Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20131217

National security agencys daily collection of virtually all americans phone records. And he said the nsas actions are likely unconstitutional. We will speak with Sascha Meinrath, and advisor to the obamas innocent review panel which wants to leave the nsas Controversial Book spying intact. The selling of attention Deficit Disorder. If you look at the preponderance of add in north america now and then millions of ons in the states that are medication and half a million who are in antipsychotics, what they are really exhibiting is the effects of exchange stress, increasing stress in our society on the parenting environment. As the number of add diagnoses soar amidst a 20 year drug marketing campaign, we will speak with dr. Gabor mate, New York Times coast reporter alan schwarz, and jamison monroe, who is addicted to add Prescription Drugs as a teenager and went on to found the Newport Academy Treatment Center for teens. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. A federal judge has struck a historic blow to the National Security agencys bulk collection of phone records. On monday, u. S. District judge richard leon ruled the program almost certainly violates the Fourth Amendment of the constitution. Judge leon, who was appointed by former president george w. Bush, te i cannot imagine a more indiscriminate and arbitrary invasion than is systematic and hightech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen. More after headlines. Or than 70 people died in a wave of attacks across iraq on monday, many of them shiites preparing for an annual pilgrimage. In baghdad, twin car bombs kill 25 shiites. The second blast happened as people rushed to the aid of the firstround victims. Another dozen shiites on their way to baghdad from the city of mosul were pulled from their bus and shot dead. Yemens parliament has called for banning u. S. Drone attacks just days after the deadliest u. S. Strike there this year. Thursdays attack on a per session a wedding reportedly killed 17 piece all 17 people, most of them civilians. The deaths sparked mass protests as family members demanded compensation and an apology. Members of parliament voted nearly unanimously to end u. S. Strikes in a largely symbolic move. After the tragedies caused by the drones, Parliament Members from all parties believe the drones are putting the nations in an extremely dangerous situation and it is time to put an end to this. Such votes by yemens permits are not binding and can be rejected by the president. The United Nations has launched its largest ever funding appeal for single crisis, requesting 6. 5 billion in funds for the people of syria. U. N. Estimates nearly three quarters of serious population will need humanitarian aid next year. Speaking in geneva, u. N. Cemetery in chief valerie amos said the agency is seeking 12. 9 billion dollars for overall humanitarian aid. Total 12. 9 billion to reach everyone we hope to help in 2014. This is the largest amount weve ever had to request at the start of the year. 6. 5 million of this will support our efforts in syria and neighboring countries. Again, this is the largest ever appeal for a single crisis. Even if there were an end to the violence in syria tomorrow, we would still have a major humanitarian crisis on our hands. The uns latest request surpasses its june for more than 4 billion in aid to syria from only 60 of which has actually been funded so far. Reuters reports a largely rebel held area of syria where polio broke out this years was excluded from a government vaccination campaign. At least 15 cases of polio have been reported in the province. The u. N. Is warning of to a quarter of the population of African Republic is at risk of going hungry admit of violence occurring crisis. Themuslim president has medals he may be open to negotiations with christian militias, bush has signaled he may be open to negotiations with russia militias, but the head of the human World Food Program warned the violence could leave a lasting impact. We know because farmers have not been able to access their farms, we have missed this years pointing season, so when we get to the harvest in the spring, the problem will be even more dire. Last week theyd Group Doctors without borders resized what it called an appalling performance by you and agencies in central African Republic, saying there had been no evidence of an adequate to manager in reaction there. Sudanesident of south imposed an overnight curfew following what he called an attempted coup by soldier supporting his former deputy. The president fired his Vice President and cabinet in july amid criticism over failing infrastructure. Kiir said the government was in full control of the capital juba monday, but there were reports of gunfire continuing into the early hours of this morning. The United States has repatriated to guantanamo prisoners to saudi arabia for years after they were both recommended for transfer. The two men had been held for nearly a dozen years without trial. The Sudanese Government says it expects the last to guantanamo prisoners from student to be transfer there by wednesday. There were bring the total number prisoners like guantanamo to 158 after two prisoners were sent to algeria against their will earlier this month. Representing thousands of u. S. Scholars has voted to boycott israeli universities. Studies association is the Largest Group of u. S. Academics to join the Global Campaign to boycott and divestment israel over its treatment