If it weren’t my son, a child, you were attempting to twilight, I would not object, but he is not self aware, he cannot speak for himself.

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Aimee B. Goldstein, Ph.D.

1034 South Brentwood Blvd.

St. Louis, MO  63117

Fax 314-862-3425

Re:  Patrick Jeep

       

Dear Dr. Goldstein,

I just wanted to one more time follow up on issues I have stressed from the onset of our association.  I realize decorum and expediency are the dominant issues in today’s world, rights of the individual be dammed.  If it weren’t my son, a child, you were attempting to twilight, I would not object, but he is not self aware, he cannot speak for himself.  I as his father, I have the moral obligation to speak for him in this regard.  

I want to stress to you that my son has rights.  He has a right to grow up, to learn for himself, and learn to control himself by himself without the encumbrance of psychiatric drug therapy.  If he was a head banger or socially violent it would be one thing, but he is just a little slow of his companions, in some areas, he will catch up.  What you propose in his formative years to force him into a drug induced stupor.  I feel this is akin to forcing a child to wear diapers and never letting him learn to use the toilet.  At some point in his life if he is not given the opportunity to learn to control himself, he never will.  He will be forced to wear the diapers, take the drugs all his life.  It is now in his formative years when we should be helping him to learn, helping him to focus and not masking his problem with psychiatric drug therapy.  The drugs do nothing more than cover up the issue.  They do not cure it. 

I grant you in older adults they may change their perspective, if not induce euphoria.  And yes it may seem like a cure.  But as I remember it in the 60’s psychedelic drugs were going to save the world, before my time, then they all sobered up with hangovers and realized the error of their ways.  They had not felt more they had felt LESS.   

I liken the drugs to taking an antihistamine for a viral infection of the airway.  It may dry up the sniffles but it does not kill the virus.  The idea of a drug induced lobotomy is to me repugnant.  By your own assertion, he has a wealth of knowledge beyond his years.  To impede his progress with a drug induced lobotomy to satisfy a segment of society’s desire for a STRICT DECORUM is cruel.  To take a happy, non-violent, active kid and squash his creative learning energy with drugs is abusive.  I swear in ten years this psychiatric drug therapy experimentation on our children will be as objectionable as the surgical lobotomies from the 50’s. 

He is not self aware, he is not choosing to take the drug, if he has any issue at all it is to please someone with his action.  He likes to please by taking the drug. 

If you want to use the analogy of Diabetes, I think most doctors would agree that if Diabetes can be controlled by diet and or exercise, those are the preferred treatment over the taking of insulin.  My son is not so severely disabled that he is antisocial or out of control, he is a little distracted.  His issues can be handled with patients and tolerance.  Look at the 10% of people that grew up before Ritalin.  Were they all failures, NO.  In fact, many of the most creative men and woman in history clearly could not stay focused.  They had many of the classic learning disabilities ADHD, Dyslexia to name a few.  They went out and found beauty, a better way, because they allowed themselves to be distracted.  They followed a different drummer and did not care if they kept pace with their companions.

Yes, they have been using Ritalin and other stimulants for years with ADHD.  And yes, there have been no prohibitive side effects noted in the documentation.  But the documentation cannot address how many creative geniuses the drugs have stifled.  How many discoveries or great works have been missed because we chemically turned off the distracting drummer in a child’s head that may have lead him or her to great works.

Please give your diagnosis serious consideration before you commit a minor child to drug induced lethargy when he could learn to fly with the eagles and soar beyond the reach of his companions instead of forcing him to march in a drug induced lock step with society’s desire for decorum and expediency.

Thank you in advance.

David G. Jeep

David G. Jeep

cc: James J. Robinson, Fax 636-530-6805

      David A. Shaller, Fax 314-725-2807

      Phillip E. Jones Sr., Fax 314-615-7868

      Cynthia A. Kluzak, Fax 314-615-7264

      Kent Killian, Fax 636-458-6510

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