Hail to the Pusher-in-Chief Welcome to the medication machine, part 2
In part one of this series, I gave you a general overview of what’s coming for public school kids in the U.S. if President Bush’s New Freedom Initiative is allowed to stand as the official policy: Forced medication of a large percentage of them with the newest and most expensive psychotropic drugs – at the recommendation of bureaucrats instead of doctors!
As I mentioned in part one, the pointy-heads in charge of this program will use a kind of treatment “flowchart” to recommend specific name-brand medications in response to symptoms they detect. But here’s the REALLY scary part
According to my sources, the guidelines that President Bush’s New Freedom Initiative are putting in place for the evaluation and treatment of our children are almost certain to have been penned in large part by those who benefit most from the new policy: Drug makers, a lobby known to be one of Dubya’s favorites. Consider the evidence: Despite several U.S. and UK studies suggesting that newer, more expensive drugs offer no benefits over older, off-patent meds for many mental health issues, the New Freedom Initiative emphasizes treatment with newer (read: more profitable) medications
The Initiative’s nuts and bolts are based on a similar Texas state mental health screening plan (TMAP) which began as a collaboration between Big Pharma, the University of Texas, and the state’s mental health and corrections departments
The TMAP program was funded in large part by drug companies and developed during George W. Bush’s tenure as Texas governor – and predictably, it greatly expanded Medicare’s expenditures on psychotropic drugs in the Lone Star State
Drug companies that helped to fund the TMAP program have historically been major contributors to George W. Bush’s election campaigns – and conversely, several members of the New Freedom Commission have served on these firms’ advisory boards, or have direct ties to TMAP
George Bush Sr. served on the Board of Directors for Eli Lilly and Company (maker of Zyprexa, a top-selling antipsychotic drug championed by TMAP, and likely by the New Freedom Initiative) – while Bush Jr. has appointed Lilly’s CEO to a cushy, prestigious post on the Homeland Security Council
Think there’s no skullduggery or reason for alarm? Think it’s all about kids’ welfare and not about money? Think I’m over-blowing the potential conspiracy angles here?
Then consider this, too
According to a WorldNetDaily expose`, a whistle-blower from the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General – a man who was fired for talking to the New York Times and other media – revealed that officials involved in administering PA’s own algorithm-based (read: similar to TMAP) medication plan received money and perks from companies whose drugs held “first-line treatment” status in the program!
This noble maverick also confirmed that the same politico-pharma apparatus that engineered the TMAP program in Texas is behind the guidelines of the New Freedom Commission – recommendations that are designed with only one goal in mind: Forcing private insurers and government agencies to both over-prescribe AND pick up the tab for the newest, most expensive patented medications.
Add this all up and even a blind man could see the pharmaceutical industry’s greasy fingerprints all over Bush’s borderline-criminal New Freedom Initiative. I’ll give you a snapshot of how much money this actually represents in the next Daily Dose.
I’ll also show you how some parents (far too few, though) are fighting back against this Big Pharma/Big Brother alliance of greed.
