LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER
Bush to screen population for mental illness
Sweeping initiative links diagnoses to treatment with specific drugs

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Posted: June 21, 2004
5:00 p.m. Eastern



© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

President Bush plans to unveil next month a sweeping mental health
initiative that recommends screening for every citizen and promotes
the use of expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs favored
by supporters of the administration.

The New Freedom Initiative, according to a progress report, seeks to
integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing
"services in the community, rather than institutions," the British
Medical Journal reported.

Critics say the plan protects the profits of drug companies at the
expense of the public.

The initiative began with Bush's launch in April 2002 of the New
Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which conducted a "comprehensive
study of the United States mental health service delivery system."

The panel found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often
go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening
for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children.

The commission said, "Each year, young children are expelled from
preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors
and emotional disorders."

Schools, the panel concluded, are in a "key position" to screen the 52
million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.

The commission recommended that the screening be linked with
"treatment and supports," including "state-of-the-art treatments"
using "specific medications for specific conditions."

The Texas Medication Algorithm Project, or TMAP, was held up by the
panel as a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an
evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes."

The TMAP -- started in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the
pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas and the mental health
and corrections systems of Texas -- also was praised by the American
Psychiatric Association, which called for increased funding to
implement the overall plan.

But the Texas project sparked controversy when a Pennsylvania
government employee revealed state officials with influence over the
plan had received money and perks from drug companies who stand to
gain from it.

Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector
General says in his whistleblower report the "political/pharmaceutical
alliance" that developed the Texas project, which promotes the use of
newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, was
behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which were
"poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national
policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of
questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private
insurers to pick up more of the tab."

Jones points out, according to the British Medical Journal, companies
that helped start the Texas project are major contributors to Bush's
election funds. Also, some members of the New Freedom Commission have
served on advisory boards for these same companies, while others have
direct ties to TMAP.

Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, one of the drugs recommended in
the plan, has multiple ties to the Bush administration, BMJ says. The
elder President Bush was a member of Lilly's board of directors and
President Bush appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney
Taurel, to the Homeland Security Council.

Of Lilly's $1.6 million in political contributions in 2000, 82 percent
went to Bush and the Republican Party.

Another critic, Robert Whitaker, journalist and author of "Mad in
America," told the British Medical Journal that while increased
screening "may seem defensible," it could also be seen as "fishing for
customers."

Exorbitant spending on new drugs "robs from other forms of care such
as job training and shelter program," he said.

However, a developer of the Texas project, Dr. Graham Emslie, defends
screening.

"There are good data showing that if you identify kids at an earlier
age who are aggressive, you can intervene ... and change their
trajectory."