of palestinians. The members backed the boycott by ratio of more than two to the documented impact of the Israeli Occupation on palestinian scholars and students and the extent to israeli institutions of Higher Education are party to stay policies that violate human rights. Secretary of state john kerry arrived in the philippines today to advance a dell for increased u. S. Military presence there. Trip to asia comes amid tensions with china over its announcement of an air defense own and the east china sea. John kerry continue to reject the zone during his remarks. This announcement will not change how the unite states conducts military operations in the region. This is a concern about which we have been very, very candid and very direct with the chinese. The zone should not be implemented and china should refrain from taking similar, unilateral actions elsewhere in particularly, over the south china seas. The senate appears set to approved a twoyear budget deal a ready passed by the house. The deal does not extend Unemployment Benefits for someone. 3 Million People that are set to expire on december 28. The senate has confirmed former top pentagon lawyer jeh johnson to lead the department of homeland security. Johnson played a key role in the Obama Administrations drone wars and detention of terror suspects. In utah, a federal judge has struck down parts of utahs ban on polygamy. The judge ruled while you talk to burkett people from obtaining multiple marriage licenses, it cannot enforce a ban on cohabitation, which is the provision used to prosecute polygamists. The case stems from a lawsuit brought by cody brown who stars with his four wives on the reality show sister wives. In brazil, construction workers at a stadium that will host part of next ors world cup went on strike to demand safer conditions after a worker plummeted to his death on saturday. A worker is a second to die from a fall in the stadium in the manaus. Nabays police raided a protest occupation that a former Indigenous Museum near the soccer stadium of rio de janeiro. Brazil cancel the planned demolition of the building following protests earlier this year, the protesters still fear it could be destroyed. Than 1000, more workers went on strike against u. S. Retailer amazon on monday as part of an ongoing dispute over wages, conditions, in terms of employment. Workers are vowing to wage war actions this week amid the busy prechristmas shopping season. We demand from amazon that they sign a waiver agreement based on the regulations of the retail industry. This would mean amazon employees starting new in the company would earn about 7000 euros more poor year more per year. We want salaries that allow for decent living conditions. , jeff bezos,r boss has such a large private assets that he might still share them a little with the employees who make all the money. In my view, that is only fair. A group of Amazon Warehouse workers traveled from germany to the understates for a protest monday outside the seattle headquarters. Nook ever met figures predict the amount of crude oil produced in the u. S. Will soar to near historic high in the coming years due largely to the controversial technique of fracking. Fracking, which involves blasting chemicals into shale rock, is also fueling a rise in natural gas production. In current and former Obama Administration officials have confirmed the white house systematically delayed a series of regulations to avoid controversy in the 2012 election. The Washington Post reports federal agencies were told to hold off on key environmental, worker safety, and health care rules for up to a year. The stalin met a number were either link fully postponed were never enacted. The delays were said to be really political and far more extensive than similar maneuverings by previous ministrations. The delayed roles include standards for cleaner gasoline, lower pollution vehicles, and federal protections for bodies of water. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn now to the latest about the National Security agency. On monday, a federal judge ruled the nsas full collection of americans phone records almost certainly violates the Fourth Amendments prohibition against unreasonable searches. U. S. District judge richard leon described the nsas activities as almost orwellian. He wrote judge leon was appointed to the bench by republican president george w. Bush in 2002. Leon suspend enforcement of his injunction against the program pending an expected appeal by the government. The suit was brought by conservative attorney larry klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch them based on information leaked by former nsa contractor edward snowden. In a statement monday, snowden said snowden went on to say joining us in washington, d. C. Is Sascha Meinrath, director of the new america foundations open technology institute. He served as an Expert Witness who advise the review group on intelligence and two indications which was tasked by president obama to review the nsa activities. First, respond to the judges ruling. It is his store. It is the very vanguard of the pushback that says constitutionally, legally, what has been taking place is unacceptable. I think it is a reaffirmation of both are for the memo rights, constitutional guaranteed right, in this constant interplay of balancing National Security and individual rights. Talk about the rulings specifically when it comes to his saying it is almost, surely, unconstitutional, calling the collection of data orwellian. The judge