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2005 Ron Paul Chapter 72
Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional website.
Congressional Record [.PDF]
Amendment No. 11 Offered By Mr. Paul
24 June 2005
2005 Ron Paul 72:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate
the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 11 offered by Mr. PAUL:
At the end of the bill (before the short
title), insert the following:
SEC. ll. None of the funds made available
in this Act may be used to create or implement
any universal mental health screening
program.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the
order of the House of June 23, 2005, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. PAUL) and
the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. REGULA)
each will control 5 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. PAUL).
2005 Ron Paul 72:2
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 2 minutes.
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission
to revise and extend his remarks.)
2005 Ron Paul 72:3
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, my amendment is straightforward: “None of the
funds made available in this a may be
used to create or implement any universal
mental health screening program.”
2005 Ron Paul 72:4
This does not deny any funds for any testing of those individuals who may
show signs of mental illness. It only denies
funding for any universal, read by
many as mandatory, which is a bit of
overkill as far as I am concerned.
There is $26 million in this bill for
these programs. Eight States have already
been involved, and three more
have applied for grants.
2005 Ron Paul 72:5
The main reason why I oppose this is I think there is a lot of overtreatment
of young people with psychotropic
drugs. This has been going on for a lot
of years, and there are a lot of bad results,
and once we talk about universal
testing of everybody, and there is no
age limit, matter of fact, in the recommendation
by the New Freedom
Commission, there is a tendency for
overdiagnosis and overuse of medication.
There are as many complications
from overuse of medication as there is
with prophylactic treatment.
2005 Ron Paul 72:6
There is no evidence now on the books to show that the use of this
medication actually in children reduces
suicide. Matter of fact, there are
studies that do suggest exactly the opposite.
Children on psychotropic drugs
may well be even more likely to commit
suicide. It does not mean that no
child ever qualifies for this, but to assume
there is this epidemic out here
that we have to test everybody is rather
frightening to me.
2005 Ron Paul 72:7
Matter of fact, when the State gets control of children, they tend to overuse
medications like this. Take, for instance,
in Texas, 60 percent of the foster
children are on medication. In Massachusetts,
it is close to 65 percent. In
Florida, 55 percent of the children in
foster home care are receiving these
kinds of medication.
2005 Ron Paul 72:8
Once again, I want to make the point that this does not deny funding for individual
children who show signs that
they may need or they have a problem
and need to be tested. It is just to
make sure that this is not universal
and not be mandatory and that parental
rights are guarded against and that
the parent is very much involved.
2005 Ron Paul 72:9
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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