A study recently found that children on Medicaid are given antipsychotic drugs at a rate 4 times higher than those on private health insurance.

The implications for health and justice are deep. Antipsychotic drugs are severely overprescribed - and their long-term damage to society has not yet been registered.

The article posits this trend among the poor may be related to short- sighted measures to "efficiently" control problem children.

A more serious and systemic problem is the abuse by the pharmaceutical industry of government programs - and their undue influence over certain segments of the medical community.

These are scary developments that seem to get scarier with time. A serious and systemic response is necessary.

Tags: Advertising (good vs misleading), Health, Economics, United States //