CCHR Warns of ADHD Drug Risks as WHO Denies Essential Status for StimulantMental health industry watchdog discloses that 3.3 million U.S. children are given psychiatric drugs despite WHO disapproving of these for children younger than 12
By: Citizens Commission on Human Rights 
3.3 million children are given psychiatric drugs IQVia statistics reveal that of the 3.3 million, 1,809,101 are prescribed stimulants for ADHD; 336,125 are prescribed antipsychotics, and 581,979 are prescribed antidepressants— Ole Jakob Storebø from the Center for Evidence-Based Psychiatry, Psychiatric Research Unit, Denmark, and colleagues wrote, "WHO indicates that precautions are warranted regarding any pharmacological treatment of mental disorders for children younger than 12 years. From an evidence-based perspective, we believe the precautions to be an ethical and sound stance." Before their passing, the doctors responsible for putting ADHD on the map were aghast at what they helped create. Child psychiatrist Leon Eisenberg, the "scientific father of ADHD", along with child psychologist Keith Conners, Ph.D., conducted clinical trials on methylphenidate in the 1960s. In 2009, he remorsefully called ADHD a "prime example of a fictitious disease."[3] In 2015, CCHR notified the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) of the aggressive worldwide diagnosing of ADHD and stimulants prescribed to children, resulting in UNCRC hearings being held. The agency found that "educational resources and funding systems for practitioners are geared toward a 'quick fix'" and recommended the establishment of a system for "monitoring of the excessive use of psychostimulants to children." It called for governments to "take the necessary measures to prevent any pressure on children and parents to accept treatment with psychostimulant drugs."[5] In 2018, and again in 2020, the WHO Expert Committee on the selection and use of essential medicines declined to grant the stimulant drug methylphenidate the status of an essential medicine.[6] The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration classifies methylphenidate as a high-abuse Schedule II drug, in the same category as morphine, opium and cocaine. A study in the Journal of Neuroscience said it is more potent than cocaine.[7] Other stimulant side effects include nervousness, insomnia, blood pressure and pulse changes, weight loss, heart attacks, strokes and sudden death, and new or worsening aggression and hostility.[8] Students also abuse these drugs. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine found brain scans of college students who abused stimulants showed impaired neuronal activity. "If you show me 100 college students and tell me which ones have taken stimulants a dozen times, I can tell you those students' brains are different," Dr. Martin Paulus, professor of psychiatry, said.[11] In a groundbreaking September 2005 study, the Evidence-based Practice Center of Oregon Health & Science University analyzed 2,287 studies, encompassing virtually all research on ADHD drugs. Surprisingly, none of the trials demonstrated the effectiveness of these drugs, and there was insufficient evidence supporting their positive impact on "academic performance, risky behaviors, social achievements, etc."[12] The anomaly is the American Psychiatric Association admits, "There are no laboratory tests, neurological assessments, or attentional assessments that have been established as diagnostic in the clinical assessment" of ADHD.[13] The diagnosis is largely based on subjective behavioral symptoms, including not sitting still, losing pencils and not finishing chores. Kelly O'Meara, former Congressional staff and author of Psyched Out: How Psychiatry Sells Mental Illness and Pushes Pills That Kill, summed it up: "In essence, what is happening is that millions of American children are being put on mind-altering drugs—the equivalent of cocaine—every day and often for years on end, to treat a mental illness that no one can say with certainty an objective, confirmable abnormality exists. The best and brightest in mental health admit they are speculating— About CCHR: CCHR was founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and the late Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry. It has helped achieve over 190 laws to protect the rights of patients within the mental health system. [1] www.thelancet.com/ [2] www.cchrint.org/ [3] www.cchrint.org/ [4] www.cchrint.org/ [5] www.cchr.org/ [6] www.thelancet.com/ [7] www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/ [8] Physicians' Desk Reference, (Medical Economics Company, New Jersey, 1998), pp. 1896-1897; DSM-III, p. 150; PDR.Net, www.pdr.net/ [9] www.novartis.com/ [10] www.cchrint.org/ [11] www.counselheal.com/ [12] www.counselheal.com/ [13] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition, (American Psychiatric Association, Washington D.C. 2000), pp. 88-89 [14] Kelly Patricia O'Meara, Psyched Out: How Psychiatry Sells Mental Illness and Pushes Pills that Kill, (AuthorHouse, 2006), p. 75 End
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