Washington, DC  -  Alabama families were empowered Wednesday to “just say no.” In a bill sponsored by Georgia Congressman Max Burns, Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Saks) said today parents and families could no longer be coerced by school administrators to medicate their children to attend school.

“As the father of three young children, I am sympathetic to the need to have order in the classroom with as few disruptions as possible,” Rogers said. “But school personnel should never presume to know the medication needs of a child. Only medical doctors have the ability to determine if a prescription is appropriate."

The Child Medication Safety Act addresses the growing number of children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and then treated with medications such as Ritalin or Adderall. The bill requires states, as a condition of receiving federal education funds, to establish policies and procedures prohibiting school personnel from requiring a child to take medication in order to attend school.

Representative Burns reaffirmed the goal is to empower parents and protect children. “The Child Medication Safety Act is straightforward, sensible legislation that aims to remedy this problem facing parents across the nation. This bipartisan bill is carefully crafted to preserve communication between school personnel and parent, but also protects parents from being coerced into placing their child on a drug in order to receive educational services," Burns said.

 

The bill, H.R. 1170, passed the House 425 to 1 on Wednesday.