Doctors and psychiatrists dose children, toddlers with powerful psychotropic drugs

The children are quite young, too. Some are mere toddlers. Hundreds of children are under the age of seven.

This is yet another example of the abuse of prescription drugs -- especially mind-altering prescription drugs -- in the United States. Not only is our adult population being heavily dosed with mind-altering drugs like Prozac and other antidepressants, and not only are our schoolchildren being dosed with drugs like Ritalin, but now very young children -- even toddlers -- are being treated with adult strength psychotropic drugs.

• Why would a child as young as three years old ever be on mind-altering drugs?
• For the past eight months, the News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooters have poured through reams of state documents and discovered thousands of foster kids appear to be on powerful psychotropic drugs.
• "We didn't even know he was in the hospital until he called us from Laurel Ridge himself," a woman we'll refer to as "Magdalana" tells us.
• A sampling of state records released by the State Comptroller's office shows two out of three foster kids in texas appear to be on psychotropic meds.
• At the risk of losing her job, a Child Protective Services worker spoke to the Trouble Shooters following a hearing by State Rep. Carlos Uresti last month.
• She talked about one child on seventeen different medications.
• Tanji Patton recently asked the President and CEO of the Children's Shelter in San Antonio, Jack Downey, "How big a problem do you think this is?"
• Sure it's legal, but what does a radiologist know about a child's mental health?
• The Trouble Shooters also found some of these doctors have documented drug problems of their own.
• The Texas State Board of Medical Examiners put Dr. Sargent on probation in recent months because state records show he was busted for prescribing narcotics to himself, his girlfriend and her son.
• Another doctor who shows up as a frequent prescriber on state records is Dr. Benny Fernandez, the medical director at Laurel Ridge Psychiatric Hospital.
• He says psychotropics are necessary for a lot of these kids.
• Child advocates in Florida have been trying to get laws passed to protect children from being over medicated.
• Tanji says, "Psychiatrists and people on the other side will say 'these are sick kids.