Drugs for Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD) are among the top 10 medicines most likely to be abused, or used for non-medical purposes without a doctor’s supervision. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse 2003-4 survey, almost 10% of 12^th-graders reported past-year, non-medical use of amphetamines, which are drugs like Ritalin used to treat ADD/ADHD. Children as young as 12 or 13 had used it to stay up late or to suppress appetite, one-third of students with legitimate prescriptions for ADD/ADHD drugs had been approached to sell or trade their medication, and Ritalin was among the drugs most often stolen.
 
Young people seem to feel the drugs are safe because they are legal and easily available.

They are not.
 

ADD/ADHD drug abuse can be fatal

 
Adderall (dextroamphetamine) and Ritalin (methylphenidate), like all other ADD/ADHD drugs, are stimulants. In small doses (the way they are usually prescribed, from 2 to 15 mg), they will make anyone feel more energetic and better focused. Higher doses (more than 30 mg at a time, not in the long-acting forms) will, however, may make people irritable, depressed, and even psychotic. If the drugs are crushed into powder and snorted, or dissolved in water and injected, the drugs can create a feeling of euphoria – a high. It’s easier to overdose when someone is doing this, and an overdose may lead to cardiac arrest (the heart stops beating), respiratory arrest (breathing stops), seizures, and death.
 
Many more teens, however, get prescriptions for ADD/ADHD drugs on false information, or buy or trade for them, because they want to stay up all night partying or studying, or because they want to use it as a diet aid because these medicines reduce appetite. This seems safer than snorting or injecting the drugs, but it is dangerous too because these drugs are addictive and misuse can quickly lead to regular drug abuse. If they use it too often, their bodies are likely to become tolerant of the drugs, and they will need higher doses to get the same results. In other words, they might end up addicted, in bad shape mentally and emotionally, and in constant danger of overdose.
 

What you should do to protect your child

 
1. Educate
 
Talk to your child about drugs and the dangers of misusing them. Any drug – even over-the-counter medications – can do a lot of harm when someone overdoses on them. Explain that with stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall, there is a bigger problem because he (or his friends) may like how it makes them feel energetic and cheerful, but that it’s easy to overdose and it’s easy to get addicted.
 
2. Support
 
If you want him to be able to say no to peer pressure, let him know he can count on you whether he fits in with his classmates or not. Help him organize his work and not leave everything for the night before. Also, be ready to help him when exams and project deadlines loom. If he needs to stay up late, be ready to offer psychological support - stay awake with him if possible, or keep checking up on him and make him a cup of coffee or two.
 
3. Keep medicines secure
 
You need to keep careful track of your ADD/ADHD medicines. If you get a supply for a month, make sure it lasts one month. If you are giving it to your child, get him to swallow it in front of you. If the school nurse dispenses medicine, don’t assume that she will know how to handle ADD/ADHD drugs – check school practices.
 
4. Be alert.
 
Keep looking out for signs of signs of misuse – drugs disappearing, abnormal energy levels, mood or personality changes, sleeplessness, weight loss, loss of appetite. If you see any of these, you need to act quickly to end misuse before it turns into addiction. At this stage, what I’ve suggested will work (educating, supporting, and securing your medicines). But if you feel your child or someone is already addicted, you need to go to a doctor.
 

Denial and Evasion from some ‘experts’

 
Unfortunately, you are not likely to hear of the dangers of Ritalin and Adderall abuse from the doctor who prescribes it for you or for your child, or from the ADD/ADHD sites on the internet you might visit. I read these on the web:
 
“There are no published cases of deaths from overdoses of Ritalin. If you take too much Ritalin, you will feel terrible and act strange for a few hours, but you will not die.”
 
“Stimulant medications are not addictive when used as directed. Studies have shown adequate treatment of ADHD may reduce the risk of substance abuse.”
 
These are outright lies or seriously misleading. There have been deaths; overdoses can make you feel high, and while they are not addictive when used as directed, the problem is that they are so often not used as directed, and are themselves frequently abused.
  
But every website on drug addiction and abuse mentions Ritalin, Adderall or prescription amphetamines. And with these drugs becoming more and more easily available and more and more children being prescribed them, there is reason for you as a parent to worry, whether or not your child has ADD/ADHD.

Tags: long term effects of abuse | long term effects of abuse | ADHD medication abuse | ADHD medication abuse | symptoms of abuse | symptoms of abuse | ADHD drug abuse | ADHD drug abuse | methamphetamine | methamphetamine | ADHD treatment | ADHD treatment | amphetamine | amphetamine | Concerta | Concerta | ADD/ADHD | Ritalin

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 10:24 pm and is filed under Herbal medicines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.