The idea of putting vulnerable babies and toddlers on drugs is horrifying.  And with your help we can not only expose this abuse of children, but ensure that those in power do something about it.

Fact: There are currently 6.1 million children in the U.S. being prescribed psychiatric drugs.

Of those, 353,000 are aged 2-5 years old—that's more than the entire population of Anaheim, California.

85,000 are babies aged 0-1.

CCHR has long suspected that one of the reasons so many young children are prescribed psychiatric drugs, is through Medicaid,  which is state and federal funding for lower income families and their children, as well as  foster children. There is a financial incentive for child drugging because of Medicaid, as the states receives funding based on costs incurred for treating children, including with psychiatric drugs.

In order to fully document how many children were being drugged under Medicaid, CCHR International began filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for state Medicaid records (FOIA only applies to government agencies). What we have found to date is confirming our suspicions. Consider the number of Medicaid-funded children being drugged in the following states:

In just 31 States that we have received data from so far we have uncovered:

• 2.8 million underprivileged children and teens aged 0-17 are being prescribed psychiatric drugs under Medicaid at a cost of 1.7 billion dollars.
• Of these, 254,000 are aged 0-5 years old.
• Stimulant drugs (ADHD drugs) are the predominant class of psychiatric drugs given to individuals aged 0-17, while anti-anxiety drugs top the list for the 0-5 age group.
• Both of these classes of drugs are documented to cause addiction among a host of other dangerous side effects.

 For example, last year, the FDA finally issued a black box warning on the fact that ADHD drugs can cause addiction, even when taken as prescribed.

Similarly, the FDA warns that anti-anxiety drugs, including benzodiazepines, carry an increased risk of abuse, misuse, addiction, and dependence — and yet they are being prescribed to children as young as 0-5.‍

CCHR International is committed to continuing our efforts to obtain and expose this vital data obtained through FOIA. However, this process incurs significant administrative costs. Your donation can make a real difference in our ability to gather and export this crucial information.

We have already exported our findings along with specific drug data and our recommendations to hundreds of U.S. legislators, providing them with data from their own states. And many are already responding and even starting their own investigations.

Please support the cause. This is the Fight For Kids.