issued a very strong ruling. It clearly is a case where the judge feels very empowered to say this should absolutely cease and desist, and because he feels theres no evidence before his court that this has actually been a successful balancing National Security and individual rights that he wants to give the u. S. Government every opportunity to respond on appeal. He said basically this will probably take another six months. But in the meantime, he feels so strongly about his position that he is saying the government must now prepare the groundwork, lay the foundation for excepting this decision and complying with it. Ceasing and assisting the widespread Data Collection that 10,been doing for the past 12 years. The head of the National Security agency appeared before Congress Last wednesday to argue both election of u. S. Phone data should continue. General Keith Alexander compared the mass sweep of phone records to the running of the library. The information out there that billions and billions of books of information that are out there, there is no viable way to go through that information if you dont use metadata. In this case, metadata is the way of knowing where those books are in the library and a way of focusing our collection the same our allies do to look at where are the bad books. From our perspective, from the National Security agencys perspective, what we do is get great insight into the bad actors overseas. Your response to that, Sascha Meinrath . First, it is a failed metaphor, for sure, but surly, this is a case where they are scrambling to find justification for or in essence, criminalizing everyone. I that i mean, when youre doing active search and seizure of personal information lets be clear, metadata is still issatile information still personal information. What you have in essence done is said, we are crafting a dragnet where we assume the guilt of everyone. What yesterdays court ruling really demonstrated is that that is unacceptable. You must have reasonable cause to be collecting this, there must be worns issued, there must be a presumption of guilt. An assumption there some reason to collect individual personal information about citizens and residents in the United States, and that has not been met. What is clear here, nsa is scrambling for some justification, some reason why it is ok to say everyone, not just in the u. S. But on the planet, is worthy of active surveillance. I want to ask you, Sascha Meinrath, about the president ial Advisory Committee charged with reviewing the nsa. The panel has reportedly concluded the Obama Administration should lead most of the National Security agencys controversial bulk spying intact. Last week in an interview with msnbc the president obama talked about the review panel. Ive said before and will say again, the nsa does a very good not engaging in domestic surveillance. Not reading peoples emails, not listening to the content of their phone calls. Outside of our borders, the nsa is more aggressive. It is not constrained by laws. Part of what were trying to do over the next month or so is, having done an independent review and brought a whole bunch of folks, civil libertarians and lawyers and others, to examine what is being done. I will be proposing some self restraint on the nsa to initiate some reforms that can give people more confidence. That as president obama. Sascha meinrath, you were an adviser to president obamas Advisory Committee. Talk about what this committee advised, what has been leaked, and what president obama said. The irony the white house is now leaking information and is also upset other people have leaked information previously is not lost on me. This nsa review group ostensibly was to take a look at an independent expert review of what the nsa was doing and think about ways in which could be better balance between individual rights and National Security interests. I was part of that review process called the advisor may be a bit strong, but i was brought in to provide expert information about concerns that are clear and what they were doing. Far, also clear day, thus have not released any information it would be me to believe that taken his concerns very seriously. In essence, what you have right now is a reaffirmation. Just last week that the metaData Collection, this notion the president is correct, he is not reading emails for he often. Theyre not listening to phone calls for he often. But theyre collecting who you are in contact with, when youre in contact with the where youre located, all of this metadata around the actual content of your phone calls and emails. The nsa review group has concluded that that should continue. Mind you, that was leaked on friday. On monday, federal judge said the exact same activity is unconstitutional. Lets talk about the panel members. And the independence of this panel. Richard clarke, former u. S. Sever security adviser, michael morel, former deputy cia director, jeffrey stone, a university of chicago law professor, cass sunstein, a harvard law professor who once worked in the administration, and peter swire, who served on obamas National Economic council. Record and quite public in my concern over the actual independent of this group. I am one of the 47 technologist that wrote a letter to the president saying we need technological acumen on a technological review committee. Unfortunately, that was ignored. Im concerned that Administrative Division the Administration Officials comprise the entirety of this group. I do not see how you can do a truly independent