(If you have a gifted child, you should read this (Is It A Cheetah?) at least once!)

There are a number of people who clearly have ADHD or the equivalent to the extent of not being able to adequately function in life. This article is not intended to dismiss the use of Ritalin in all cases.

If your child is in that category (or if you are in that category), I'm sure you won't be dissuaded in any case. You'll probably also agree that the drug is being grossly overprescribed to those who do not require drug therapy!

Ritalin is a tradename for Methylphenidate hydrochloride, an antidepressant stimulant. There is no generic common name for the drug. Other antidepressant stimulants are real cocaine, novocaine, other cocaine substitutes. Ritalin is not a classic antidepressant in the sense of Prosaic.

Street names for Methylphenidate hydrochloride are "r-ball" and "vitamin r."

While children are the obvious victims here, the same message applies to adults. If you are the student, please excuse the third party ("your child") language. The message is the same!

Legally Ritalin is a Schedule II drug in the same category as opium, cocaine and morphine. (In contrast, Valium is not and its dispensing is only regulated under state laws.)
(link for email harvesting bots)

The early history of using what was then called "chemotherapy" in treatment of children includes some of the testing by Lauretta Bender related to amphetamines, LSD-25 and UML-491. This is detailed on a separate page, www.scn.org/~bk269/rball_history.html

The amazing thing about these early tests was the degree to which the experimenters were willing to use these drugs on a maintenance course of treatment (administering the drugs on a daily basis).

To separate page on declining to prescribe Ritalin

Parents and students now have an absolute right to decline to prescribe Ritalin under the provisions of 20 U.S.C. §1412(a)(25)

(separate webpage)

(same page) General Information on Facing the School Administration

Includes information on attempts by school personnel to circumvent 20 U.S.C. §1412(a)(25)

Adult use of Ritalin or any other drug is a completely different issue. If an adult takes a drug, be it a coffee, alcohol, strong pain relievers or illegal drugs, the adult is presumed to make an intelligent evaluation as to its use, benefits, counterindications and efficacy.

Confusion of the drug's efficacy with the effectiveness:

This usually takes the form of, "It has a physical effect; therefore it's indicated (as a proper form of treatment for the given condition). Not so. If it didn't have a physical effect, it would be a placebo.

• to the contrary ADD is such that if the child has it, you know it. The reason is simple - ADD is a condition where the natural tendency for distractions exceeds the ability for the child to control it. It is not the native tendency for distractions. It is not boredom in an oversized classroom.

A variation is the hocus-pocus theory:
"Ritalin is a stimulant, but in the case of ADD it calms the patient down. If the patient did not have ADD, it would have an opposite effect."
WHERE did that one come from? Not from reputable medical literature. What is this - a magic drug? This theory belongs with beads and rattles. (Ritalin is a stimulant used to calm the patient down, much as coffee relaxes people. That has little or nothing to do with the ADD condition.)

Specifically, there are some drugs and medications which have this effect. Heartworm preventative medication administered to dogs testing positive for heartworm is dangerous. (The reason is that the dying parasites of an already-infected dog can impede circulation.) Certain antimigraine drugs should only be taken prior to the headache stage of a migraine attack. But to say that a general purpose antidepressant/stimulant exhibits such qualities is at best disingenuous.

It helps school performance

Its efficacy is in reducing a tendency toward inattentiveness. This is quite distinct from skill development. It does have the advantage of making life easier for the teacher, especially in a large classroom environment.

The use of an antidepressant-stimulant is required for my child to stay in school.

Wrong.

The only thing the school administration can do is recommend professional consultation. It's up to the parent to chose a professional. Then the onus is on the school to either follow the professional's advise or legally explain why the professional is wrong.

If you chose the professional recommended by the school administrator, expect the worst.

NOTE:   As provided by the IDEA Reauthorization Act, at 20 U.S.C. §1412(a)(25) - Prohibition on mandatory medication, it is illegal for a school district to require a child to obtain a prescription for a substance covered by the Controlled Substances Act (e.g., R-ball; Adderal) as a condition for attending school. This applies to all students of a school receiving funds under IDEA, which includes all public schools. This Federal prohibition applies to all students; not just those falling under IDEA.

... from the "other side of the cloud"

The high use of Ritalin is tied to a relationship between the teacher, "Resource Room" counselors and those psychiatrists who work with the counselors.

The teacher is encouraged by the "Resource Room" counselors to send "problem" children to the counselors for analysis. If the psychiatrist doesn't return the child with a script for an antidepressant-stimulant drug, the psychiatrist doesn't get further recommendations.

Oh yes -- the "Resource Room" returns to the teacher a sedated pupil!

