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HR 896 - Comm on Psychiatric Medication of School-Age Children; create

Stanley, Lanett (50th)	Stanley, Pamela A (49th)	Sinkfield, Georganna T (57th)
Jamieson, Mary Jeanette (22nd)	Mobley, Barbara J (69th)	McClinton, JoAnn (68th)

Status Summary	HC:	Rules	SC:		FR:	02/02/00	LA:	02/09/00	H - Favorably Reported

First Reader Summary

A RESOLUTION creating the Commission on Psychiatric Medication of School-Age Children; and for other purposes.

HR 896                                              LC 8 3920 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                             A RESOLUTION 
 
  1- 1  Creating the Commission on Psychiatric Medication of 
  1- 2  School-Age Children; and for other purposes. 
 
  1- 3  WHEREAS, national medical reports indicate that psychiatric 
  1- 4  drugs are prescribed to between 5 million and 6 million 
  1- 5  children each year who represent about 10 percent of the 
  1- 6  total school-age population; and 
 
  1- 7  WHEREAS, Ritalin is perhaps the most common of these drugs 
  1- 8  and records indicate that it is administered to more than 
  1- 9  2.5 million Americans, including more than one in every 30 
  1-10  children between the ages of five and 18; and 
 
  1-11  WHEREAS, Ritalin is a Schedule II drug and is in the same 
  1-12  category as opium, morphine, and cocaine; and 
 
  1-13  WHEREAS, the International Narcotics Control Board of the 
  1-14  World Health Organization has reported that the United 
  1-15  States uses 90 percent of the world's Ritalin and has warned 
  1-16  us against our national trend to overprescribe stimulants 
  1-17  for children; and 
 
  1-18  WHEREAS, it has been suggested that the recent incidents of 
  1-19  school violence and other occasions of violence are the 
  1-20  result of children being unnecessarily medicated. 
 
  1-21  NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 
  1-22  GEORGIA that there is created the Commission on Psychiatric 
  1-23  Medication of School-Age Children.  The commission shall be 
  1-24  composed of ten members. Three members of the House of 
  1-25  Representatives shall be appointed by the Speaker of the 
  1-26  House of Representatives and include a member of the House 
  1-27  Committee on Children and Youth and a member of the House 
  1-28  Committee on Health and Ecology. Three members of the Senate 
  1-29  shall be appointed by the President of the Senate and 
  1-30  include a member of the Senate Health and Human Services 
  1-31  Committee.  Four members shall be appointed by the Governor 
  1-32  to represent state governmental services in the areas of 
  1-33  health, human resources, children services, and education. 
  1-34  The Governor shall appoint the chairperson who shall call 
  1-35  all meetings and schedule the agenda of the commission. 
 
 
 
 
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  2- 1  BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the commission shall undertake a 
  2- 2  study to investigate the use of psychiatric medications and 
  2- 3  their effects on school-age children of this state and to 
  2- 4  provide recommendations for improved oversight of the 
  2- 5  prescribed use of narcotics among Georgia's youth.  The 
  2- 6  commission may conduct meetings at such places and at such 
  2- 7  times as it may deem necessary or convenient to enable it to 
  2- 8  exercise fully and effectively its powers, perform its 
  2- 9  duties, and accomplish the objectives and purposes of this 
  2-10  resolution.  The members of the commission shall serve 
  2-11  without compensation; provided, however, that legislative 
  2-12  members shall receive the allowances authorized for 
  2-13  legislative committees but shall receive the same for not 
  2-14  more than five days unless additional days are authorized. 
  2-15  The funds necessary to carry out the provisions of this 
  2-16  resolution shall come from the funds appropriated to the 
  2-17  Senate and House of Representatives.  In the event the 
  2-18  commission makes a report of its findings and 
  2-19  recommendations, with suggestions for proposed legislation, 
  2-20  if any, such reports shall be made on or before December 1, 
  2-21  2000. The commission shall stand abolished on December 1, 
  2-22  2000. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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