The big Bush handout to pharmaceutical companies: mandatory mental health screening for entire U.S. population

The Bush administration's handouts to pharmaceutical companies just keep on coming. First, it was the Medicare discount drug card scam which turned out to be a system that guaranteed pharmaceutical industry profits thanks to sky-high prices of prescription drugs (the discounts were nonexistent). Next, it was the initiation of an anti-terror drug research program where the government would spend billions of dollars buying and stockpiling expensive drugs and vaccines to counter biological weapons. And now, it's the announcement that President Bush wants to mandate the mental health screening of the entire U.S. population.

Why is this a handout to drug companies? Because these so-called mental health "disorders" are often fictitious diseases (like ADHD) that can easily be attributed to nearly anyone. And once a person is labeled "diseased," they can be put on expensive prescription drugs to alter their brain chemistry. Make no mistake: this sweeping "public health" initiative is really just a clever way to dope up half the population with expensive prescription drugs that alter brain chemistry. It's a devious plan. And it's an invasion of personal privacy.

It's all made even worse by the sad fact that antidepressant drugs, which will no doubt be prescribed in large quantities under this initiative, are now proven to cause a 400% increase in the risk of a patient committing suicide. They also provoke patients to engage in violent acts against others. These antidepressants alter brain chemistry in dangerous ways and should probably be banned, not unleashed on the entire population.