Furious Seasons

October 26, 2007

Feds Forcibly Drug Deportees With Haldol

How I missed this story earlier is beyond me, but thanks to Liz Spikol for highlighting this outrageous situation with immigration detainees in Southern California. Seems that the wonderful folks at ICE are jabbing some detainees with drugs like Haldol, even though the detainees are not diagnosed with schizophrenia, in order to make the more troublesome of them nice and compliant for their deportation flights. This is beyond unethical, given the dangers with these drugs, and I'm glad to see that the ACLU is going into court on their behalf. The Los Angeles Times has much more on this.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at October 26, 2007 11:01 AM

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Comments

This is beyond unethical, it's criminal, and shocking. Haldol injections for transport of a non-psychiatric patients--unbelievable.

Posted by: Stephany at October 27, 2007 11:12 AM

Where does the ACLU stand on forced drugging? The Victoria Civil Liberties Association (of which I was a member at one time) presented the British Columbia CLU with a statement of principles on forced treatment (short answer: it's bad) and the BCCLU rose up in a great show of apathy and never responded.

Posted by: Francesca Allan at October 27, 2007 12:00 PM

That was forced drugging in general, I mean.

Posted by: Francesca Allan at October 27, 2007 12:01 PM

Oh yeah, the ACLU is a neutral organization that wants ONLY to see that folks aren't deprived of their liberties. Common'on, why are you citing these them? I thought you where skeptical of formal organizations. I guess you're just one of them after all.

Posted by: Joe at October 27, 2007 01:29 PM

Sadly, the last time I googled them, the ACLU, like most folks on the left, think that failure to forcibly drug is denial of a civil right once you're labeled smi. But today's google is a little better, at least if you're a sex offender:

http://www.acluvt.org/issues/involuntary_civil_commitment.php?AID=/20051023/NEWS/510230336/1004/NEWS03&PHPSESSID=521cf45b3921cacb0e88c2d93da0ecd5

Posted by: Sally at October 27, 2007 03:01 PM

Joe, I'm having trouble understanding your post. If it's addressed to me, I'm mystified.

Posted by: Francesca Allan at October 27, 2007 03:32 PM

I forgot to add that I also believe forced injections of Haldol [and other antipsychotics]is unethical and a crime in hospital settings as well.

Posted by: Stephany at October 27, 2007 05:01 PM

That is a terrible story. The only bright spot I can think of is that Haldol doesn't kill you the way American atypicals do. Being mentally ill is worse, even though this is disgusting..... One can be executed for killing while psychotic, die of profound hyperglycemia or other conditions, or kill oneself or another due to Pharma's witches brews. I guess if one had to pick, being an illegal immigrant would win.

Posted by: Ghost at October 27, 2007 05:01 PM

That's incorrect, Ghost. I almost died from Haldol toxicity and always make a point of saying I'm allergic to it. Haldol, Thorazine, etc., all the older antipsychotics, are some of the scariest drugs on earth, bringing more devastation than the newer atypicals. I have to disagree with you: mental illness is NOT worse than drug-induced agony.

Posted by: Francesca Allan at October 29, 2007 08:45 AM

Francesca, I witnessed a woman tell inpatient psych staff she couldn't tolerate Haldol and other medications [like Paxil], and they gave her [while restrained] a shot of it anyhow. The woman knew what meds she could take or not and they ignored her. I've got no answers for this system, other than it sucks.

Posted by: Stephany at November 5, 2007 12:06 PM