Drugging Kids

This book exposes the skyrocketing rate of antipsychotic drug prescriptions for children, identifies grave dangers when children's mental health care is driven by market forces, describes effective therapeutic care for children typically prescribed antipsychotics, and explains how to navigate a drug-fueled mental health system. Since 2001, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of antipsychotics to treat children for an ever-expanding list of symptoms. The prescription rate for toddlers, preschoolers, and middle-class children has doubled, while the prescribing rate for low-income children covered by Medicaid has quadrupled. In a majority of cases, these drugs are neither FDA-approved nor justified by research for the children's conditions. This book examines the reasons behind the explosion of antipsychotic drug prescriptions for children, spotlighting the historical and cultural factors as well as the role of the pharmaceutical industry in this trend; and discusses the ethical and legal responsibilities and ramifications for non-MDs—psychologists in particular—who work with children treated with antipsychotics. Contributors explain how the pharmaceutical industry has inserted itself into every step of medical education, rendering objectivity in the scientific understanding, use, and approvals of such drugs impossible. The text describes the relentless marketing behind the drug sales, even going as far as to provide coloring and picture books for children related to the drug at issue. Valuable information about legal recourse that families and therapists can take when their children or patients have been harmed by antipsychotic drugs and alternative approaches to working with children with emotional and behavioral challenges is also provided.

Randol Contreras came of age in the South Bronx during the 1980s, a time when the community was devastated by cuts in social services, a rise in arson and abandonment, and the rise of crack-cocaine. For this riveting book, he returns to the South Bronx with a sociological eye and provides an unprecedented insiderÕs look at the workings of a group of Dominican drug robbers. Known on the streets as ÒStickup Kids,Ó these men raided and brutally tortured drug dealers storing large amounts of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and cash. As a participant observer, Randol Contreras offers both a personal and theoretical account for the rise of the Stickup Kids and their violence. He mainly focuses on the lives of neighborhood friends, who went from being crack dealers to drug robbers once their lucrative crack market opportunities disappeared. The result is a stunning, vivid, on-the-ground ethnographic description of a drug robberyÕs violence, the drug market high life, the criminal life course, and the eventual pain and suffering experienced by the casualties of the Crack Era. Provocative and eye-opening, The Stickup Kids urges us to explore the ravages of the drug trade through weaving history, biography, social structure, and drug market forces. It offers a revelatory explanation for drug market violence by masterfully uncovering the hidden social forces that produce violent and self-destructive individuals. Part memoir, part penetrating analysis, this book is engaging, personal, deeply informed, and entirely absorbing.

All parents want to believe their children will not experiment with drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately that is not realistic. The authors provide the knowledge and tools parents need to help their kids stay or become drug free. Includes a helpful study guide for personal use and group discussion.

The highly acclaimed comprehensive guide to getting your child through the formative pre-teen, teen, and college years drug-free—now completely revised and updated. Nearly every child will be offered drugs or alcohol before graduating high school, and excessive drinking is common at most colleges. But the good news is that a child who gets to age twenty-one without smoking, using illegal drugs, or abusing alcohol or prescription drugs is virtually certain never to do so. Drawing on more than two decades of research at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASAColumbia), founder Joseph A. Califano, Jr., presents a clear, common-sense guide to helping kids stay drug-free. All parents dream of a healthy, productive, and fulfilling future for their children; Califano shows which specific actions work and what parents can do to teach, protect, and empower their children to have the greatest chance of making that future come true. Teenagers who learn about the risks of drugs from their parents are twice as likely never to try them, and this book provides the tools parents need to prepare their children for those crucial decision-making moments. In this revised and updated edition, Califano tackles some of the newest obstacles standing between our kids and a drug-free life—from social media sites and cell phone apps to the explosion in prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse and the increased dangers and addictive power of marijuana. He reveals what teens can’t or won’t tell their parents about their thoughts on drugs and alcohol, and combines the latest research with his discussions with thousands of parents and teens about the challenges that widespread access to drugs and alcohol present, and how parents can instill in their teens the will and skills to choose not to use. Califano’s insightful and lively guide is as readable as it is informative.

There is a lot of crucial information that parents and the general public do not know about the diagnosis of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and the unwanted effects of the drugs used to "treat" it. You should read this book if your child is taking an ADHD drug, or if you are being told to have your child diagnosed and drugged for ADHD. You should read this book if you are concerned about the growing numbers of children in your local schools who are being given ADHD diagnoses and drugs. You should read this book if you are concerned about the continually rising numbers of children being drugged for ADHD in our society and where this is taking your country. The information in this book will empower you to reach an informed conclusion.

This book aims to provide parents and educators with the evidence they need to not rush into accepting the label of ADHD, and most assuredly avoid being recruited into the billion dollar pharmaceutical industry's pill popping culture. For more information, visit Dr. Corrigan's Facebook(R) page at https: //www.facebook.com/debunkingadhd.

In a nation where an estimated 25 percent of high-school seniors use illegal substances on a monthly basis, parents are wise to be concerned about setting their children on a drug-free course. While much advice handed out these days focuses on teen behavior and on what to do once drugs have become a problem in the home, Raising Drug-Free Kids takes an innovative approach and focuses instead on preventative measures that can be followed early on in a child's life. Developmental psychologist and parent educator Aletha Solter provides parents with simple, easy-to use tools to build a solid foundation for children to say "no" to drugs. Organized by age group, from preschool through young adulthood, the handy 100 tips will show parents how to help their children to: Feel good about themselves without an artificial high. Cope with stress so they won't turn to drugs to relax. Respect their bodies so they will reject harmful substances. Have close family connections so they won't feel desperate to belong to a group. Take healthy risks (like outdoor adventures) so they won't need to take dangerous ones.

This report of a congressional hearing presents information on children exposed to drugs prenatally and their later educational problems. The document begins with an opening statement and a prepared statement from Representative Charles B. Rangel. Testimony and prepared statements from the following witnesses are included: (1) Evelyn Davis, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Harlem Hospital Center; (2) Charlie Knight, Superintendent, Ravenswood City School District, East Palo Alto, California; (3) Diane Powell, Director, Project DAISY, District of Columbia Public Schools; (4) P. Michael Timpane, President, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York; (5) Robert Chase, Vice President, National Education Association; (6) Elaine M. Johnson, Director, Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services; and (7) Beny J. Primm, Associate Administrator for Treatment Improvement, Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services. The appendix includes a statement by Representative Jim Ramstad on the problems of drug-exposed children. (ABL)