By Irit Shimrat - The Networker

Kids on Ritalin and similar drugs have been found to be 10 times more likely to perform below age level in school. Apart from increased [Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder] symptoms, they suffered from elevated blood pressure, motor abnormalities, liver disorder, tics, mania, [Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder] and paranoia and psychosis...Moreover, treating kids with stimulants sets them up for mood swings...["]He is diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder (BAD) and given a drug cocktail. He has begun a career as a mental patient."

By Alex Kane - May 7, 2013

A student who was arrested and beaten for falling asleep at school is now suing an Alabama city, its police department and some school employees for civil rights violation, battery and negligent supervision and hiring...[A]fter the diabetic student fell asleep while in a room reserved for “in school suspensions,” a school police officer slammed her face into a cabinet and then arrested her.

By Steven Hsieh - May 1, 2013

A Florida teen with an exemplary record is facing federal charges after conducting what a classmate calls “a science project gone bad”...16-year-old Kiera Wilmot is accused of mixing housing chemicals in a small water bottle at Bartow High School, causing the cap to fly off and produce a bit of smoke. The experiment was conducted outdoors, no property was damaged, and no one was injured.

By Steven Hsieh - April 12, 2013

In Texas, hundreds of thousands of students are winding up in court for committing very serious offenses such as cursing or farting in class. Some of these so-called dangerous criminals...will face arrest and even incarceration, like the honors student who spent a night in jail for skipping class, or the 12-year-old who was arrested for spraying perfume on her neck.

Societies perhaps are best judged by how they treat prisoners, their most disadvantaged and children.

By Alex Kane - April 1, 2013

The number of children and teenagers diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has increased remarkably over the past decade...The rise in numbers...has led some to say that the increase is due to parent pressure on doctors and a loose definition of the disorder...Two-thirds of those diagnosed take stimulant medication for the disorder like Ritalin and Adderall, which could lead to anxiety, addiction and potentially psychosis.

By Alyssa Figueroa - March 22, 2013

Within the first three days of enrolling in Magnolia Junior High School in Mississippi, Destin Holmes, a 16-year-old lesbian, said that teachers called her a “he” instead of “she” which Holmes requested...But that was just the beginning.

By Judd Legum - March 11, 2013

On Saturday night, two undercover police officers shot and killed 16-year-old Kimani Gray. According to the police account, the officers approached Gray when he “adjusted his waistband in what the police describe as a suspicious manner”...Although there is no confirmed evidence of wrongdoing by the officers...several witnesses cast doubts on the official version of the incident...

By Patricia J. Williams - February 18, 2013

Drugs are ubiquitous in this country, and yet we know that some people have the privilege of doctor-prescribed intoxication, while others are thrown into dungeons for seeking the same relief. We know that the war on drugs is heavily inflected with Jim Crow–ism, economic inequality, gun culture myths and political opportunism...We divert resources from mental health or rehab, and allocate millions to militarize schools...The result: the war on drugs has metastasized into a war on children.

By Thomas Ponniah - February 13, 2013

As it becomes clearer to business and policy-makers that many of the newest forms of information technology are teaching people to become more distracted, unaware and inefficient...the social and economic value of many new forms of information technology will decline. The significance of the talents of the younger generation will diminish and we will return to a more familiar historical pattern, that is, a gerontocracy...

By Daphne Bramham - Vancouver Sun

Cindy Blackstock doesn't look or act like a spy or a subversive. But that's the way the Canadian government treats her...Why? Because in 2007, she filed a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal against the federal government for spending considerably less for child welfare services on Indian reserves than the average province does for off-reserve aboriginal child welfare services.

By Michael Laxer - February 5, 2013

Another year. Another report on how we as Canadians are failing one in every six of our children...According to The Conference Board of Canada, the child poverty that all Canadian political parties, in 1989, pledged to eliminate by the year 2000 has not only not been eliminated, it has actually increased since the 1990s by 15.1%.

By Thomas Scripps - 2 February 2013

The incapability of capitalism to provide everyone with the basic right to a job is now manifesting itself as an assault on the mental well-being of a generation. These figures damn any popular media or political claims seeking to show welfare payments as an excuse for “shirkers”. The joblessness imposed on young people by the capitalist system leads not to an easy life, but an unfulfilling existence.

By Amanda Reiman - December 4, 2012

The rhetoric the public is fed by the government would have us believe that drugs are prohibited to protect the younger generation. But how can that be when the sanctions associated with the most commonly used illicit drug, marijuana, are creating more harm to young people than the drug itself ever could?...Zero-tolerance drug policies in high schools, undercover officers soliciting marijuana from teens and sanctions involving the removal of support for education and employment are forcing young people into a hopeless maze of poverty and the criminal justice system.

By Kate Randall - 15 December 2012

Newtown, a small, affluent New England town about 80 miles northeast of New York City, has been ranked as one of the safest places to live in America...Residents, shocked and in mourning, expressed disbelief that this type of tragedy could take place in their town...The shooter has been tentatively identified by law enforcement officials as 20-year-old Adam Lanza....[His brother] Ryan Lanza reportedly told authorities that his brother had a history of mental health issues.