I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5236

To prohibit the use of Federal funds for any universal or mandatory mental 

health screening program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 6, 2004

Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To prohibit the use of Federal funds for any universal or 

mandatory mental health screening program.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Let Parents Raise 

5 Their Kids Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) The United States Preventive Services Task 

9 Force (USPSTF) issued findings and recommenda-
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1 tion against screening for suicide that corroborate 

2 those of the Canadian Preventive Services Task 

3 Force. ‘‘USPSTF found no evidence that screening 

4 for suicide risk reduces suicide attempts or mor5 tality. There is limited evidence on the accuracy of 

6 screening tools to identify suicide risk in the primary 

7 care setting, including tools to identify those at high 

8 risk.’’. 

9 (2) The 1999 Surgeon General’s report on men10 tal health admitted the serious conflicts in the med11 ical literature regarding the definitions of mental 

12 health and mental illness when it said, ‘‘In other 

13 words, what it means to be mentally healthy is sub14 ject to many different interpretations that are rooted 

15 in value judgments that may vary across cultures. 

16 The challenge of defining mental health has stalled 

17 the development of programs to foster mental health 

18 (Secker, 1998). . . .’’. 

19 (3) The Surgeon General’s report also says, 

20 ‘‘The diagnosis of mental disorders is often believed 

21 to be more difficult than diagnosis of somatic or 

22 general medical disorders since there is no definitive 

23 laboratory test or abnormality in brain tissue that 

24 can identify the illness.’’. 
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1 (4) Accurate mental health diagnosis of chil2 dren is difficult as admitted by the Surgeon Gen3 eral’s report that says, ‘‘The science is challenging 

4 because of the ongoing process of development. The 

5 normally developing child hardly stays the same long 

6 enough to make stable measurements. Adult criteria 

7 for illness can be difficult to apply to children and 

8 adolescents, when the signs and symptoms of mental 

9 disorders are often also the characteristics of normal 

10 development.’’. 

11 (5) Authors of the bible of psychiatric diag12 nosis, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, admit 

13 that the diagnostic criteria for mental illness are 

14 vague, saying, ‘‘DSM-IV criteria remain a consensus 

15 without clear empirical data supporting the number 

16 of items required for the diagnosis. . . . Further17 more, the behavioral characteristics specified in 

18 DSM-IV, despite efforts to standardize them, remain 

19 subjective. . . .’’ (American Psychiatric Association 

20 Committee on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 

21 (DSM–IV 1994), pp. 1162–1163). 

22 (6) Because of the subjectivity of psychiatric di23 agnosis, it is all too easy for a psychiatrist to label 

24 a person’s disagreement with the psychiatrist’s polit25 ical beliefs a mental disorder. 
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1 (7) At least one federally-funded school violence 

2 prevention program has suggested that a child who 

3 shares his or her parent’s traditional values may be 

4 likely to instigate school violence. 

5 (8) Despite many statements in the popular 

6 press and by groups promoting the psychiatric label7 ing and medication of children, that ADD/ADHD is 

8 due to a chemical imbalance in the brain, the 1998 

9 National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference 

10 said, ‘‘. . . further research is necessary to firmly 

11 establish ADHD as a brain disorder. This is not 

12 unique to ADHD, but applies as well to most psy13 chiatric disorders, including disabling diseases such 

14 as schizophrenia. . . . Although an independent di15 agnostic test for ADHD does not exist. . . . Finally, 

16 after years of clinical research and experience with 

17 ADHD, our knowledge about the cause or causes of 

18 ADHD remains speculative.’’. 

19 (9) There has been a precipitous increase in the 

20 prescription rates of psychiatric drugs in children: 

21 (A) A 300-percent increase in psychotropic 

22 drug use in 2 to 4 year old children from 1991 

23 to 1995 (Journal of the American Medical As24 sociation, 2000). 
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1 (B) A 300-percent increase in psychotropic 

2 drug use in children from 1987 to 1996 (Ar3 chives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, 

4 2003). 

5 (C) More money was spent on psychiatric 

6 drugs for children than on antibiotics or asthma 

7 medication (Medco Trends, 2004). 

8 (10) A September 2004 Food and Drug Admin9 istration hearing found that more than two-thirds of 

10 studies of antidepressants given to depressed chil11 dren showed that they were no more effective than 

12 placebo, or sugar pills, and that only the positive 

13 trials were published by the pharmaceutical industry. 

