Released on = August 5, 2006, 7:44 am

Press Release Author = Citizens Commsission on Human Rights

Industry = Pharmaceuticals

Press Release Summary = Psychiatric Drug Adverse Reaction Report Hot Line Launched

Press Release Body = A Psychiatric Drug Adverse Reaction Report Hot Line could lead
to thousands more suits against psychiatrists forcing these drugs onto patients, the
Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) announced. The group launched a
reporting system on it's website, http://www.cchr.org/drugreporting, to make it
easier for patients to report drug risks. This was in response to Food and Drug
Administration revelations about antidepressants. Three alerts were issued this
month warning that homicidal thoughts are a side effect of the antidepressant,
Effexor; that antidepressants can cause a rare lung disease in newborns of mothers
who take antidepressants during pregnancy and that migraine medication taken
concurrently with antidepressants could result in a life-threatening condition
called serotonin syndrome.

The warnings follow an Alaska Supreme Court ruling on June 30 against enforced
psychiatric drugging in the state's institutions. Bruce Wiseman, president of CCHR
in the U.S., said that the hotline doesn't replace the FDA's Medwatch drug reporting
system but augments it and provides a service for people who may be reticent about
reporting direct to a government agency. "We are particularly interested in
patients being forced onto these drugs," he said.

With a more than 1,700 percent increase in international drug regulatory agency
warnings against psychiatric drugs since 2002, the New Jersey Law Journal this month
reported nearly 500 suits against antipsychotic drugs causing diabetes and a
settlement of 8,000 more suits costing the manufacturer of the antipsychotic drug
Zyprexa $690 million. Further suits are expected over antidepressants causing
suicide in children and adolescents and adults.

The Alaska Supreme Court recognized the dangers of psychiatric drugs, stating,
"Given the nature and potentially devastating impact of psychotropic medications.we
now similarly hold that the right to refuse to take psychotropic drugs is
fundamental." Faith Myers challenged the constitutionality of the Alaska
Psychiatric Institute (API) to force her to take psychotropic drugs when she was
committed to the facility on February 3, 2003.

The court further stated: "Psychotropic drugs 'affect the mind, behavior,
intellectual functions, perception, moods, and emotion' and are known to cause a
number of potentially devastating side effects.Courts have observed that 'the
likelihood [that psychotropic drugs will cause] at least some temporary side effects
appears to be undisputed.'"

CCHR's Psychiatric Drug Adverse Reaction Report Hot Line also asks people to report
what "mental disorder" the drug was prescribed for and whether any physical test was
conducted to confirm the diagnosis. The FDA has been criticized for approving
psychiatric drugs for diagnoses that lack scientific veracity. The FDA has
recently come under fire from US Senator Charles Grassley, who has asked the
inspector general to investigate the agency for the relationship that he claims has
developed between the FDA and drug manufacturers, where the two work together to
manipulate scientific studies and hide any negative findings from the public.

An April University of Massachusetts and Tuft University study disclosed financial
ties between psychiatric drug manufacturers and psychiatrists deciding which "mental
disorders" should be included in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Every psychiatrist sitting on
panels deciding upon "mood disorders" and "psychotic disorders" had drug company
ties. Sales of antidepressants and antipsychotics for these disorders account for
more than $22 billion a year internationally.
People wanting to report an adverse psychiatric drug reaction can log onto
http://www.cchr.org/drugreporting.

CCHR, which was established by the Church of Scientology in 1969 to investigate
psychiatric abuse has had informed consent laws as one of its most pivotal
campaigns, obtaining its first law in 1976. For more information go to www.cchr.org


Web Site = http://www.cchr.org

Contact Details = Citizens Commission on Human Rights
401 WEST Hastings Street
Vancouver British Columbia
V6B1L5
humanrights@lightspeed.ca