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http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39078

 LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER

Bush to screen population for mental illness

Sweeping initiative links diagnoses to treatment with specific drugs

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."