President’s Column

Dr. Appelbaum, thanks for your piece in the July 5 issue of Psychiatric News. It is some comfort that APA has been exercising control over what drug companies present at our annual meetings. We should expect all of our members, especially those on the staffs of hospitals, to build a wall between themselves and the drug companies.

To start: let us recommend (and if that does not work, condemn) that no psychiatric staff accept lunch money from a drug company. If we cannot afford to pay for lunch, we should apply for welfare (a few more increases in malpractice premiums, increases in the cost of state licenses, and decreases in insurance company compensation might make that necessary). At any rate, we should not be beholden to the drug companies.