Inside Report (4)

Are drugs being overused in mental hospitals -- on children as well as adults? This continuing national controversy is under scrutiny in Georgia by a state Senate panel, which recently heard one distressed parent describe the behavior of his overly drugged teen-age daughter.

Georgia law allows a mental patient to refuse such treatment, but few patients know of this right, says Dr. Jonas Robitscher, who is both a physician and a lawyer. What is needed, he says, is a new law more closely defining use of drugs in mental institutions.

Such a law could be an example for other states with similar problems.m