Writing May Be on Wall for Ritalin. and Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Oct 16, 2000 | by Kelly Patricia O'Meara

A nonprofit, grass-roots, self-help support and advocacy organization for people with severe mental illness, NAMI was featured in a November/ December 1999 Mother Jones article, "An Influential Mental Health Nonprofit Finds Its `Grassroots' Watered by Pharmaceutical Millions" by Ken Silverstein. The article focused on the enormous amount of funding which NAMI receives from pharmaceutical companies, with Eli Lilly and Co. taking the lead by donating nearly $3 million to NAMI between 1996 and 1999. In fact, according to Silverstein, NAMI took in a little more than $11 million from 18 drug companies for that period. Nonetheless, NAMI, Eli Lilly and the others deny any conflict of interest.

While Eli Lilly, manufacturer of Prozac, admits making substantial contributions to NAMI and the National Mental Health Association (NMHA), it claims that for "proprietary reasons" it is unable to provide a list of specific contributions. According to Jeff Newton and Blair Austin, spokesmen for the company, "The key issue here is that these are unrestricted grants. The groups can use the money any way they want. Lilly's support of these initiatives presents no conflict of interest since they represent efforts to raise public awareness around issues that Lilly publicly supports."

According to Bob Carolla, director of Media Relations for NAMI, "We represent a constituency that uses their [pharmaceutical] products. Why shouldn't they give us money? They're making money off of our members and some of it has to go back into the community to help us get better mental-health programs to help people. Much of what we do has nothing to do with the pharmaceutical industry. We do not advocate or endorse any specific medications or products, but we also are not going to back off from saying that millions of Americans lead productive lives because of the medications they are prescribed."

Meanwhile, NAMI has no problem stating that "mental illnesses are disorders of the brain." In fact, according to Carolla, NAMI "has been trying to educate people that mental illnesses are a result of brain disorders and they are treatable. Stigmas still exist and stigmas need to be overcome." Asked to provide scientific data that mental illness is a disease of the brain, Carolla deferred to a higher authority explaining that "this [question] reminds me that one small interest group denies that mental illness even exists."

Carolla added, "Mental illnesses are biological brain disorders. Go read the dominant body of medical information out there. It is a function of biochemistry. I encourage you and recommend you talk to the surgeon-general's office."

Carolla was referring to the Report on Mental Health released by the U.S. surgeon general in December 1999, which he says "stands as the national baseline." This enormous document goes into great detail about mental health in the United States. But it does not provide a single piece of scientific data supporting the claim that even one mental illness is caused by a brain disease. In fact, what it says is "the body of this report is a summary of an extensive review of the scientific literature, and of consultations with mental-health-care providers and consumers. Contributors guided by the Office of the Surgeon General examined more than 3,000 research articles and other materials...."