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[Fwd: LET IT BEGIN: Brain Awareness Week/BRAIN BOYCOTT]

Support Coalition - David Oaks dendron at efn.org
Mon May 13 17:17:51 EST 1996


On Mon, 13 May 1996, Jared Blackburn wrote:
 
>       I am concerned greatly by the abuse of psychiatry.  Often, it seems,
> perfectly well-adjusted indivduals are subjected to imprisonment in 
> hospitals and to ridiculous drugging - especially anti-psychoic/major 
> tranquilizers -

Thank you, Jared, for breaking the silence on this! The neuroscience 
community (via the Dana Foundation/Dana Alliance) has declared this 
week to be "Brain Awareness Week."

As part of that week, our grassroots human rights alliance, Support 
Coalition, has declared a BRAIN BOYCOTT. Yes, this is partly tongue-
in-cheek, but it also has a serious message. Namely, the neuroscience
community is being very misused by the drug industry. People
need to speak out about proven forms of brain damage CAUSED by 
some of the main psychiatric procedures, which are often done 
forcibly and/or coercively. 

Below is an alert about the BRAIN BOYCOTT. For some reason, perhaps
technical (I hope!), it didn't make it on to the bionet.neuroscience
newsgroup, which is the most relevant place for it on the Internet. Also,
on other lists, that newsgroup was dropped. To remedy the situation, below
is a copy of the BRAIN BOYCOTT ALERT. There's a web site listed for more
information. 

Please copy and post the below to people who may be interested.


DENDRITE: YOU can join BRAIN BOYCOTT *free*!


start DENDRITE 23.brain
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human rights in psychiatry alert 5 May 1996
from Support Coalition <dendron at efn.org> -- REDISTRIBUTE!


YOU CAN JOIN PAUL KRASSNER IN A FREE "BRAIN BOYCOTT"!

by David Oaks/Support Coalition co-coordinator

As part of national Brain Awareness Week May 12 to 18, 
1996 you're invited to join author and stand-up 
comedian Paul Krassner in a BRAIN BOYCOTT and refuse 
to donate your brain -- whether "normal" or "not" -- to 
neuroscience. Just phone the toll free number for the 
McLean "Brain Bank" listed at the bottom of this message. 
Call any time, any day -- 24 hours a day, it's always on. 
But especially call on May 15, 1996, in honor of Wavy
Gravy's 60th birthday!

For more info check out the BRAIN BOYCOTT web site:
http://www.efn.org/~dendron/boycott.html

Why a BRAIN BOYCOTT? Because neuroscientists as a rule 
are remaining silent and refusing to alert the public 
about a documented international epidemic of brain 
damage caused by the major psychiatric procedures, such 
as electroshock and neuroleptic drugs. A BRAIN BOYCOTT 
may just get their attention, since they need brains.

The BRAIN BOYCOTT will also help your brain feel *good*, 
because it's part of the official Support Coalition "Heal 
Normality, Naturally!" campaign. Support Coalition is a 
100 percent independent alliance of 37 grassroots human 
rights and mutual support groups.

BRAIN BOYCOTT BRIEFING:

An Associated Press article explained that one of the two 
biggest "Brain Banks" in the USA desperately needs our 
brains. The "mental health" division of the Brain Tissue 
Resource Center has a shortage even though they stock 
about 1,000 brains -- about half they even call "normal," 
and half "schizophrenic," etc. This Brain Bank is at 
Harvard's major psychiatric research institution, McLean 
Hospital, which is on a luxurious Belmont, Mass. estate.

Counterculture hero Paul Krassner invites everyone -- 
"normal" or not -- to join psychiatric survivors in a 
BRAIN BOYCOTT. This is an ongoing action, but there is an 
actual mainstream "Brain Awareness Week" promoted by 
neuroscientists. We want the BRAIN BOYCOTT to be officially 
included as one of the activities. Sounds fun, right? Please 
"snowball" this by forwarding and posting copies.

BUT THERE'S A SERIOUS SIDE OF THE BRAIN BOYCOTT  :|

Some neuroscientists repeatedly hold news conferences 
to trumpet pseudoscientific theories about our "mental 
disorders," tracing the cause to our alleged genetically, 
biochemically "broken brains." This wins media... and 
grant money... and taxpayer millions, especially since the 
federal government has named this the "Decade of the 
Brain." But where are the voices of dissident 
neuroscientists? Their profession is being as misused as 
atomic science was in the 1950's. Whistleblowers could 
warn the public about documented brain damage caused 
by long-term psychiatric drugging & electroshock.

Neuroscientists in this field know that recent research 
absolutely proves that long-term neuroleptics -- 
psychiatry's main superpowerful drugs for the last 40 
years -- can cause harmful brain changes, at times 
permanent brain changes, easily visible to scientists. You 
may recognize neuroleptics (also called antipsychotics or 
major tranquilizers) by their brand names, such as 
Thorazine, Haldol, Prolixin, etc. -- or outside the USA as 
Largactil, Serenace, Permitil, etc. [Warning: Sudden 
withdrawal can trigger a drug-induced "rebound" effect 
resulting in emotional problems far worse than before 
the drugging ever even began!]

Support Coalition is pro-choice. Many Support Coalition 
members choose to be on neuroleptics. But we all agree 
with the Nuremberg Code, one of the few laws globally 
consensed upon, that flawed informed consent in 
medicine -- especially when the procedure is coerced or 
forced, involving a potentially irreversible intrusive 
experimental procedure, for the purpose of state control 
of behavior and thoughts -- is immoral and illegal. Silence 
is complicity. 

