Pubdate: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Copyright: 1999 San Francisco Chronicle Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/ Author: Michael Janofsky, New York Times USE OF DRUG THERAPY TO CONTROL STUDENTS BEING QUESTIONED DENVER -- As a debate over the growing use of behavioral drugs for children intensifies across the country, the Colorado Board of Education has passed a resolution meant to discourage teachers from recommending prescription drugs like Ritalin and Luvox for students. The resolution, the first of its kind in the country, carries no legal weight. But it urges teachers and other school personnel to use discipline and instruction to overcome problem behavior in the classroom rather than encourage parents to put their children on drugs commonly prescribed for attention deficit and hyperactive disorders. Proponents of the resolution, which passed by a 6-to-1 vote November 11, said they were motivated, in part, by evidence that they said suggests dozen of violent crimes in recent years, including the massacre last spring at Columbine High School, were committed by young people taking psychotropic drugs. One of the teenage killers at Columbine, Eric Harris, had been taking Luvox, an antidepressant, although there is no evidence that the drug had anything to do with the shootings. No other states are considering a measure similar to the one in Colorado, where an unusual set of circumstances played a role in the resolution's passage: an elected and fairly-conservative school board responding, in part, to the outcry from one of the nation's worst school shootings. But the resolution reflects broader issues, as well, as parents, mental health professionals and school officials across the country debate the rising use of behavioral drugs for kids. Experts in children's mental health issues point out that children who take the drugs do so because they were having difficulties to begin with. They acknowledge that impulsive or violent behavior is a recognized side effect in a small percentage of people taking the drugs. But in arguing that an overwhelming majority of children who use the drugs are benefiting, they contend that the Colorado resolution is- irresponsible and perhaps even dangerous because it could lead school personnel to ignore signs of serious mental disorders in children and that it would discourage communication between teachers and parents. "I hope what happened in Colorado is the exception and not the rule," said Michael Faenza, president of the National Mental Health Association, conceding that he fears other states and school districts might replicate Colorado's efforts. "Holding up psychotropic medicines as the possible cause of violent behavior is absurd," he said. "There's a wealth of information to show that they have helped dramatically." The use of Ritalin and other psychotropic drugs, has increased steadily over d3e years among school-age children to a current level of about 2.5 million, according to Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a national nonprofit organization known as CHADD, which is based in Landover, Md. In Colorado, increased usage has spotlighted the role that teachers and administrators play in the daily lives of children who attend their schools. It also has pitted experts who say use is growing because .the drugs are beneficial against those who contend that parents and teachers are -too quick to seek out prescription medicine as the simplest way to treat children with behavioral problems. Patti Johnson, the Colorado' school board member who organized a hearing on - - the issue and proposed the resolution, said that in the five years she has served on the board, she has received "numerous complaints" from parents who said a teacher had insisted that their child go on Ritalin or another drug before returning to class. Recounting the case of one girl who was showing signs of attention deficit disorder through mood sweeps and napping in class, Johnson said the girl later was diagnosed to be suffering from hypoglycemia and just needed to change her diet. According to the girl's parents, Johnson said, the teacher told them, "You need to get her a prescription for Ritalin." As a result, she said, a resolution was designed to remove school personnel from any medical decisions. She said the board, which consists of six Republicans and one Democrat, passed the resolution along party lines with minimal debate. The lone Democrat, Gully Stanford, did not return a telephone call. No other versions of the resolution were considered. "The resolution does not stop teachers from' communicating with parents," Johnson said in an interview. "What it does do is stop teachers from giving parents an ultimatum: 'Put your kid on a drug or we're not going to teach them.' That can't happen anymore. It's wrong." Brenda Welburn, executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education, said Colorado's is one of only seven' elected state boards of education in the country and that those boards tend to be more ideological. She added, however: "I agree that too often the first answer for children with some behavior problem is to reach for medication. Some of the numbers we are seeing for medication children are staggering." Julie Underwood, General Council of the National School Boards Association, said she knew of no~ other school board examining the question. 'She added that although many people are concerned about over medication, "We would be reluctant to support such a resolution because there are children who may' need such services, who may benefit from the medication." Besides complaints from parents about insistent teachers, Johnson said she also was motivated to propose the resolution by the violent crimes involving young people, in which investigators said the perpetrators were using psychotropic drugs. Accounts of those incidents also persuaded a Colorado state law~ maker, Penn Pfiffner of Lakeland, to hold a separate hearing on the issue, which, by coincidence, came two days before the school board voted on Johnson's measure. Dr. Peter Breggin, director of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, a nonprofit research organization in Bethesda, Md., testified at both hearings and said doctors have become too eager to prescribe psychotropic drugs at the expense of conversations among parents, teachers and children learn why children are acting in anti-social ways. "It's a tremendous mistake to subdue the behavior of children instead of tending to their needs," Breggin said in an interview. - --- MAP posted-by: Eric Ernst