NOTE: " Those tactics have been made illegal by the IDEA Reauthorization Act, at 20 U.S.C. §1412(a)(25) - Prohibition on mandatory medication.
I was surprised to see that this particular section of the law appears to track the language in this webpage!

• When environmental changes (class size, food chemicals, etc.) are ineffective, then antidepressant-stimulants may be warranted. In such cases the problems become quite apparent. Drugs are never an acceptable form of punishment. Drugs are not a substitute for lack of educational facilities.

• When the prescribing physician needs a larger sailboat. (Pardon the cynicism here; your visit wouldn't quite pay for the sailboat's new GPS receiver.)

Watch Neurotypicalism Everyday in veoh.c om (link to Christschool's videos)

ADHD can coexist with some conditions, such as autism (Asperger's Syndrone and other autism spectrum conditions). Ritalin may adversely affect people on the spectrum, so it helps to obtain advise of an expert in autism spectrum conditions first. (Generally autism is not "treated" with drugs or otherwise; it's a personality type!)

When I moved to Seattle it became apparent that there were substantially less kids given antidepressant-stimulants. I believe the reason is cultural:

1. The parents in Seattle are less likely to blindly accept a prescription recommendation from a school administrator.
2. There is a bias in Seattle against drugging kids.
3. If pressured to have the child treated, the parents in Seattle are more likely to go to a psychiatrist or psychologist of their own choosing.
4. Alternative remedies (e.g., naturopathy) are very much mainstream in Seattle. Naturopaths generally send back prescriptions which include such items as dietary recommendations. While special meals may be outside the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (USA), removing food colourings from the cafeteria could be deemed a reasonable request. (At present the Berkley, Calif. School District is offering an all-organic meal option!)
5. Finally, the Kurt Cobain tragedy is a too close in the minds of Seattle parents. (The lead singer of Nirvana was a Ritalin child who eventually succumbed to heroin abuse and suicide.)

Just don't do it. The quieter classroom just isn't worth what you're doing to the kids.

• Increased Likelihood of Drug Use
  Children administered antidepressant-stimulants are three times more likely to become cocaine users. The reasons are speculative but:
  1. The threshold of taking antidepressant-stimulants is already crossed.

  2. The prescription antidepressant-stimulant becomes a "starter drug" for street antidepressant-stimulants (e.g., cocaine).

  3. The kid become familiar with taking drugs for their effect on mood.

  4. The message that "it's not okay to 'get wasted'" on street drugs but it's okay if the drug is given for the benefit of the teacher eventually becomes hypocritical. Explain it away, but the basic contradiction will remain.

  5. It's possible that an ADD child will automatically (3:1 probability) become a cocaine user but this has nothing to do with taking antidepressant-stimulants. This contradicts basic logic but it is a possible explanation.

• Antidepressant-stimulants are addictive.
  This is different from heroin and nicotine addiction but there is now considered to be little question that antidepressant-stimulants are addictive. This includes prescription antidepressant-stimulants (e.g., Ritalin), cocaine, crack cocaine and similar drugs.

• Possible Future Job Consequences

  The U.S. Armed Forces will not accept candidates who have been on Ritalin unless the applicant has never taken more than a single dosage of medicatoin or has not been prescribed medication for [ADHD] for more than 24 cumulative months after the age of 14.; and
  documentation from the applicant's prescribing provider that continued medication is not required for acceptable occupational or work performance

  ADHD by itself is not likely to be a disqualifying condition.
  

  Current FAA policy considers Ritalin to be a disqualifying drug for pilots. See FAA Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners ch. 3, item 47. Waivers for past Ritalin use are granted by the Chief Medical Examiner. See also article by Dr. Silberman in The Federal Air Surgeon's Medical Bulletin þ Winter 1997.

A choice of Ritalin treatment and No therapy at all is a "false dichotomy" (sometimes called "horns of the dilemma"). The "false dichotomy" states that one must either drug the student or ignore the issues.

In some cases, one of these extremes makes (some) sense. In many cases, the student has ADHD issues, but is not at the point of inability to function. This suggests that there are usually intermediate steps that can be taken to address issues.

Addressing school issues can be either generalized or in the framework of an Public Law 94-142 - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (USA)

Links - resources, netlists, information

Is It A Cheetah? by Stephanie S. Tolan ("required reading" for any parent of a gifted child)

Why I Posted this Website ("What's the Matter Here" - lyrics by Natale Merchant)

Declining to prescribe Ritalin

site first posted 2000 -- rev 17-Oct-10 -- This page copyright 2000, 2005, Stan Protigal

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