review of surveillance when so many people are tied in. I think this is epitomized by the fact that this review group is housed under James Clapper, under the very agency that it is supposed to be independently revealing. What you mean it is housed there . If you go to their website, you actually go to dni, you go to the Intelligence Ministry here in the United States. That is were you can get information about the group. He reports to James Clapper and his agency. And that agency passes along what ever is embedded out of that report. It passes that along to the president for the president s review. How do you see that influence . We have not seen the report, only their leaks, but how did that influence the discussions you heard . Well, the discussions i heard, for example, in the meeting i was at, whenever we would bring up Sensitive Information around like the actual technological lets and bolts of how this worked, Public Information that is still officially classified, the review would say, we need to have a secured briefing about that. What that really means, you and anyone else that doesnt have security clearance cant be in that discussion. What i saw over the course of this review group process is not necessarily a malfeasance of the individuals involved. But it is a process that is so completely skewed that the outcome itself is almost preordained. I do not see how at the outset there set up a process that would allow for truly independent analysis, much less a walk back of a lot of the surveillance that is happening or major, meaningful reform it would cease and desist the kind of surveillance that we believe and our federal judge agreed, is unconstitutional. I also want to ask you about the cbs 60 minutes report on the nsa. Miller, isr, john the former associate Deputy Director of National Intelligence for analytic transformation and technology. Theres a perception out there that the nsa is why the collecting the content of the phone calls of americans. Is that true . No, thats not true. Nsa can only target the communications of a u. S. Person with a probable cause finding under specific court order. Today, we have less than 60 authorizations unspecific arsons to do that. The nsa, as we sit here right now, is listening to a universe of 50 or 60 people that would be considered u. S. Persons . Less than 60 people globally who are considered u. S. Persons. That was general Keith Alexander being questioned by reporters john miller who used to work in the new York Police Department and then as associate Deputy Director of National Intelligence. Your response, Sascha Meinrath, to this whole report . One, it is important to remember James Clapper and others have lied previously. I believe he said he told the least country 20 was before congress and lied to congress the least untruths when he was before congress and lie to congress. Theyre collecting huge amount of information, tens of millions of phone calls are monitored actively. What this really was, was an attempt to say, but are you listening individually to specific phone calls . Is that on an average basis probably a far smaller group. But regardless of that, what is clear here is what is actually happening in the spin about what is actually happening are quite discrepant. What were seeing time and again , i believe 60 minutes was absolutely involved, the New York Times and the wall street journal and her sensationalistic pieces were they said major reforms are coming in and in the details, you find out that is not the case. This is part of a Widespread Campaign to mislead the general public about what is actually transpiring. The reason it is so important is each and every time somebody says something that is verifiably false. We now have bits and pieces of information that can actually. Emonstrate that fact i believe what clapper is saying and the nuances he is using cover the 60 people considered u. S. Citizens, different ways of parsing this make it perhaps technically true, but in the spirit of actuality, is untrue. If we would dive into it, we would see it is not 60 people butg actively surveilled, tens of thousands or larger numbers of people that are under active surveillance. In the definition theyre saying, well, even though theyre american citizens, we have justify them as being 51 foreign or not located in the u. S. , therefore, they dont count in this list of 60 that he mentions. It is very deceptive. His meeting obama, today with the heads of the Worlds Largest technology companies, including apple to my facebook, google, microsoft, twitter, yahoo . What do you think has to happen . Damage, it is clear the reputation went to the u. S. Come in these counties in particular, is astronomical. To be measured in the tens of billions of dollars economically, socially, far worse than that. I think many of these companies are now seriously concerned about the ongoing damage that these revelations, but in particular the nsas activities, have created for them. So i think what were seeing now is a number of companies, and the ones you mentioned are sort of the vanguard, are saying we must have transparency about what is happening, must cease and desist, have a public debate about what is acceptable to the balance between National Security and individual rights. And we must reestablish the global trust in the u. S. As an ethical internet steward and these companies in particular, and i expect they will push back fairly strongly on what has been leaked thus far in terms of the incredibly marginal pivoting the nsa room grew review group is currently recommending. You fora meinrath, tank being with us, director of the s openedca Foundation Technology institute. We will continue to follow this issue. