The Dark Side Of A Wonder Drug-a Selected Collection Of Testimony On T :: essays research papers

The Dark side of a venerate Drug-A Selected Collection of Testimony on the Safetyof methylphenidate"We give our children either day, yet we punish adults for taking speed,"stated a concerned p bent(methylphenidate Zone). A trip to the principals routine usedto mean big trouble. These days, more kids atomic number 18 showing up in the school officejust to affirm their midday dose of Ritalin. Ritalin, the drug used to treathyperactivity in children, is be seized on by a generation worried about overbearing inappropriate behavior. But some doctors think Ritalin is being bring down to children who are simply having trouble in school. The numberssuggest they devour good reason to vexation. The number of prescriptions for Ritalinincreased four-fold from 1990 to 1995, making the foreplay one of the mostprescribed drugs in the country. No one knows only whats behind the surge inRitalin use, but experts speculate its due(p) to everything from increasedawareness of attentio n disorders in schools to teachers and parents becomingless unspecific of unruly behavior.Some local school offices have endure realistic noon-time pharmacies. At oneOttawa-area board of education, the number of medications dispensed to studentsby office administrators has increased 20 per cent over the past 18 months. Agood chunk of those pills are Ritalin. "We always worry that were a half-stepoutside from giving someone the wrong dosage," says John Beatty, the boardssuperintendent of school operations(Ritalin Boy). "In certain school systemstheres been a teacher who has seen it work and theyll start suggesting it asan option for all children who are acting out," state Linda Budd, a St. Paul,Minn., psychologist who has create verbally the book Living With the Active/Alert Child."Weve got some teachers we call "Ritalin bullies - hes not paying attentionto me so he needs Ritalin"(Ritalin Zone). Marcia Ruberg, a school psychologistin Cherry Hill (N.J.) School District, said the number of children takingRitalin varies greatly from class to class, depending on "the teachers touch sensationsystem"(Ritalin). At some schools, children as young as septette are asked to taketheir Ritalin themselves. The little blue pills have become so common in schoolyards that some kids are reportedly selling their spare Ritalin to friends, whotake it in the hope of acquire a buzz. "Every parent wants their child to be atthe light up of the class," says Dr. Andre Cote, clinical director of the ChildrensMental Health Treatment Center at the Royal Ottawa Hospital. "What we might beseeing is that people are trying to improve their kids performance by givingthem medication"(Health Ritalin).Others worry that Ritalin has become an easy answer for busy families