THE SENATE |
S.R. NO. |
84 |
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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requesting the department of education and the department of health to prepare materials on learning problems for parents of public school children.
WHEREAS, recent months have seen the first pharmaceutical print and television advertisements touting controlled substances aimed at consumers, breaking a thirty-year old international agreement not to advertise pharmaceuticals with high potential for abuse; and
WHEREAS, the subject of this aggressive marketing campaign is drugs prescribed to children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, or "ADD"; and
WHEREAS, as recently as seven years ago, Ritalin, or its generic equivalent, was prescribed for nearly three-fourths of attention deficit disorder patients; today there are more than a half-dozen drugs to treat attention deficit disorder, leading to the recent aggressive marketing campaigns; and
WHEREAS, the stimulants used to treat attention deficit disorder are the most highly addictive drugs that are legal, and are among the most frequently stolen and most abused legal drugs; and
WHEREAS, psychiatric drugs such as Ritalin, Prozac, and others may be dangerous and harmful to children, as virtually every organ system, including the cardiovascular, endocrine, respiratory, and central nervous system, may be subject to harm by psychiatric drugs; and
WHEREAS, because there has been a thirty-five per cent increase since 1996 in the prescriptions used to treat the increasing number of children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, a number of states have enacted legislation dealing with psychiatric drugs prescribed to students in response to this alarming trend; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, that the Superintendent of Education and the Director of Health are requested to establish a policy requiring all public schools to supply written information to parents that clearly states that there exists a controversy and diverse medical opinion about attention deficit disorder and learning disorders; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health and Department of Education are requested to include in the materials:
(1) Information stating that according to medical opinion, learning problems can be attributed to various causes such as environmental toxins, allergies, nutritional deficiencies, and other similar causes, as well as by poor reading and math skills that require tutoring or more educational basis, such as phonics; and
(2) Information about alternative non-drug treatments for students with attention deficit disorder;
and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to Superintendent of Education and the Director of Health.
OFFERED BY: |
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Report Title:
DOE/DOH; Materials on Learning Problems