Martin Whitely

Martin Whitely
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 February 2001
Preceded by	Clive Brown
Constituency	Bassendean
Personal details
Born	(1959-10-19) 19 October 1959 Perth Western Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Profession	Teacher
Website	Martin Whitely Homepage

Martin Paul Whitely was born on 19 October 1959 in Perth, Australia. He was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from February 2001 until he retired from state politics in March 2013. He represented the electorate of Roleystone from 2001 to 2005 and, following the abolition of Roleystone, he represented the electorate of Bassendean.^[1]

Whitely was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry from August 2006 until the Carpenter government lost office in September 2008.

In January 2012 Whitely announced his decision to retire from Western Australian state politics after the March 2013 state election.

Whitely has been outspoken on a number of issues including; • The need for democratic reform of the Western Australian Labor Party (WA Labor) • Psychosis Risk Disorder (Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome) and DSM5 • ADHD child prescribing

Democratic Reform of the Western Australian Labor Party

Along with former WA Labor Minister, Alannah MacTiernan, Whitely led the Labor Reform Forum. Between 2007and 2011 Labor Reform Forum argued unsuccessfully for rule changes including sharing the WA Labor internal voting entitlements currently controlled by the state secretaries of major unions amongst rank and file union members. Ultimately the reforms were blocked by the union secretaries, who used their voting entitlements, to block any rule changes that would have reduced their voting entitlements.^[2]

Psychosis Risk Disorder (Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome)

Whitely was prominent in Australian efforts in the ultimately successful fight against the official recognition of ‘Psychosis Risk Disorder’ in the next version of the American Psychiatric Association’s, DSM5.^[3] Psychosis Risk Disorder (officially termed Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome) was removed from the draft of the DSM5 after it lost the support of former prominent advocates including former Australian of the Year, psychiatrist Professor Patrick McGorry.^[4]

Anti-ADHD Child Drugging Advocacy

When elected in 2001, Mr Whitely advocated for tighter stimulant prescribing controls arguing Western Australia (WA) had excessive ADHD child prescribing rates.

Before Whitely entered parliament WA ADHD stimulant prescription rates were amongst the highest in the world, exceeding the US national average.^[5] In 2000 the number of Western Australians prescribed ADHD stimulants was 20,648. The WA Health Department estimated 85-90% (approximately 18,000 although Whitely considers 14,000 a more accurate estimate) were children.^[6] Western Australian prescribing rates continued to grow until the introduction of tighter ADHD amphetamine prescribing accountability measures in late 2003. Since then child prescribing rates in WA have fallen significantly with 5,666 children on stimulants in 2008.^[7]

The 2008 Australian Secondary Students' Alcohol and Drug Survey (ASSAD) data indicated a reduction in 'last month amphetamine abuse' by WA school children 12–17 years old from 10.3 per cent in 2002, to 6.5 per cent in 2005, and 5.1 per cent in 2008.^[8] Whitely claims ‘this evidence supports the commonsense proposition that prescribing amphetamines facilitates their abuse’.^[9]

Whitely remains a prominenent critic of ADHD child prescribing and has authored a book 'Speed Up and Sit Still - The Controversies of ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment' and a web resource critical of the marketing of ADHD (http://www.speedupsitstill.com). All authors payments from sales of the book are donated to Drug Free Attention Difficulties Support Inc. (http://www.dfads.org.au). DFADS is a not for profit support group established by Whitely in 2003 in order to support parents wishing to take drug free approaches to helping children with attentional difficulties.

Whitely has repeatedly criticised the ADHD diagnostic criteria in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as subjective and unscientific. Despite this the former chair of the DSM-IV development task force Doctor Allen Frances, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Duke University praised Whitely’s work implementing “rigorous quality controls over stimulant prescription” in a blog on the Huffington Post titled Taming the ADD Epidemic.^[10]

Whitely has no medical training and has no commercial interest in ADHD. His opposition to the use of ADHD medications stems from his time working as a high school teacher from 1995 to 2001, when he was concerned at the number of heavily medicated boys in his classroom.

References

External links

• http://www.martinwhitely.com/
• Speed Up and Sit Still: The Controversies of ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment
• Drug Free Attention Difficulties Support Inc.
• Martin Whitely discusses ADHD, psychiatric drugs, and the needs of children on the The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour - 11/7/11.