14 The lack of effectiveness of antidepressants has been 

15 known by the Food and Drug Administration since 

16 at least 2000 when, according to the Food and Drug 

17 Administration Background Comments on Pediatric 

18 Depression, Robert Temple of the Food and Drug 

19 Administration Office of Drug Evaluation acknowl20 edged the ‘‘preponderance of negative studies of 

21 antidepressants in pediatric populations’’. The Sur22 geon General’s report said of stimulant medication 

23 like Ritalin, ‘‘However, psychostimulants do not ap24 pear to achieve long-term changes in outcomes such 
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1 as peer relationships, social or academic skills, or 

2 school achievement.’’. 

3 (11) The Food and Drug Administration finally 

4 acknowledged in September 2004, that the newer 

5 antidepressants are related to suicidal thoughts and 

6 actions in children and that this data was hidden for 

7 years. The Food and Drug Administration had over 

8 2000 reports of completed suicides from 1987 to 

9 1995 for the drug Prozac alone, which by the agen10 cy’s own calculations represent but a fraction of the 

11 suicides. Prozac is the only such drug approved by 

12 the Food and Drug Administration for use in chil13 dren. 

14 (12) Other possible side effects of psychiatric 

15 medication used in children include mania, violence, 

16 dependence, weight gain, and insomnia from the 

17 newer antidepressants; cardiac toxicity including le18 thal arrhythmias from the older antidepressants; 

19 growth suppression, psychosis, and violence from 

20 stimulants; and diabetes from the newer anti-psy21 chotic medications. 

22 (13) Parents are already being coerced to put 

23 their children on psychiatric medications and some 

24 children are dying because of it. Universal or man25 datory mental health screening and the accom-
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1 panying treatments recommended by the President’s 

2 New Freedom Commission on Mental Health will 

3 only increase that problem. Across the country, Pa4 tricia Weathers, the Carroll Family, the Johnston 

5 Family, and the Salazar Family were all charged or 

6 threatened with child abuse charges for refusing or 

7 taking their children off of psychiatric medications. 

8 (14) The United States Supreme Court in 

9 Pierce versus Society of Sisters (268 U.S. 510 

10 (1925)) held that parents have a right to direct the 

11 education and upbringing of their children. 

12 (15) Universal or mandatory mental health 

13 screening violates the right of parents to direct and 

14 control the upbringing of their children. 

15 (16) Federal funds should never be used to sup16 port programs that could lead to the increased over17 medication of children, the stigmatization of children 

18 and adults as mentally disturbed based on their po19 litical or other beliefs, or the violation of the liberty 

20 and privacy of Americans by subjecting them to 

21 invasive ‘‘mental health screening’’ (the results of 

22 which are placed in medical records which are avail23 able to government officials and special interests 

24 without the patient’s consent). 
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1 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION AGAINST FEDERAL FUNDING OF UNI2 VERSAL OR MANDATORY MENTAL HEALTH 

3 SCREENING. 

4 (a) UNIVERSAL OR MANDATORY MENTAL HEALTH

5 SCREENING PROGRAM.—No Federal funds may be used 

6 to establish or implement any universal or mandatory 

7 mental health screening program. 

8 (b) REFUSAL TO CONSENT AS BASIS OF A CHARGE

9 OF CHILD ABUSE OR EDUCATION NEGLECT.—No Federal 

10 education funds may be paid to any local educational 

11 agency or other instrument of government that uses the 

12 refusal of a parent or legal guardian to provide express, 

13 written, voluntary, informed consent to mental health 

14 screening for his or her child as the basis of a charge of 

15 child abuse or education neglect until the agency or instru16 ment demonstrates that it is no longer using such refusal 

17 as a basis of a child abuse or education neglect charge. 

18 (c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this Act, the term 

19 ‘‘universal or mandatory mental health screening pro20 gram’’—

21 (1) means any mental health screening program 

22 in which a set of individuals (other than members of 

23 the Armed Forces or individuals serving a sentence 

24 resulting from conviction for a criminal offense) is 

25 automatically screened without regard to whether 
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1 there was a prior indication of a need for mental 

2 health treatment; and 

3 (2) includes—

4 (A) any program of State incentive grants 

5 for transformation to implement recommenda6 tions in the July 2003 report of the President’s 

7 New Freedom Commission on Mental Health; 

8 and 

9 (B) any student mental health screening 

10 program that allows mental health screening of 

11 individuals under 18 years of age without the 

12 express, written, voluntary, informed consent of 

13 the parent or legal guardian of the individual 

14 involved.

Æ