U.S. Approves Prozac for Treating Children

Peter K. peterk at enteract.com
Sun Jan 5 09:37:54 PST 2003


Mike Larkin:
>this is terrific news. i wish i'd had access to it when i was an adolescent. It will save
countless lives from suicide and other horrors.
>it's annoying to watch lefties deride psychoactive meds as "social engineering."

I take your point and very strongly believe that people on medication shouldn't be stigmatized. Having said that, there are two sides to this. Along with the kids who are helped, I see many kids getting hurt by busy parents who want a quick fix. I don't see how this is "deriding psychoactive meds as social engineering."

Why didn't the Clinton Adminstration approve this? Why did the Bush Administration? Who does Eli Lilly give part of their profits to? Both parties?

I guess as a libertatian socialist I should be okay with the legalization of drugs. But there doesn't seem to be any data on Prozac's effect on kids:

""Depression is a serious illness in all age groups, but unlike the adult population, there has been a lack of data available regarding the effects of medications in the treatment of child and adolescent depression," a Lilly spokesman, Blair Austin, said." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/04/business/04PROZ.html

Peter



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