Too many teachers or school administrators try to subdue unruly students with Ritalin or other psychiatric drugs because it makes them easier to manage – it’s time to change that! (Ed.)

TALLAHASSEE – Too many teachers or school administrators try to subdue unruly students with Ritalin or other psychiatric drugs because it makes them easier to manage, Florida lawmakers said Friday.

But no school employee, except medical staff, should even recommend those kinds of drugs, said Rep. Sandra Murman, R-Tampa, who is trying to outlaw the practice in Florida. Continue reading →

DETROIT – Michigan lawmakers are considering legislation that would bar teachers from suggesting parents obtain psychotropic drugs like Ritalin for their rambunctious offspring.

Only two states — Connecticut and Minnesota — have adopted such measures.

State Rep. Susan Tabor, R-Lansing, who sponsored one of four bills on Ritalin, said she thinks it’s inappropriate for teachers to offer diagnoses of Attention Deficit Disorder to parents. Continue reading →

Testing works best as a deterrent

Before you turn yourself into your family’s own narcotics squad, experts say you need to be concerned about the relationship you are building with your teens and if you are giving them enough education on the dangers of drug use.

Question: I am desperately looking for a drug-testing facility in my area. I have a 14-year-old son, whom I believe is using marijuana, and I would like to have him tested so I can act accordingly.

Answer: It’s a topic that even the U.K.’s royal family has had to deal with lately: teens using drugs. Reports out now tell of Prince Harry admitting to his dad, the Prince of Wales, he indeed smoked marijuana last summer and drank at a local pub. The teen’s confession led to a tour of a drug rehab center, where his dad had hoped his son would learn about the dangers of drug abuse. Continue reading →

A common variation in a gene for an immune system protein increases a child’s risk of developing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) by 30 per cent, say Israeli researchers.

ADHD affects between four and 10 per cent of school age children and is characterised by inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The causes are unknown. But stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, which boost levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, have been shown to reduce symptoms in many patients.

Other researchers have also found evidence linking ADHD to variations in certain genes exclusively involved in the dopamine system. Continue reading →

Just take a little Pill!

A recent study reveals that the drug being prescribed to tens of millions of school-age children for a scientifically unproved mental disorder is more potent than cocaine.

Thirty years ago the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that Ritalin was pharmacologically similar to cocaine in the pattern of abuse it fostered and cited it as a Schedule II drug – the most addictive in medical use. The Department of Justice also cited Ritalin as a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act, and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) warned that “Ritalin substitutes for cocaine and d-amphetamine in a number of behavioral paradigms.” Continue reading →

                          Pharmaceutical Jelly Beans

NORFOLK – Legislators and school officials responded with calls for action Thursday after hearing that Hampton Roads cities have some of the highest rates in the nation for use of Ritalin, a drug for attention deficit disorders.

“It’s scary, in my opinion, because I don’t know why,” Del.-elect Winsome Sears said at a legislative forum at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters. “The fact that we’re not the only one in the country is not comforting. I want to know why so many children here are on Ritalin.” Continue reading →

She had no idea she had a popular party drug on hand.

To her, the vial of prescription pills she’d once been given to treat attention deficit disorder were just leftovers, until a friend from New York called to ask if she’d mail out a few – just for fun.

The woman, a 29-year-old San Diego resident, didn’t do it. But she and her friends were intrigued. Continue reading →

May? I would suggest that with all the postings, which we have shared in this category, that there would be no doubt. Ritalin seems to alter the chemical makeup of anyone taking this poison. (Ed.)

The stimulant Ritalin, a drug used to help children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, may cause long-term changes in the brain, researchers reported yesterday.

The changes look similar to those seen with other stimulants such as amphetamine and cocaine, at least in rats, the team at the University of Buffalo found. Continue reading →

Editor’s NOTE: Due to the age of many of these historical Ritalin articles and records, emails or contact numbers may no longer be active. We have chosen to post each of these columns in order to maintain a record. ~ J. Bennett, Editor

Every day some 6 million children – some as young as 2 or 3 – are now given Ritalin and other stimulants at the urging of school officials and psychiatrists. The reason: They are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a recently discovered mental “disease” whose symptoms include short attention span, impulsive behavior, and difficulty sitting still.

