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National Black Caucus of State Legislators

Youth Committee Resolution

Subjects: The Use of Psychiatric Drugs on School-Age Children

WHEREAS, psychiatric drugs are prescribed to between five million and six million children each year — about ten percent of the school-age population, and

WHEREAS, Ritalin, perhaps the most common of these drugs, currently is administered to more than 2.5 million Americans, including more than one in every 30 children between the ages of five and 18, and

WHEREAS, the International Narcotics Control Board of the World Health Organization has warned about our nation’s trend of overusing stimulants for children. According to the organization, the United States uses 90 percent of the world’s Ritalin,

And

WHEREAS, Ritalin is a schedule II drug, in the same category as opium, morphine and cocaine, and

WHEREAS, it has been suggested that recent incidents of school violence and other occasions of violence are the result of children being unnecessarily medicated by such drugs;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE 23RD ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE OF THE NATIONAL BLACK CAUCUS OF STATE LEGISLATORS, ASSEMBLED IN BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, DECEMBER 1ST-3RD 1999, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators strongly urges a national examination of the use of psychiatric drugs and their effects on children in this nation;

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators affirms that Ritalin is a class II drug, and we resist the effort to have it downgraded to a lesser category.

PROPOSED RESOLUTION SUBMITTED BY:
REP. LANETT STANLEY-TURNER (GA), YOUTH COMMITTEE

RESOLUTION APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE ON YOUTH

APPROVAL CERTIFIED BY
REP. LANETT STANLEY-TURNER (GA), COMMITTEE CHAIR

RESOLUTION RATIFIED IN PLENARY SESSION, FRIDAY, DEC. 3, 1999.

RATIFICATION CERTIFIED BY
REP. JAMES THOMAS, NBCSL PRESIDENT


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