HEADLINE: Tougher limits on ADHD drug use. TOUGH new measures to rein in the prescription of medication for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder will be launched in Western Australia today. The Australian, December 19, 2002, Thursday - Commentary by Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD

> Copyright 2002 Nationwide News Pty Limited
> The Australian
>
>
> December 19, 2002, Thursday
>
> SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 4
>
> LENGTH: 465 words
>
> HEADLINE: Tougher limits on ADHD drug use
>
> SOURCE: MATP
>
> BYLINE: Victoria Laurie
>
> BODY:
>
> TOUGH new measures to rein in the prescription of medication for children
> with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder will be launched in Western
> Australia today.
>
> The state has among the highest rates of ADHD diagnosis in the world,
> rivalling that of the US and Canada.
>
> Health Minister Bob Kucera said widespread community concern about high
> prescribing rates meant there was a need to explore new ways of treating the
> disorder.........

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
But the point is that the children are NORMAL; there is no
"disorder" by which they--psychiatry, pediatrics, neurology, all of
medicine, mean they have a disease, are abnormal. Speaking of "new ways of
treating the disorder," is to miss the point. If children are found by
competent, comprehensive pediatric, neurological, medical examinations to be
normal, the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD or any other psychiatric diagnosis
within the DSM does not, ever, establish that they have a disorder = disease
= abnormality. Further, there are legally effective ways to hold them
responsible for calling NORMAL children, "disordered"/"diseased"/"abnormal."
I will be appending this strategy to my web site within a few days. It is
time the fraud of calling emotional and behavioral problems diseases was
legally challenged and stopped.]

>.........Under the policy, doctors will need to demonstrate other medical
> conditions have been excluded before making an ADHD diagnosis.

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
Nor is the ADHD problem primarily one of mis-diagnosis, that
is, of the failure to discover a causal, underlying medical problem.
Granted, in the rush to refer to psychology or psychiatry, append an ADHD
label, and drug, physical examinations are often not done, or are cursory,
and medical diagnoses are missed (otitis media, most commonly, but other
organic diseases as well, even brain tumors) but the fact of the matter is
that the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD diagnoses no physical abnormality; the
overwhelming majority of children diagnosed ADHD are medically/physically
normal and all in psychiatry and medicine who practice this brand of mental
health know it.]

> They will be required to try other treatments before resorting to
> prescribing powerful stimulant drugs such as Ritalin and dexamphetamines.

[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
I like the intent of this legislation, recognizing as it does
the incredible danger of this group of drugs, but it's authors and
supporters, have yet to comprehend the totality of the fraud of "biological"
psychiatry and "biological" mental health, that which trades on the
always-fraudulent claim that the child said to have ADHD has a
disorder/disease/abnormality. Where expert medical (not psychiatric)
examinations disclose no objective abnormalities, their is no disease, nor
disorder, the child is NORMAL. Take them to court and let them claim
otherwise and, speaking of a child who's medical record is devoid of
objective, physical abnormality evidence of abnormality, and they perjure
themselves. They have yet to be thus-exposed as frauds that they
are]

> Block authorisation, which allows doctors to prescribe stimulants without
> notifying health authorities of individual cases, will be abolished.
>
> A new assessment panel will review prescribers' compliance with revised
> treatment guidelines, and behaviour management at home and school will be
> encouraged.
>
> "We want families, physicians and people dealing with children to look at
> the issue far more broadly, rather than say 'It's ADHD'," Mr Kucera said.
>
> A study in the Medical Journal of Australia in November showed West
> Australian doctors prescribed drugs for ADHD three times more than Victorian
> doctors and twice as often as those in NSW. It also showed the use of such
> medication had risen 26 per cent a year nationwide between 1984 and 2000 --
> and 40 per cent in Western Australia.
>
> Many specialists argue the trend is appropriate and a sign of world-leading
> practice in the state, but the rise in drug use has prompted concerns of
> unnecessary and potentially dangerous overprescribing.
>
> Mr Kucera said medication might be appropriate to treat ADHD, but closer
> monitoring of psychostimulant medication was essential.
>
> "Children are so precious to us that it's not good enough to just give them
> a little pill," he said.
>
> State Labor MP Martin Whitely, whose southeast Perth electorate of
> Roleystone has the highest prescribing rate in Australia, says he is
> relieved to see block authorisation abolished.
>
> Mr Whitely has formed the Drug-Free Attention Deficit Support Group, which
> drew 60 concerned parents to its inaugural meeting last month.
>
> "Block authorisation meant the heaviest prescribers were the least
> accountable," he said.
>
> "Under the new policy each doctor will be equally accountable and a
> committee will look at who's prescribing to whom. I will be very
> disappointed if the state's prescribing rate doesn't come down."
>
> Mr Kucera said he was aware that deflecting people from drugs might put
> pressure on pediatric and child psychologists, already in short supply. He
> said the Government needed to ensure families could get professional help.