The American edition, the Post said, was unveiled at the annual conference of the NMHA, and had an initial printing of 50,000 copies which were to be mailed to 5,700 psychiatrists and distributed through the NMHA and NAMI.
Another supporter of TeenScreen is the American Psychiatric Association, to which most psychiatrists belong. A large portion of its revenue comes from Big Pharma advertising in its journals and unrestricted educational grants. At the group's annual conventions, drug companies sponsor exhibitions, and pay $1000 to $2000 for speakers chosen from lists of psychiatrists who endorse their drugs.
For years, honorable medical professionals have been complaining about the APA's devotion to drug pushing and Big Pharma. For instance, on December 4, 1998, after being a member of the group for 35 years, now deceased, Dr Loren Mosher, a psychiatrist who graduated from Stanford University and Harvard, sent a letter of resignation saying: "At this point in history, psychiatry has been almost completely bought out by the drug companies."
"American psychiatry," he said, "has become drug dependent (that is, devoted to pill pushing) at all levels - private practitioners, public system psychiatrists, university faculty and organizationally."
Dr Mosher concluded his letter of resignation by saying: "The major reason for this action is my belief that I am actually resigning from the American Psychopharmacological Association."
Mr Hogan represents a TeenScreen promoter from one state, but through his investigation, Mr Kramer found that the TeenScreen people have managed to gain influence with the same kind of decision makers who control or direct funding in many other states.
For instance, many Federal and State government officials got involved in the plant to get TeenScreen set up in Florida schools. On March 23, 2004, Governor Jeb Bush held a press conference and issued a press release, claiming suicide was a leading cause of death among youth in Florida.
Charles Curie, Administrator of the National Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services agency traveled to Florida from Washington to join Jeb Bush at the press conference to announce the SAMHSA's support of an initiative to conduct TeenScreen pilot programs in Florida to screen for mental illnesses such as depression and panic disorders that place them at higher risk for suicide attempts, the press release noted.
At the press conference, Jim McDonough, Director of the Florida Office of Drug Control, told reporters, "Suicide is in fact a widespread threat that claims the lives of thousands of Floridians each year."
The Center for Mental Health Services is the federal agency within SAMHSA, charged with the task of implement the recommendations of the NFC.
In June of 2004, Mr Kramer discovered that SAMHSA, had given the Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI), a one year $98,641 contract to implement a public information campaign, while simultaneously implementing TeenScreen in school districts in the Tampa area.
Mr Kramer tracked down a copy of the contract that said part of the campaign was to evaluate "the adherence to treatment recommendations of youth identified during the screenings" and "issues such as parental acceptance of treatment recommendations."
In other words, he says, they wanted to find out whether parents would allow their kids to take the drugs prescribed.
According to Mr Kramer, at that time that the FMHI was awarded the federal contract, David Shern, who he refers to as the "dean" of FMHI, already had a contract with TeenScreen head quarters in New York, and had accepted $180,000 to sell the idea of the program to school districts throughout the state of Florida.
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