STOP NAMI's "MILLION NEEDLE MARCH"!!!

The mind industry has launched a "Chemical Crusade" to 
force people to "stay on their meds" by any means 
necessary. While many on the Internet are fascinated by 
vague speculative fringe rumors of "mind control," forced 
psychiatric drugging is a FACT that is overt, proven, 
widespread, growing rapidly... and is generally overlooked.

Inside institutions, forced psychiatric drugging is 
common, usually with a "gooning," in which the subject is 
held down in solitary confinement and injected. But these 
forced druggings -- and varieties of coerced drugging -- 
have moved OUTSIDE THE INSTITUTIONAL WALLS TO A 
COMMUNITY NEAR YOU. Who's next? 

There are many ways that psychiatry pressures people to 
"take their meds," such as threatening loss of food benefits, 
home, job. But now the trend is for the mental health 
system to use blatant court orders to force people living 
at home or in a shelter to report every few weeks to a 
mental health clinic for an injection of special type of 
neuroleptic, such as Prolixin or Haldol (sometimes called 
Permitil or Serenace, outside the USA). These "depot" 
slow-release injections pack a wallop that can last two, 
four or more weeks... until the next court-ordered forced 
injection... and the next... for years and years.

These court-ordered forced neuroleptic injections in the 
community -- generally called "Involuntary Outpatient 
Commitment" (IOC) -- are spreading rapidly and 
internationally. An organization with close ties to the 
drug industry, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill 
(NAMI) is now pushing for changes in USA law which they say 
could bring IOC -- and forced neuroleptic injections -- to 
ONE MILLION AMERICANS! Again, this isn't some 
speculative conspiracy theory -- NAMI has openly called 
for this Chemical Crusade in Congressional hearings, in 
the Washington Post, in the New York Times, and in 
psychiatry's official publications.

What's worst is that these drugs can kill. Neuroleptics, it 
is totally documented, can lead to choking, heart 
problems, etc. During heat waves, it's often people on 
neuroleptics who die. Neuroleptics are also directly linked 
to serious chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and even 
breast cancer. Perhaps the impact of the neuroleptics can 
help explain why people diangosed as "seriously mentally 
ill" have a lifespan 10 to 15 years shorter than others, 
according to a federally-funded mortality study. This 
chemical crusade is mass murder. It is fascism and, 
historically, first they actually came for the mental 
patients. (See P. Breggin's book, _WAR AGAINST CHILDREN_.)

"CAN'T WE ALL LIGHTEN UP?"

Yes, this is a heavy subject, but the psychiatric survivors 
liberation movement -- now 25 years old -- has learned 
to use humor to lighten the load. The BRAIN BOYCOTT is 
part of a "Heal Normality Naturally" campaign, to "turn 
the clipboards" on what's called "normal." Celebrities 
ranging from Lily Tomlin to Wavy Gravy have endorsed 
the Support Coalition "Heal Normality" campaign. 

Now Paul Krassner, editor of _The Realist_, suggests 
you join him in a most bizarre activity: A BRAIN BOYCOTT.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THREE E-Z STEPS FOR YOU TO JOIN THE BRAIN BOYCOTT!

1. PHONE TOLL FREE IN THE USA: Give psychiatry a piece 
of your mind, not your brain:

Call 1-800-BRAIN-BANK (272-4622) -- on 24 hours a day!

Politely say, "I'm joining the BRAIN BOYCOTT. I refuse to 
donate my brain, until you issue a public statement of 
concern on brain damage by psychiatry."

Or you can write: 
Brain Bank, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.

2. E-MAIL TO BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK: You can politely
encourage the organizers of "Brain Awareness Week" (the 
Dana Alliance) to include the "BRAIN BOYCOTT" as an 
official part of their activities:
 
E-mail <dabiinfo at danany.dana.org> with a polite message: 
"I encourage the Dana Alliance to include the BRAIN 
BOYCOTT as part of official Brain Awareness Week 
activities. Neuroscientists need to blow the whistle on 
psychiatric-induced brain damage. Until neuroscientists 
speak out on this catastrophe, I refuse to donate my brain."

3. CHECKLIST FOR MORE ACTIVITY ON THE INTERNET:

** Check out the BRAIN BOYCOTT web site:
http://www.efn.org/~dendron/boycott.html

** Copy and post this message to appropriate places and 
people on the Internet. Join in newsgroup discussions.

** Join the 24-hour laboratory, desperately searching for 
cures for "Normality," official headquarters the BRAIN 
BOYCOTT. This is the "Heal Normality Naturally" e-mail 
list, where more than 100 concerned, bizarre and 
frequently-funny folks are trading ideas and support. To 
join the HEALNORM list, just e-mail to 
<majordomo at efn.org> with these two words in your 
message:

join healnorm

** To receive read-only low-frequency human rights 
messages such as this one, join the DENDRITE e-mail list. 
Just e-mail to <majordomo at efn.org> with these two words:

subscribe dendrite

** For more information about Support Coalition, and its 
publication _Dendron News_, e-mail to: <dendron at efn.org> 

** Or check out the WWW home page for Support Coalition 
and _Dendron News_, where you can automatically join 
Support Coalition and its mailing lists, find a unique 
list of other web site links, and -- soon -- participate 
in a live message board discussion:

http://www.efn.org/~dendron/

Gotta go, "normals" are destroying Earth... and our brains!

    * * * * * * *   SNOWBALL  THIS  MESSAGE!   * * * * * * *
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