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States focus on limiting psychiatric drugging of kids

April 7th, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

The Texas legislature is considering a bill that would require doctors to get prior approval before prescribing atypical antipsychotic drugs like Zyprexa, Risperdal, Invega, Abilify, Seroquel and Geodon to children under 11 who are covered by Medicaid in that state, the Dallas Morning News reported on April 1, 2009.The reports on Texas foster children in recent years provide evidence to support such a bill. For instance, in 2007, the top five most commonly prescribed psychotropic drugs to Texas foster children were Ritalin, Risperdal, Clonidine, Seroquel, and Adderall. These five alone accounted for half of the $37.9 million spent on psychiatric drugs for foster children in 2007, according to a report in the August 17, 2008 Dallas Morning News. Read the rest of this entry »

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