A number of youth are working on our MindFreedom Youth Initiative. One of their  goals is to organize a youth summit. Are you interested in helping? Are you interested in bringing the voice of youth to the movement for justice and human rights within the health care system? This is important work and we want to hear from you! If you are a youth survivor/consumer and you want to help, please contact MindFreedom today!

US Congress held hearings on psychiatric drugging of foster care youth, click here. 

 

A flow chart of the MindFreedom Youth Campaign.

The MindFreedom USA Campaign has been addressing two significant events in 2007. Here are links to those activities, followed by background about general goals for the USA campaign in general.

MindFreedom calls for investigation of neuroleptic (antipsychotic) psychiatric drugs, click here.

 

Past MindFreedom Youth actions:

The Virginia Tech tragedy

This catastrophe has swept through the USA, impacting all mental health human rights activities.

For info on this, see two web centers on the MindFreedom Web site:

MindFreedom MEDIA Center on Virginia Tech, with chronology of selected news items, statements, updates, etc.

MindFreedom INFO Center on Virginia Tech, with MindFreedom actions and statements.

Zyprexa Fraud Investigation

Earlier this year, MindFreedom engaged in a lengthy court and activist battle with Eli Lilly to stop their suppression of documents about criminal fraud and cover-up regarding their psychiatric drug Zyprexa. MindFreedom members are contacting US State Attorneys General to ask for criminal investigations of Eli Lilly and other corporations. For more info about the Zyprexa campaign click here.

The MindFreedom USA Campaign is looking for unifying ways to dovetail efforts in response to the Virginia Tech tragedy and Eli Lilly’s fraud about Zyprexa, to unite with our campaigns already in progress:

Short term goals of MFI USA Campaign Committee: 

1. Passage of the Child Medication Safety Act in the US Senate.
2. Warn communities about the dangers of current Mental Health Screening programs.
3. Call for investigations by US Congress and State Attorneys General to challenge psychiatric drug company corruption, especially by Eli Lilly.

For an article about the MFI USA Campaign’s concerns regarding psychiatric drugging of youth click here.

President George W. Bush announced he wants to make Mental Health Screening “common practice” for all Americans. Looking after troubled people sounds good. But go deeper. Follow the money!The psychiatric drug industry helped create, develop and promote many of these mental health screening programs. Some screening in the schools is already turning into a dragnet to push more kids onto psychiatric drugs, sometimes over the objections of their parents! [Mother Jones 5/05.]

We support the work of activists who are speaking out with their local schools and school boards to object to the way “mental health screening” leads to increased psychiatric drugging of children. Freedom Center in Massachusetts is leading the way with this campaign by engaging in dialogue with authorities in their local schools about the mental health industry’s dangers, and humane alternatives for kids. Freedom Center is developing a packet of materials that MindFreedom can use nationally.

Long term: Project Landing Zone.

Forty-three USA states have laws allowing individuals to be court-ordered to take psychiatric drugs while living at homes. There is a loophole in the law that allows some of these individuals to leave their county or state and escape this forced outpatient drugging. However, successfully evading outpatient forced drugging takes more than a Greyhound ticket. Those escaping need a “landing zone” that can have enough services, support, advocacy and assistance that they can sustain themselves.

The MFI USA Committee’s long term goal: Locate two or three towns or cities in the USA where the movement is strong enough to become a “landing zone.” We will assist in raising national support so that these communities can serve as sanctuaries for nonviolent individuals who are legally leaving over state lines to evade and escape coerced and forced outpatient psychiatric drugging. If you feel your local community might some day be a landing zone, let us know.

 

[In the photograph above: Krista Erickson (psychiatric survivor, blind activist, MFI boardmember), Jim Gottstein (attorney, psychiatric survivor, PsychRightsfounder), and Grace Jackson (psychiatrist and author) show the power ofcoalition at the MindFreedom Action Conference in Washington, D.C.]