This New Freedom Commission plan is based on the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP), a medication treatment plan that also screened people for mental health problems and prescribed high-profit prescription drugs to them. But the Texas plan has come under great criticism. A whistle-blower named Allen Jones, who was an employee of the Pennsylvania office of the Inspector General, published a document revealing that medical leaders who controlled the medication plan in the state of Pennsylvania received payment from drug companies who stood to benefit from the mental health screening plan.
In response, Allen Jones was, of course, fired. Similarly, the Texas plan has been formulated by drug companies. Allen Jones described the joint effort as "a political/pharmaceutical alliance" that was "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive patented medications of questionable benefits and deadly side effects." So, at first glance, it certainly appears that this is no more than a good old boy strategy for boosting the profits of pharmaceutical companies through political influence -- it's the same old game.
Not surprisingly, an alarming number of the Bush administration's recent regulatory advances have been thinly veiled attempts to promote the profits of the pharmaceutical industry. The so-called Medicare drug discount cards were nothing more than a handout to pharmaceutical companies that created the illusion of discounts, where in reality people could buy drugs at much lower prices by simply shopping around on the internet. They could get them at lower prices still by buying them from Canada or other countries. Similarly, this mental health screening initiative is nothing more than a grand political scam designed to sell prescription drugs that benefit the pockets of companies who have supported the Bush election campaigns.
Just how much support has come from these companies? The Bush administration has very close financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who was appointed by Bush, served as the CEO of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the United States. George Bush, Sr. was also a member of Eli Lilly's board of directors, and George Bush, Jr. appointed Eli Lilly's Chief Executive Officer to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. In what looks like nothing more than blatant political bribery, Eli Lilly made $1.6 million in political contributions in 2000. Four-fifths of that went to the Republican party and presidential candidate Bush. It is, in fact, the same company that started up the Texas project. And now, many members of the New Freedom Commission have also been found to have ties with pharmaceutical companies and have served on their advisory boards.
Under the Bush administration, the pharmaceutical industry has done extremely well in terms of boosting sales and generating profits. And it looks like the Bush administration is determined to continue the drugging of America, no matter what the cost to American taxpayers. They won't stop, it seems, until every American is dosed up on a dozen simultaneous prescriptions that generate tens of billions of dollars in profits for the pharmaceutical industry each year. Of course, to those who are familiar with the behavior of the Bush administration, none of this comes as much surprise. The Bush administration seems to be willing to engage in any sort of activity, no matter how lacking in ethics or how unfounded, in order to gain more power and enhance the financial position of its supporters. The Bush administration stands for war, for drugs, and for keeping the rich rich and the poor poor. And one of the easiest ways to keep the poor poor is to dose them on high-priced prescription drugs to the point where they can't think straight enough to vote with any measure of intelligence.
Similarly, war is a windfall for companies who manufacture bombs and weapons, and when there's war over oil, as we've seen in Iraq, it also serves the interest of the oil-producers and distributors. All of these industries have close ties to the Bush administration. War industries, big oil, and of course Big Pharma, and all of them are doing extremely well with George Bush in the White House. The problem is that none of these industries actually enhance the lives of human beings. In fact, all of them harm human beings. There's a lot of money changing hands these days, and a lot of it is strongly influenced by the Bush administration, but very little of it actually goes to enhance the quality of life for everyday people.
People don't need mandatory screening for mental health disorders. They don't need to be put on multiple prescription drugs that turn them into zombies and may, in fact, cause them to commit suicide or engage in violent acts. We don't need ten times as many weapons as we have right now, since we already have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, with enough firepower to destroy the planet a dozen times over. We don't need more bombs, more drugs and more government-mandated health initiatives that masquerade as good science while in reality only offer another financial trap that will push Americans even further into household debt and poverty.
As far as I can tell, the mental illness in this country lives in the White House. If there's any mandatory mental health screening that should be taking place, it should start with the officials running the Bush administration, and then continue on to take a look at the people running the FDA, and those in charge of the pharmaceutical companies. Because from all the available evidence, it appears to me that these people have lost their minds in a mad attempt to generate obscene profits regardless of the cost to human life, individual privacy, and human rights.
Above all, to call this new plan the "New Freedom Commission" is perhaps the ultimate insult to the intelligence of the American people. Beware of any big government mandate that has the word "freedom" in it, because chances are it's more about taking away your freedom than ensuring it. Forcing people to undergo mental health screening is not freedom. Dosing people up with prescription drugs that alter their brain chemistry and take away their normal healthy brain function is not freedom. In fact, it is chemical enslavement, and the perpetrators behind this diabolical plan are truly the enemies to freedom, democracy, and the ideals that America historically stands for. The next thing you know, they're going to be claiming that terrorists are causing mental health disorders in this country, and everybody needs to be screened for mental health disorders as defense against terrorism. Don't be surprised if you hear that initiative launched in the months ahead.