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The we come back, why have number of young people millions of people been put on drugs to deal with attention Deficit Disorder . Does it have something to do with the pharmaceutical companies powerful campaigns to push their drugs over the last decades . Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Taken at face value, the latest figures on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder adhd suggests a growing epidemic in the u. S. According to the centers for disease control, 15 of High School Children are diagnosed with adhd. The number of those on stimulant medication is at 3. 5 million, up from 600,000 two decades ago. Adhd is now the secondmost most common longterm diagnosis in children, narrowly trailing asthma. But in the report questions whether the staggering figures reflect a medical reality, or an overexcited medicated overmedicated craze that is earned billions in profits for the pharmaceutical companies involved. Topped 9adhd drugs billion in u. S. Last year, a more than 500 jump from a decade before. The radicals bike and diagnoses has coincided with a 20 year marketing effort to promote stimulus prescriptions for children struggling in school as well as for adults seeking to take control of their lives. The marketing effort has relied on studies and testimonials from a select group of doctors whove received massive speaking fees and funding grants for major pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Keith connors, a leading expert on adhd, told New York Times he questions the preponderance of adhd diagnoses in the u. S. , saying well, to discuss this issue we are by four guess. Winninghwarz is an award reporter who wrote the New York Times piece called the selling of attention Deficit Disorder. He has written extensively about adhd. Jamison monroe is a former teenage adderall at the who now runs Newport Academy, Treatment Center for teens suffering from Substance Abuse and Mental Health issues. Hes also the executive producer of the recent documentary, behind the orange curtain, which looks at the Prescription Drug but event. Is a canada mate based physician about selling author of books including, scattered how attention Deficit Disorder originates and what you can do about it. His most recent book is called, in the realm of hungry ghosts Close Encounters with addiction. Edwardse joined by john whose son committed suicide in 2007, does month after he was prescribed adderall and antidepressant medications at the Harvard University health versus clinic. Were going to start right there with our guests, talking about your son, talking about what happened to your son, john edwards, at Harvard University. Good morning. It is good to have you with us. So johnnie was went to harvard in 2006. Between his freshman and sophomore year, i discovered he was on adderall during the summer when he was home. I kind of question. I thought adderall, from what i understood, was for attention Deficit Disorder. I had some questions. Johnny was class valedictorian at his high school in massachusetts, 4. 0, brilliant kid. I think he was a straight a student at harvard. He was also doing Stem Cell Research and working on grants between his freshman and sophomore year. He was just a brilliant kid. Which paled in comparison to what a wonderful human being he was. That hed rather odd would be on a drug for attention Deficit Disorder. He seemed like the last person , to would be on those drugs achieve what he is achieved and have that type of issue. From what he shared with me and what i understand is it seemed in his particular case he may have been given it to somehow boost his confidence or for some other reason. I found it all a bit odd. I noticed in the summer on vacation in New Hampshire he was having these huge affects with the best way to describe it, these woosh affects. He would get this anxiety and he said it was due to the timely see was on. His doctors were paying attention to it and working it out. The problem is, when you are when your kids go off to college in turn 18, youre no longer involved in their care. Even though i requested or made a request, would you mind if i spoke with the person treating you . He checked into it and they said, no, does not really necessary. That is what he told me. Smg was under great care. He was at harvard. A wonderful institution. He was prescribed a couple of the different a couple of medications that i learned later were stimulants. Over the coming months, i guess he had significant anxiety. He even wrote an email to the person he had been seeing, the Nurse Practitioner. An indicated, should i continue to take these . And she said, yes, just make appointment to come and see me when you have a chance. Two days after that email, he committed suicide at harvard medical school. Completely out of the blue. None of us in the family had any a that Something Like this he had just been home for thanksgiving. Obviously, it has devastated myself, my family, my daughter particular. It has been a very difficult time in the last six years. Alan schwarz, how typical is johnnys store that you wrote about in the New York Times . Mr. Edwards, hi. Im sorry about everything. It is very atypical. In terms of the ending, in terms of how despondent he became and how he acted upon it. I think what most people are