A Different War On Drugs (fought by children)

Every day between six to eight million children take psychotropic medications – about 10% of all U.S. children.

This compares to 1.2% in Israel, 1.4% in Germany, and .3% in the UK. My concern is mostly the giant percentage of foster care children being forced to take these drugs.

Side effects are real and there is little meaningful mental health therapy provided to coincide with the taking of these drugs. I would argue, that we use these drugs in place of therapy which leads to medicated kids never learning how to cope with their mental health issues (which is why we have so many preteen moms, adolescent felons, and unsafe neighborhoods).

The following TED talk, St Luke’s Health Initiatives brief, and Policy Lab Research of foster kids on psychotropic medications (Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia), describe what should be evidence enough to reconsider our definition of dangerous drugs.