RITALIN: THE MEDICATING OF AMERICA 'S CHILDREN

BY: Dr. David Jantz, D.C., N.C., C.R.A. and Ron Kosloff, N.C. Alternative Health Center, Grosse Pointe, Michigan

Holistic and naturopathic doctors shudder at the fact that 4.2 million American children are taking the psychotic drug Ritalin. Doesn't that statistic make you shudder also? It should! Ritalin is a Class II controlled substance, which a chemist may have a difficult time distinguishing from cocaine or heroin. The National Review, October 1, 2001, clearly brought the doping of American children into focus quoting the Journal of The American Medical Association (JAMA) pointing out that Ritalin, the drug used on kids that don't behave "appropriately," is more potent than the street drug Cocaine and can cause permanent brain damage in children when used for extensive periods of time. The drug works to numb kids into submission by blocking 70% of the brain's neurotransmitters, shutting down close to 3/4 of the brain's activities, almost 50% more than Cocaine. The Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) lists the side affects of Ritalin as lethargy, depression, suicidal tendencies, to name just a few. The prominent Julian Whitaker, M.D., noted in his medical journal that in most of the school shooting cases, the kids were either on psychotic drugs or under psychiatric therapy.
Ads repeatedly tell children about the evils of dangerous street drugs then we, as their doctors, caregivers, protectors, and parents, give them prescription drugs that can be even worse. What a paradox! Yes, these drugs are approved by the FDA, but let's make one point very clear...the FDA is under funded, under staffed and rarely tests any drugs conclusively. It takes the drug company's word for it. That's like the fox watching the chicken coop and yet, as Dr. Whitaker pointed out in his newsletter, "every 10 seconds, somebody in the world goes on some form of psychotic prescription drug for altering their mental state." Everywhere you turn, the T.V., magazines, radio, are openly advocating a drug for every illness. If your dog gets depressed being home alone all day, it can be given Prozac. Drug companies even market prescription drugs for shy people. Is shyness a disease? Prescription drugs kill up to 400,000 people a year in this country. So behind cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, prescription drugs are the fourth major cause of death. This outrageous statistic is found in JAMA (4/19/98). Historically, from 1850 to 1920 in America, there were more drug addicts per capita than today because cocaine, heroin, hashish, marijuana, codeine, morphine and opium were legal. Today, they are legally banned, but you can get them by prescription, only the name has been changed to Ritalin, Prozac, Zoloft, etc. "A rose (or drug)...by any other name...is still 2500 years ago, Hippocrates, a naturopathic doctor and the first father of nutrition and medicine, gave the directive to physicians of his day to "throw away your drugs and heal the people with food and do not administer dangerous and harmful drugs." The Bible forbids the use of Pharmakea, the Greek word for spiritism, sorcery, poison, witchcraft and druggery. Dr. Whitaker is one of today's leading advocates of the holistic approach believing that the prescription wielding doctors of today will be the nutritional doctors of tomorrow. Dr. Whitaker and others are throwing away their drugs and healing people with food,

recognizing that food is medicinemedicine is food. As Hippocrates stated, "We should never be content with curing illnesseswe should prevent them from happening in the first place." We should be building our immune systems by eating the food God gave us, not processed and refined derivatives. This principal is suggested in the Bible, the Torah and the Koran. The answer is nutrition, which treats the cause, not the symptoms. If you look at the average child's diet of today you find soda, fast food, pop tarts, candy bars, sugared cereals, etc. The proof is in the pudding! Who made all those processed fillers to ingest disguised as nutritionman did! Who made whole grains, fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, fish and fowlGod did! Along with Dr. Julian Whitaker, there are many more medical doctors turning to nutritional therapy, such as Doctors David Williams, Steven Sinatra, William Douglas and Detroit's own Doctors David Brownstein and Steven Margolis. Now, 42% of all Americans are turning to alternative health care sources. So let us nourish a child's brain, not drug it. The decision is yours without a RX pad required. Which choices are you making for you and your family? We' re raising our glass of V -8 to your good healthCheers!!
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