--- Eagle Forum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 00:29:04 -0500
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> From: Eagle Forum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Is Ritalin Raising Kids To Be Drug Addicts?
>
> Is Ritalin Raising Kids To Be Drug Addicts?
>
> June 21, 2000 by: Phyllis Schlafly
>
> Now that three to four million U.S. schoolchildren are using the
> controversial stimulant Ritalin, its illicit use is providing a
> powerful
> kick to college students, too. Dr. Eric Heiligenstein puts it this
> way:
> "The study rooms are as good as some of the local pharmacies" at
> the University of Wisconsin.
>
> According to an informal investigation, Dr. Heiligenstein found that
> one in five college students on Ritalin are upping their doses or
> otherwise misusing their prescriptions. Some share pills with their
> friends.
>
> Some even crush and snort Ritalin as a substitute for cocaine.
> Indeed, according to a 1995 Drug Enforcement Administration report,
> "methylphenidate [the key ingredient in Ritalin] is a central nervous
> system stimulant and shares many of the pharmacological effects of
> amphetamine, methamphetamine, and cocaine."
>
> Production of Ritalin increased by nearly 700% between 1990 and
> 1997, and usage increases every year. The justification for the boom
> in Ritalin is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), first
> defined by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980.
>
> The pediatric guidelines for diagnosing ADHD are all subjective;
> e.g.,
> often has difficulty awaiting turn, occasionally may do things
> compulsively, easily distracted from tasks, fails to give close
> attention to details, makes careless mistakes. With such non-
> scientific behavioral criteria, it's no wonder we hear that
> extraordinary
> numbers of children are accused of having ADHD.
>
> Not even the NCAA, the governing body for collegiate sports, bars its
> athletes from using Ritalin anymore. The NCAA now allows its use,
> even though Ritalin is prohibited by the U.S. and International
> Olympic Committees.
>
> One reason for the explosion of Ritalin usage and the inability of
> the
> NCAA and other organizations to ban its use can be found in the
> 1990 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), passed
> during the Bush Administration. IDEA mandates that "eligible
> children receive access to special education and/or related
> services."
>
> The old excuse of "my dog ate my homework" has been replaced by
> "I got an ADHD diagnosis." Since this labeling brings more money
> into the schools, it's not surprising that schools often pressure
> parents to get an ADHD diagnosis and put their child on Ritalin.
>
> It's also in the school's interest to deal with behavioral and
> discipline
> problems, especially of boys, with a drug. It's so easy to use
> Ritalin
> to make kids compliant: to get them to sit down, shut up, and do
> what they're told.
>
> Advantages of an ADHD classification also inure to college students.
> Requests for extra time to complete the SATs, MCATs and LSATs,
> based on an ADHD claim, substantially increased during the 1990s.
>
> At an Ivy League school, a student can merely present a doctor's
> letter and some pills to obtain extra time for routine assignments.
> Whittier Law School was sued by an ADHD student for providing only
> 20 extra minutes instead of a full extra hour for an exam that was
> only scheduled to be an hour long.
>
> Many high school shootings have been linked to prescribed
> mind-altering drugs. Oregon high school killer Kip Kinkel had been
> given Ritalin and Prozac, Columbine killer Eric Harris had taken
> another psychotropic drug, Georgia high school student T.J. Solomon
> had been on Ritalin prior to his alleged shooting spree, and
> Oklahoma middle school student Seth Trickey was on two drugs
> described to have psychotic effects when he allegedly shot at four
> students.
>
> According to a study reported in the Journal of the American Medical
> Association, about one percent of children aged 2 to 4 are using
> Ritalin or Ritalin-like drugs, and that percentage is increasing
> rapidly.
> Ritalin has not been approved by the FDA for use by children under
> age six.
>
> Many believe that a diagnosis of ADHD is nearly impossible to make
> in preschoolers because behaviors that are considered signs of the
> disorder in older children are normal behaviors for toddlers.
>
> Judy Garland's dependence on Ritalin was poignantly described in
> her daughter Lorna Luft's book, "Me and My Shadows."
>
> John Silber, Chancellor of Boston University, says that the
> "principal
> attraction of Ritalin is that it is a comparatively cheap way to get
> symptomatic relief. ... It is in fact a classic example of a cheap
> fix:
> low-cost, simple and purely superficial."
>
> Matthew Smith began taking Ritalin at age six. This March, at age
> 14, he was still on Ritalin when he suddenly collapsed while
> skateboarding and died that same evening.
>
> Oakland County (MI) Medical Examiner Ljubisa Dragovic determined
> the cause of death to be Ritalin. Matthew's "long-term exposure to
> stimulants" was the only explanation he could find.
>
> Pressure rained down on Dr. Dragovic to change his conclusion, but
> he held firm, saying: "I'm not telling people what to do with their
> children or patients. These are our findings. Take them or leave
> them."
>
> A parent should agree to place a child on Ritalin only after an
> examination by the child's own physician (not the school's) and the
> parent is satisfied that there isn't some medical or behavioral
> problem
> that might better be treated in another way. Parents should be alert
> to the conflict of interest in allowing school employees to dictate
> treatment for their children.
>
>
> Phyllis Schlafly column 6-21-00
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Online version of this column:
> http://eagleforum.org/column/2000/june00/00-06-21.html
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> More information about Ritalin:
> http://www.eagleforum.org/topics/ritalin/ritalin.html
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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