particularly concerned about is the process through which johnny received what is technically, i guess, medical care. He went to the Student Health probably harvard, faked his adhd symptoms or at least exaggerated them, in order to receive adderall. And other stimulant medications. It happens all the time. The other problem is, the procedure through which the diagnosis is made is really quite sloppy in many cases. If you read the deposition in the edwards case, because there are some eagle proceedings going on, the Nurse Practitioner involved in the diagnosis and care said one of the reasons she put johnny on stimulants is because he drank a lot of red bull, and that is always assigned that somebody needs more attention help. Didnt the nurse who made the prescription for adderall note that the on his general inability to focus, hed received two minor traffic violations, citations, further suggesting impulsiveness . Well, it is known people with adhd do get a more traffic accidents because of their lack of attention or perhaps the impulsivity of just taking a right turn when you shouldnt. But theres a big difference between knowing adhd folks get a more traffic accidents or working backwards and saying people who get in traffic accidents have adhd. This is all the misdiagnosis the diagnosis made within an hour of meeting. Yes. In this case and many others, is just laughable perhaps laughable is not the right word here. Though what you see is the misuse of the science. The Nurse Practitioner we are Nurse Practitioners. A lot of people think theyre better than doctors, so as practitioners dont send me hate mail. The thing is, she heard about the science, about adhd having 80 heredity, but that is not what that statistic means. Withhought 80 of kids adhd have a parent with adhd. And because johnny told the Nurse Practitioner that his father might have had it mr. Edwards, you can testify to that she took all these little signs as meaning adhd, and this happens every day. It happens hundreds of thousands of times across the year of people not paying attention to what is a real diagnosis and causes real people real problems for which adderall and other stimulant medications are inappropriate remedy. N appropriate remedy. We have gone way past that to the recreational, cosmetic use. Why would johnny wanted the adderall . Youre saying he did a language from a very smart kid, and he wanted this drug, sme high school and college kids are taking her. Forgive me, because i did not know johnny personally. Mr. Edwards, is it ok if i guess here . Yes. Im up open about talking about johnny, so feel free. I would say i agree with everything you have said up to now. I dont have adhd as well. Wanted to make sure it is ok. Thank you. Hundreds of thousands of college kids to the Student Health 20 adderall because it helps them stay up at night and study. Of conflicting evidence whether you perform better on these drugs, whether they perform better on average. The problem is, a lot of kids really do benefit. So they get seduced by the idea that i can stay up really late, i can do all sorts of great things, and sometimes it blows up in their face. Jamison monroe, you call yourself a former adderall addict and you now are running the Newport Academy Rehabilitation Center and participated in this documentary called behind the orange curtain post quote the looks of the Prescription Drug a minimum. Why did you get adderall when you were young . Johnny story sounds very familiar to mine, actually, just a little further on in time. I went to private school, prep schools, graduated number one in my class out of eighth grade and then went to a very competitive high school. Grades, but ient had a c in an honors biology class. People were concerned, parents, counselors. It was just life happening, high school happening, girls, were distractions. The courses were more difficult. My lab partner was taking adderall and so were some of my friends. So i tried it. I got a few. I took one. It worked. It worked really well. I could stay up. I could go to sports practice, study, and wake up early, taken adderall, be right on target, be ready to rock n roll. To get ahead, to get that advantage, to make better grades, be able to study longer. As we alluded to a little bit, he was a competitive nature. I was just trying to keep up. It is a performance enhancement drugs. What happened was, then i realized it worked so i went to my parents and i think the reason why my grades were falling from the past was i have add or adhd. As any parent would say on a child comes to you saying they have his clinical diagnosis that may hinder their ability to perform, especially academically, they took me to a doctor. I went to a doctor and i love what alan said because i did exactly that. I completely faked my symptoms. I acted like i was distracted during the 45 minute or so test the doctor gave me. Sure enough when i walked out of there, i got a prescription for adderall. That was in 1995. I had a prescription in various forms the next nine or 10 years. And then what happened . And whatappened to me we see in a lot of kids that come through Newport Academy, in they take some sort of stimulus study drug. The next or when i was offered a vicodin or value or some other type of pharmaceutical drug, my perceived harmfulness of these drugs was low. Whats the difference between one and another . That is what happened to me and what was he and other kids. I developed a substance a bruise abuse problem. Adderall became just one of the drugs i was addicted