"That's an incredible thing to inflict on 3 or 4 million children," Breggin said. "We live in a nation that handles its kids by drugging them. I think it is this century's child abuse."

Overall, Breggin said the use of such drugs by psychiatric patients is akin to treating them worse than inanimate objects.

"Are we really just junky machines to have crap poured into them?" he asked. "Something happened that we treat our children worse than machines."

Though the majority of the audience was very receptive to Breggin, three members of the audience challenged Breggin's unconventional ideas.

He acknowledged that very few people within the profession agree with his line of thinking, and cited an instance where several doctors attempted, unsuccessfully, to revoke his license.

"If you criticize from within the profession, the profession assaults you," he said.

Student organizers in Pugwash said presenting a diverse viewpoint, like that of Breggin, is valuable.

"Dr. Breggin represents a side that is not often heard in a university system," said Gaurav A. Upadhyay '00.

"I think it is pretty important that people are getting the right mental treatment," said Erin R. Clifford '01. "This is a good place to raise those kind of issues and get a good forum of discussing what we should be putting in peoples' bodies."