidei

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights is an international psychiatric watchdog group co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, to investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights. Contact CCHR's Media Department at 800-869-2247 or humanrights@cchr.org.