President Raises Alarm Over Prozac Kids

Following in the size 5 footsteps of Nancy Reagan, the Clinton administration is putting its big foot down on the issue of kids and drugs. OK, so Prozac isn't exactly heroin, but the President has lots of support for his latest campaign: A recent study that showed a steep increase in the number of very young, very energetic children on psychiatric drugs was greeted with nearly unanimous horror. Children's rights advocates and pediatricians were up in arms over the potential physical side effects of the drugs, which remain widely untested for pediatric use. And child psychologists across the country rolled up their sleeves in anticipation of an onslaught of newly Ritalin-free kids.

This attention is certainly merited, says TIME medical contributor Dr. Ian Smith. "There are two major problems with this trend of putting kids on these drugs," he says. "First, physical and psycho-social childhood development is incredibly complex, and no one really understands the total process." Second, Dr. Smith adds, no one has yet figured out exactly how these drugs might affect children in terms of benefits or drawbacks. That's about to change. The Clinton proposal, being announced Monday, will educate parents and teachers about the risks of psychotropic drugs through government programs and increased FDA vigilance and labeling. And as the White House plans a major conference on childhood mental illness, which they hope to hold in the fall, the National Institutes of Health will also launch a sweeping, nationwide study of the drugs' effects on young patients.