South Africa reports having one of the highest rates in the world of prescribed stimulants for children labeled with so-called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)\u2014a rate even higher than in the U.S.[i] \u00a0While The New York Times recently reported the prescription of dangerous antidepressants and antipsychotics to children aged two and younger in the U.S.,[ii] South Africa also shows antidepressants are being prescribed to children aged two and younger[iii] and powerful antipsychotics like Risperdal are approved to treat disruptive behavior in children older than 5 with mental retardation.[iv] \u00a0Wanting South Africa to avoid the epidemic of psychotropic drug abuse of children seen in the U.S., CCHR (http:\/\/www.CCHR.org) International has launched a campaign to inform South African parents and teachers about prescribed psychotropic drug risks in children.<\/p>\n
\n\nAs part of the campaign, fliers are downloadable (http:\/\/www.cchrint.org\/pdfs\/prescribed-psych-drugs-harm-sa-children-and-youth.pdf) to be distributed to parents to become better informed and to refuse to sign consent forms for children to be screened for psychological or mental \u201cdisorders\u201d through schools. Parents can also download, print, and sign a form to protect their child (http:\/\/www.cchrint.org\/pdfs\/parent-exemption-form.pdf) from invasive school questionnaires that could lead to a referral to a psychiatrist for psychotropic drugs. \u00a0South Africa adopted an \u201cIntegrated School Health Policy\u201d in 2010, which included a mental health program. \u00a0It likely opened the door to more children potentially being drugged, CCHR says.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Stimulants sales are a $9.9 billion (R150 billion) a year industry in the U.S. and are among the leading drugs of abuse by teenagers.\u00a0 South African students snort and swallow Ritalin to get high. \u00a0The drug is referred to as \u201csmarties,\u201d \u201crit\u201d or “kiddie cocaine.\u201d[v]\u00a0 The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says methylphenidate (Ritalin) is \u201cclosely related to cocaine.\u201d[vi]\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Psychostimulants can cause hallucinations, liver problems, seizures, stunted growth, psychotic or manic symptoms, and suicidal thoughts.\u00a0 Unlike for diabetes, heart problems or medical conditions, there\u2019s no scientific test to prove that ADHD exists, as agreed by many doctors.\u00a0 The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has warned governments about the excessive diagnosis of ADHD and the need for alternatives to stimulants prescribed to treat it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Conflicts of Interest<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0Another parallel between South Africa and the U.S. is the conflicts of interest\u2014the financial ties between psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies that help fuel the increases in psychiatric drug prescriptions. The South African Society of Psychiatrists Treatment Guidelines for Psychiatric Disorders was written by ten psychiatrists (one of which passed away prior to reporting any conflicts of interest).\u00a0 Six had financial ties to drug companies that manufacture psychiatric drugs.[vii]\u00a0 The Guidelines cite the U.S. psychiatrist Prof. Joseph Biederman from Harvard University whose failure to disclose to the university the $1.6 million (R24.1 million) he made in consulting fees from drug makers was uncovered by a U.S. Senate investigation.\u00a0 According to The New York Times his research helped cause a 40-fold increase (1994 to 2003) in the diagnosis of childhood \u201cbipolar disorder\u201d in the U.S. and the rapid rise in dangerous antipsychotics to treat it.[viii]<\/p>\n \u00a0The Anti-Drug Alliance of South Africa says many doctors are receiving kickbacks including paid holidays abroad for prescribing certain drugs in the treatment of ADHD.[ix] \u00a0The South African guidelines, especially relating to ADHD, should be rejected, CCHR says.<\/p>\n \u00a0The use of Ritalin and other drugs to treat ADHD was reported in January 2014 as soaring among primary school children in Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape province. \u00a0A local pharmacist reported an increase of nearly 50% in Ritalin prescriptions over the previous year.[x]\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Antidepressant use in the South Africa has increased by 39% over the past four years.[xi]\u00a0 In 2005 the South Africa Medicines Control Council issued a \u201cDrug Alert: Warning\u201d that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressant packaging include a warning of increased suicidality in children and adolescents.[xii]<\/p>\n \u00a0Despite this, a study published in 2013 shows that in South Africa the average number of antidepressant prescriptions claimed per patient increased with age and infants and adolescents aged 16 to 18 are prescribed the drugs.[xiii] \u00a0A co-author of a December 2015 study reported about 60 to 70% of people who take antidepressants \u201cexperience side effects and some of the side effects are severe suicidal thoughts.\u201d [xiv]<\/p>\n \u00a0CCHR agrees that parents and children may need help. \u00a0However, parents are not being given all the facts, especially that there is no medical test to confirm that any mental disorder is a physical \u201cdisease.\u201d \u00a0South African parents have the right to know about safe alternatives for their child and to ask their doctor about non-drug treatments. Download the flier for more information, here (http:\/\/www.cchrint.org\/pdfs\/prescribed-psych-drugs-harm-sa-children-and-youth.pdf).<\/p>\n South Africa reports having one of the highest rates in the world of prescribed stimulants for children labeled with so-called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)\u2014a rate even higher than in the U.S.[i] \u00a0While The New York Times recently reported the prescription of dangerous antidepressants and antipsychotics to children aged two and younger in the U.S.,[ii] […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[428,4585,830],"class_list":{"0":"post-63062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-africa","8":"tag-apo","9":"tag-news","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63062\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}