Many more boys than girls are diagnosed with ADHD. In some schools – including two school districts near Virginia Beach, Virginia – as many as 20 percent of the boys are now given Ritalin daily.

The strongest advocates of drugging children are the Department of Education, educational bureaucrats and psychiatrists. The U.S. consumes over 90 percent of Ritalin produced in the world. What bureaucrats don’t tell parents, however, is that Ritalin has effects similar to amphetamines and is listed by the Drug Enforcement Agency as a Schedule II controlled substance. Continue reading →

While a hotly debated topic, the use of mind-altering and stimulant drugs to treat children for behavioral problems remains unresolved. Ritalin is at the forefront as the drug of choice for treating children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and its use is increasing at an alarming rate. It is especially disturbing considering the fact that, to date, there have been no studies conducted regarding the long-term effects of Ritalin. In fact, concerns regarding over-medication have prompted lawsuits alleging collusion between drug companies and the psychiatric community. While the debates and lawsuits rage on, more prescriptions are written, and more children are at risk for potential misdiagnosis. Continue reading →

Are parents being pressured to medicate their kids?

Public school administrators, long the enthusiastic adherents of a “Just Say No!” policy on drug use, appear to have a new motto for the parents of certain tiny soldiers in the war on drugs: “Medicate or Else!” It is a new and troubling twist in the psychiatric drugs saga, in which public schools have begun to issue ultimatums to parents of hard-to-handle kids, saying they will not allow students to attend conventional classes unless they are medicated.

IN THE MOST extreme cases, parents unwilling to give their kids drugs are being reported by their schools to local offices of Child Protective Services, the implication being that by withholding drugs, the parents are guilty of neglect. Continue reading →

…and you ain’t gettin’ no healthier!

                                   Just take a little Pill!

For some time I have been considering some comments about ADD/ADHD, or at least some questions that might be asked. Among them are:

1. It has been reported there is no clinical description ADD/ADHD which, if so, indicates that it is whatever someone says it is. Should not an alleged medical condition that requires treatment with a drug at least be properly identified?

2. It is estimated that 2 million or more public school students in the nation are now treated with the drug Ritalin for this supposed condition. If it is this common, and serious, why is it that students in the past were not so identified and treated; why are students in nonpublic schools not similarly afflicted (on a ratio basis, at least 200,000 of them should be so regarded); and why are not youngsters in other nations similarly afflicted?

3. Do we know what the long-term affects of Ritalin are on still developing children? Continue reading →

In the bathroom of a suburban elementary school outside Peterborough, Ontario, a 13 year-old boy offers to sell a quick high to some 10 and 12-year olds. His drug of choice: Ritalin, the prescription drug widely used to treat hyperactivity in children.

In a small town outside Athens, Ga., 282 Ritalin pills suddenly disappear from a medical cart kept in a locked closet of the middle school. Continue reading →

ALBANY – An educational neglect case in Albany involving a 7-year-old boy whose parents were hauled into court after taking him off Ritalin has sparked a national debate over privacy rights, judicial authority and parental sovereignty.

The Kyle Carroll case is apparently the first in the nation in which parents were pressured – if not outright ordered – by a judge to give their child the controversial stimulant after the school district petitioned the court. Continue reading →

WARNING! Taking drugs prescribed by your physician – without proper explanation – could be hazardous to your health!

What have we come to when parents need court approval to prevent their children from being drugged? The exercising of Parens Patriae is practiced more and more every day. Just say NO to Ritalin! (Ed.)

NEW YORK – One day last year, a social worker came knocking on the door of Michael Carroll’s home in West Berne, N.Y.

The trouble: The father of four had been reported to Child Protective Services for putting his seven-year-old son, Kyle, at risk. Stunned, Mr. Carroll asked what he’d done. Continue reading →

It’s about time that someone else in the world began to tell this story besides us. ~ Ed

THE legitimacy of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder as a medical condition is questioned in a new report.

The report, commissioned by the Youth Affairs Network of Queensland, has called for a moratorium on and inquiry into the use of the amphetamine-based drugs Ritalin and Dexamphetamine to treat ADHD – diagnosed in thousands of Australian children. Continue reading →