17 October 2007

GENERATION RX examines rise in psychiatric drugs among children and teens



GENERATION RX, a new documentary by international award-winning producer Kevin P. Miller, examines the rise in psychiatric diagnoses among children and teens from 1980 to 2007. During that time, there was a mercuric rise in the use of ADHD drugs like Ritalin and unprecedented marketing of health services and mental health drugs directly to consumers. In GENERATION RX. Miller illustrates how this era of kids have been caught in the middle of this unprecedented change in Western culture. He employs the expertise of internationally respected figures from the fields of medicine, ethics, journalism, academia, and more — and asks whether we have allowed children to become the victims of shoddy — and often corrupted science — with profit as the main motivator.

Ethics, or as Miller reveals, the lack of such, is a central theme of the film. As he investigated the culture of medicine, the producer was shocked to learn that a vast majority of psychiatric drugs being prescribed to millions of children worldwide have never been proven safe and/or effective for the very conditions they are purported to treat. In fact, he uncovered a pattern of collusion between drug manufacturers and their regulatory watchdogs at the FDA, who literally hid evidence of suicidal thoughts and violent acts long before these drugs were approved for the marketplace. The result of these covert actions was an astronomical spike in teen deaths and suicides — 2,000 in 2004 alone — and countless numbers of horrid, but predictable side effects.

GENERATION RX is a film about children caught in the vortex of mind-bending drugs at the earliest stages of their growth and development. The goal of GENERATION RX is to provide citizens everywhere with the information they need in order to make informed choices about whether ADHD, antipsychotic and antidepressant medications are the right choice for children — or whether drug companies have merely created another market for their products without regard for safety.

The film is slated for international release in October of 2008. Check this site often for updates and other news related to the release of GENERATION RX!