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Thursday 15 May 2008

US government forcefully sedate immigrants with dangerous psychotropic drugs for no medical reasons - for deportation!

A shocking report by Washington Post. Actually, no, it’s not shocking, nothing can shock any more in terms of horrifying human rights record of the US government. Government which issues “Human Rights” annual reports on countries world-wide, including Armenia…

“The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs [Unzipped - they call it “pre-flight cocktail”] against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.”

“Internal government records show that most sedated deportees […] received a cocktail of three drugs that included Haldol, also known as haloperidol, a medication normally used to treat schizophrenia and other acute psychotic states. Of the 53 deportees without a mental illness who were drugged in 2007, The Post's analysis found, 50 were injected with Haldol, sometimes in large amounts.

They were also given Ativan, used to control anxiety, and all but three were given Cogentin, a medication that is supposed to lessen Haldol's side effects of muscle spasms and rigidity. Two of the 53 deportees received Ativan alone. One person's medications were not specified.

Haldol gained notoriety in the Soviet Union, where it was often given to political dissidents imprisoned in psychiatric hospitals. "In the history of oppression, using haloperidol is kind of like detaining people in Abu Ghraib," the infamous prison in Iraq, said Nigel Rodley, who teaches international human rights law at the University of Essex in Britain and is a former United Nations special investigator on torture./emphasis mine/

But that’s not the whole story. The cynicism of the US government has apparently no limits:

“After injecting the sedatives, the nurse travels with the deportee and immigration guards to their destination, usually giving more doses along the way. To recruit medical escorts, the government has sought to glamorize this work. "Do you ever dream of escaping to exotic, exciting locations?" said an item in an agency newsletter. "Want to get away from the office but are strapped for cash? Make your dreams come true by signing up as a Medical Escort for DIHS!”

Deplorable, disgusting, disappointing!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is my opinion that many such stories are published not in the hope of putting an end to the horrors they describe, but to get the public used to them. After the initial "shock", it will become just "another thing" that we're having to deal with, until "they" come up with something worse.

What about forced-sedation for all passengers on regular flights, to keep us "safe"?

Ankakh_Hayastan said...

60 Minutes had a story on this, too.

The story:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4086551n

Snippet 1:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4086545n

Snippet 2:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4086543n


This is a big shame for our country. We have become a rogue state that instead of upholding values and being a leader in the world, have become a laughing stock.