10. Evaluate client's physical or mental condition based on review of client information.
The certified mental health professionals of TeenScreen only do a small fraction of their tasks - all that is necessary to get drugs for the students, ultimately.
As stated earlier, TeenScreen partners with the mental health front group, NAMI. TeenScreen is led by a former head of NAMI - a front group for the psychotropic companies in the pharmaceutical industry. And TeenScreen shares the same unethical behavior as their sponsor.
For example NAMI, did not disclose that Eli Lilly's marketing manager, Gerald Radke, ran its entire operation at one time. Radke, starting in 1999, worked for NAMI as a Lilly-paid management consultant.
Then, Radke left Eli Lilly and served as NAMI's paid interim executive director until 2001. After NAMI, he ran the Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, and now serves the Pennsylvania Health Department. Lilly, on average, pays NAMI about a million dollars a year, and these executive loans are mutually beneficial for both.
NAMI receives more than half its budget from some pharmaceutical companies.  NAMI came under scrutiny by U.S. Senator Charles E. Grassley in April of 2009. Senator Grassley's investigation of NAMI confirmed that a majority of their funding was coming from the pharmaceutical companies. They are a front group, and not a national mental health advocacy group as perceived to be.
To further prosper on this government initiative involving 25 federal agencies, TeenScreen got assigned the Hilton of required Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), which is the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP), a similar program Bush started as Governor of Texas, as a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes."Â
How TeenScreen can state that they have no interference with treatment options of those determined by them to be in need of psychotropic drugs, and then require TMAP only, is a bit of a contradiction.
TMAP was ultimately developed by the pharmaceutical industry- particularly those companies that market psychotropic drugs, in 1997. This theory that the primary purpose of the commission was to recommend implementation of TMAP based algorithms on a nationwide basis for profit. TMAP, which requires the use of newer, more expensive drug, has itself has been the subject of controversy in Texas, Pennsylvania and other states where efforts have been made to implement its use.
Developed when Bush was governor of Texas, TMAP began as an alliance of individuals from the University of Texas, the pharmaceutical industry, and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas.
Through the guise of TMAP, the drug industry has methodically influenced the decision making of elected and appointed public officials to gain access to citizens in various mental health settings. The project was funded by a Robert Wood Johnson grant and by several drug companies.
Lilly's Zyprexa is one of the atypical antipsychotic drugs recommended as a first line drug in the Texas scheme. About 70 percent of Zyprexa sales are paid for by government health care programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
All together Lilly reportedly contributed $103,000 to support TMAP. Heather Lusk, an Eli Lilly representative, said contributions to TMAP were "educational" grants made by a company grants office.
Roughly 25 percent of those screened by TeenScreen have been placed on psychotropic drugs as of today. If referred to a psychiatrist, over 90 percent of these children will be prescribed at least one psychotropic drug. Psychiatrists, of all physician specialties, are paid the most by the pharmaceutical industry.
What is being done about this very concerning and authoritarian program that is damaging children?
Presently there is a bill to prohibit the use of federal funds for any universal or mandatory mental health screening programs, H.R. 2387, The Parental Consent Act. Such screenings violate the right of parents to direct and control the upbringing of their children. Also, not consenting as parents with the recommendations of mental health screeners should not be a catalyst for a charge of child abuse or education neglect.
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