to and abusing. I could not sit down and study, write a paper or study for an exam, without taking an adderall. Late high school and early college, my peers and i, we would crush them up and start them. So we were drinking and using still it as a recreational stimulant as well as a study drug. And that developed into cocaine and other drug abuse. Adderall was always there for the all nighters in the library. It was absolutely necessary in order to get by, in order to study. But i want to bring dr. Gabor mate into this conversation. He is joining us from vancouver to canada. You have written and spoken extensively about this. One of your books, scattered how attention Deficit Disorder originates and what you can do about it. You talk about the drugging of americas children. s article isrz significant because i think it points to a major dynamic in american medicine am a which is theres a psychiatrist for a child pediatrician, and dr. Diller says the pharmaceutical companies, referring to their success in inducing doctors to prescribe indications, says an epidemic to take hold amid there has to be a susceptible host. In this case, the medical perception. And then dr. Diller says, they must know something about us that they can ask late. And with a Pharmaceutical Company still about the medical doctors is that we are in the grips of this ideology that reduces everything to brain biology and everything to genetics. So that it is not just a question of adhd, but a question of millions of kids the non medications of all kinds. Adhd drugs, the stimulus, there are half a million children in the states on antipsychotics were not even psychotic. There are kids getting into depressions for ocd, depression, anxiety. Depression, for ocd, depression and anxiety. They think they can solve problems by handing out pills which is given somissible, is the foothold brilliantly demonstrated in his article. The science, which is not an uncontroversial, most physicians are not aware of it that the brain biology actually develops and interaction with the environment beginning in utero and early childhood. And second, an individuals physiology, including brain physiology, is a lifelong interaction with the environment. So we have lots of children in trouble winning candidate you the number prescriptions for adhd going up 45 in the last 5 years. The figures that alan has accumulated and demonstrated in his article. What are we looking at . A huge impact of the environment on the troubled functioning of many young people and children, and to reduce that brain biology and spit it out by medications, is an application of medical responsibility. Alan schwarz, what you write about in this piece, the selling of attention Deficit Disorder is the selling of it. Explain the interest of the pharmaceutical companies and how they influence the doctors. Lets remember, the pharmaceutical companies are capitalistic organizations whose interest is not only making money, there were legal responsibility is to make money for their shareholders. Care oft to take great americas children. Hopefully, those two things can be aligned. The wind push comes to shove, they want to sell product. The story i wrote, and i think the whole concept of the selling of attention Deficit Disorder is perhaps less a story of what pharma did and more a story of what we let pharma do. We have the underfunded fda that can check forever ties months ahead of time that completely distort what adhd is and what adhd drugs do again, there are very good for a lot kids, but a lot of times, and a majority of times i would attest, they do not get prescribed to kids with adhd. I can prove that. What you mean . I am a math guy at heart. If you look at the numbers with a real keen eye, it is clear as day. We can talk about that later, perhaps on another program. But what you see is that they prey upon, typically, mothers fears that their kids are going to be friendless, their kids are going to have Substance Abuse problems later on im a that their kids are not going to succeed academically. It aint no secret this is what the pharmaceutical industry does, they take a study that has been funded with their dollars by independent researchers that find a slight improvement on how many math questions get answered and how many math questions get answered correctly a tiny little immediate effect then they put in the ad, improves academic performance. And then in another ad for adderall, or as a mother hugging her child who is holding a paper ish a b on it in the line finally, schoolwork that matches his intelligence. Now what mother thinks their childs schoolwork matches their intelligence . A shame because the pharmaceutical industry could make a lot of money absolutely legitimately, ok . And god bless them. But it appears as if they have gone well past what adhd is an theyre preying upon the fears of the population. Any talk about the amount of money the companies are putting into the advertising in the promotional cap gains in reaching out to the doctors . As you just pointed out, alan schwarz, it is not about what they do, it is about what the doctors let them do. At the funded research that isnt cited as the research, the doctors who go out and speak, being paid by the pharmaceutical companies . I think a lot of doctors do mean well. I really believe that. I think they just lose sight of how they are human beings and that when they are paid to say things, they begin to believe it. Now there are also doctors who get paid by the companies to go out and talk to other