Ritalin Addiction

In America today we face a grave issue, the overuse of prescription drugs to combat attitude and emotional problems. America has become a drug society, and I am not speaking of common street drugs such as marijuana, heroin, or cocaine, I am speaking of prescription drugs, drugs that you can obtain from your local physician or psychiatrist. One drug in particular that is being sold on the black market, college campuses, high schools, and even middle schools, is a drug called Ritalin. The prescribing of the drug Ritalin to cure Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD, and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder or ADHD is a serious problem today I will inform you as to why Ritalin is not the solution to the problem.

In his sophomore year of high school my uncle was recommended to visit a psychiatrist. After a series of tests the psychiatrist diagnosed my uncle with ADD, and he prescribed the drug Ritalin as a medicine for this diagnosis. Within the next two months following the prescription my uncle became very addicted to Ritalin, he crushed and snorted it, and even dealt this drug to other kids at his school for two to five dollars a pill. Later, my uncle had a , which is a common story for people who take Ritalin, because of the similar nature of the two drugs. In fact the Drug Enforcement Administration categorized all drugs, legal and illegal into five categories. The first category of drugs has the highest addictive capabilities and lowest medicinal use. Essentially, category one contains the hardest drugs. Category two is only a notch below one, and it contains drugs such as Methamphetamine, Cocaine, and Methylphenidate, or Ritalin as it is more commonly known. Yes, both Cocaine and Ritalin have been classified Category II narcotics by the DEA, yet one is illegal and the other is given to young children by doctors and their parents.

From 1990 to 2000 over 569 children were hospitalized due to Ritalin prescription, 38 of them were life threatening conditions, and 186 died. The National Institute of Health has even stated that “[They] do not have an independent, valid test for ADHD, and there is no data to indicate that ADHD is due to brain malfunction,” which is what Ritalin treats. Dr. David Williams, who has researched ADD and ADHD has found that “ADD/ADHD is not a chemical imbalance in the brain, but rather is caused by food and additive allergies, heavy metal toxicity and other environmental toxins, low protein and high carbohydrate diets, mineral imbalances, thyroid disorders, amino acid deficiencies and other acid deficiencies.” Often times schools will recommend students to see psychiatrists, to fix their behavioral problem, these doctors in turn will then unnecessarily diagnose the students with either ADD or ADHD and prescribe them Ritalin, in order to give the student a quick fix solution to their behavior problem. According to a recent Washington Post article, an FDA advisory board recently voted to require a health warning on Ritalin. According to the article, “members of the board said the recommendation was driven as much by worries that the drugs are being overused in the United States as by the possible side effects: About 10 percent of 10-year-old American boys are taking such medications, and there have been recent sharp increases in the number of adults taking them.” It’s incredible to think that 1 out of every 10 ten-year-old boy in American is legally taken a category II narcotic.

Why do doctors and psychiatrists prescribe a highly addictive and poisonous drug that is ranked at the same level as Cocaine? Why do they want the quick fix drug that does not address the real issue of nutritional deficiency? Why don’t they instead work with their patients to improve their diet and put them on a strict vitamin and mineral regimen? Improving nutrition and diet is the non-narcotic solution to the ADD and ADHD problem, not the extremely dangerous Ritalin, which can cause death and is considered a gateway drug.

In closing, let me tell you about what finally happened to my uncle. Fortunately, he went through a successful drug rehab program and now lives a drug free life. He has often told me that he regrets ever being prescribed Ritalin, because it was the beginning of his major drug problem. He says that that many of the people who he met in the drug rehab facility and still meets today through his work as an intervention specialist have the same regrets. Ritalin was the beginning of a serious drug problem for them.

We as a society cannot allow the extremely dangerous quick fix solution of Ritalin for ADD/ADHD, but instead must work together to prevent doctors and psychiatrists from prescribing Ritalin as a cure for ADD/ADHD.