Thursday, May 22, 2003

Teachers can't prescribe

Schools won't be able to force medication on their students anymore -- or even recommend it -- if a bill recently passed by the House has anything to say about it. Representatives passed H.R. 1170, the Child Medication Safety Act, despite complaints from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology that the legislation is both unnecessary, since no one knows the extent to which schools are actually pushing psychotropic meds in the first place, and a bad idea, since it would cause teachers to hesitate in expressing concern to a parent about a child's mental health. The weight of anecdotal evidence fell in favor of getting schools out of the business of prescribing medication, and the bill passed 425-1.

Now, the extent to which dealing with schools and child study teams can affect parents' mental health, and force them to consider medication for themselves -- this, the legislators let go unregulated. Go figure.

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