Researching and Regulating Prescription of Psychotropic Drugs in Adolescents

Abstract

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) occupies a prominent place in the pantheon of public health-oriented agencies of the United States government, seated within the Department of Health and Human Services and maintaining crucially tight regulatory control over, among many other things, the safety of our food supply and the safety and efficacy of our drug supply. Indeed, it is well established that the primary purpose of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 – FDAs enabling statute – is to “protect the public health.†This paper explores the current widespread prescription of psychotropic drugs in adolescents – and the comparatively low levels of existing and ongoing research investigating their safety, efficacy, and appropriateness – to question whether the policies and procedures that FDA promulgates and follows actually conform to the basic principles of “public health.â€