Ted Kennedy on Ritalin

Ted Kennedy can't let down his pharmaceutical industry cronies:

WASHINGTON -- A bill banning schools from coercing parents into putting their children on psychotropic drugs, passed with near-universal support in the House, is being tied up in a Senate committee by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who contends it requires more study.

Supporters of the bill, which sailed through the House 425 to 1, said it will help prevent an epidemic of children on drugs like Ritalin and Prozac, and that Kennedy is being influenced by his longstanding ties to health and pharmaceutical associations, which contend the bill will discourage the diagnosis of mental illnesses that could be easily treated.

It has become too convenient for teachers to not discipline kids and just force the parents to put kids on drugs. Have you ever seen an eight-year-old on Ritalin? they are zombies with none of the youthful energy all of us still wish we had. I am a high-energy person and was a high-energy kid, would teachers have pushed for me to be on Ritalin? I think there are times my wife wishes I was, however. Kennedy is disgraceful.