doctors, and for that matter, prescribe to real people who, frankly, have just lost their minds, who dont know with these drugs do. They dont care what these drugs do. They just want to give it out. In part because they believe in it, and in part because he keeps the business coming in. Now the Insurance Company rules that is a little strong but you can get paid for five minute med check, so thats all it takes. You prescribed Education Committee or med checks every three months. Theres a psychiatrist a couple of blocks from here were the early it will take you longer to fill out the paperwork in the waiting room then it will for him to diagnose you with adhd and give you a prescription for stimulants. And that is not uncommon. Were going to take a break and come back to this discussion. Our guest is New York Times awardwinning reporter, alan monroe, runss Newport Academy rehabilitation former adderall addict, and mr. Edwards whose son committed suicide, and gabor mate, physician and bestselling author who wrote, scattered how attention Deficit Disorder originates and what you can do about it. We will be back in a moment. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As we look at the selling of attention Deficit Disorder, i want to play for you a tv ad featuring music, celebrity, and singer adam levine, produced by Everyday Health media. I could not organize my thoughts. Because of my adhd. Like many kids with adhd, i did not outgrow it. I remember very distinctly not being able to focus, so that was right around the time when i actually saw a doctor. If youre diagnosed with adhd as a kid, you might still have it. Take a quiz online to recognize your symptoms. Then talk with your doctor. Ask looking into it, it is important. Its your adhd. Own it. That is adam levine speaking. Wrote a seriesou of pieces in the New York Times. What about this . It is fair enough. Child, youadhd as a might still have it. About 50 of adults will retain their symptoms and perhaps even impairment as adults. So it is a fair message. But if you take the quiz at is sponsoredom, it by intuniv. If you take the quiz, we gave the quiz to 1100 americans, scientifically, over the phone. It was legitimate. 40 of them took the six question quiz and were told through the algorithm that adhd was either possible or possibly likely come up which is a curious diagnosis. Anyway, the test is rigged to get people to think they have the disorder. And that is very powerful. Ive got it right here in your article. You lay out the six questions. How often do you have trouble wrapping up the final details of a project once the challenging parts have been done . How often do you have difficulty getting things in order when it requires organization . Remembering appointments or obligations . Whenever a task that requires a lot of thought, how often do you delay Getting Started . How often do you feel overly active and compelled to do things like you are driven by a motor . Again, i dont blame the test for human beings misuse of it. It is our fault. What they dont say in there is that these symptoms are supposed to be severe and are supposed to impair your daily life and functioning. If they meet that standard, then you really do have adhd. Jamison monroe, who is coming to you at your clinic . You, who are recovering, as you describe it, adderall addict . One thing i want to highlight real quick is in one of his previous pieces, alan had a great quote from a pediatrician and this is something i love that dr. Gabor mate addresses. I dont have a lot of choice we decided as a society it is too expensive to modify the kids environment, the school environment, parenting, so we have to modify the kids. Like her saying, were been pushed into a corner. We need to develop parenting skills, expand the school offerings, crate of arts, creative outlets, things like that. What we see at Newport Academy and in the film behind the orange curtain, that highlights primarily Prescription Drug overdoses, almost all of the kids that are highlighted in the documentary and many we see coming into our academy, the first truck they took was an adhd student medication. We see about 60 of kids that come to Newport Academy are on one, mostly multiple, like it will be put on adderall and then an anti depression and then it compounds each other. We see about two thirds of the kids that come to Newport Academy are on pharmaceutical medications for one diagnoses or another, and about half of those have some sort of adderall diagnosis to whether it is legitimate or not. We will typically take kids off of these medications because there is no baseline, and there is no real test that has been done to give a proper diagnosis, then we will be able to have a baseline to see if we need if these kids do in fact need medication. And only about 30 of kids leave Newport Academy on medication. To johnt to go back edwards. Youre suing Harvard University. What do you want to see happen . For me, particularly to the question being asked today, i want the answer to the question, i agree with what alan said exactly, but one level these medications to have a purpose to address serious issues, and one of the questions i have related to john that ive not answered is the how you have a 4. 0 or close to that at harvard and be considered to have Something Like attention Deficit Disorder . I would think that is all you need to know and you dont need to be john edwards, we have to leave it there. Thank you all for joining us. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. B e