State Rep. Ted Hoskins backed out of an appearance this weekend at an anti-psychiatry exhibit linked to the Church of Scientology.
Hoskins, a Democrat from Berkeley, was scheduled to speak at "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death" at the Jamestown Mall in Florissant on Saturday afternoon.
The exhibit was organized by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a group founded by Scientologists that shares the same fervent opposition to psychiatry.
Hoskins agreed to speak at the exhibit last week, when he saw a portion of the display at the Capitol rotunda in Jefferson City.
Hoskins said he thought the group was crusading only against teachers giving students behavioral drugs like Ritalin without prescriptions.
"When they told me they were a human rights organization dealing with students," Hoskins said, "they never told me that they came out of the Church of Scientology."
After learning about the group's ties - and that they believe psychiatry is responsible for the torture and deaths of numerous individuals - Hoskins called the organizer and canceled his plans to speak at the exhibit Saturday.
"They misled me," Hoskins said.
