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The kids who cope with 10 mg will get a dosage of 15 mg - so researchers can see what happens.

Goulish freaks.

[College Repub]

How else do you suggest valid research be completed?

[tutstar]

bump

Give 'em a pill, who cares if it is such a strong narcotic that it is in the same class of drugs as cocaine and other amphetamines. Don't worry about teaching them to deal with life in a constructive manner like the rest of us.

Yes, that was sarcasm! I personally know families whose children were prescribed ritalin and when they wanted their kids off it, the schools threatened to turn them in for child abuse. There are undoubtedly some kids who will benefit from the drug but the U.S. consumes roughly 90% of the total ritalin produced according to figures in 1997.

As usual the government knows what is best for the children.

For more on ritalin go to http://www.breggin.com/

[freefly]

Hey, it's ok, after all, it's LEGAL drugs involved here.
(HEAVY sarcasm/off)

[dighton]

Orual, what do you make of the NY Post story?

Drug Monograph: Methylphenidate (Ritalin)

[FairWitness]

Single rising dose tolerability studies are routinely the first studies done in humans after a drug is judged, in animal studies, to be safe enough to begin clinical testing. These studies are normally done in healthy adult males who give informed consent and can be expected to immediately inform the clinical researchers of side effects (which are often unrelated to the drug, being just a frequent in the placebo group). The clinical subjects can at anytime refuse further dosing or dose escalation. It is very problematic to do the same kind of study in a child, particularly under 5 years of age, who may not understand what is happening when side effects occur, or be able to articulate details of the side effect(s) to the researchers.

[backhoe]

Rx Nation- are our children being medicated to death?

[Dan from Michigan]

There is no way in hell my kids are going to be on that stuff. Over my dead body, literally.

Take a pill, turn into a zombie.

[mlocher]

thanks for the post. everytime i hear the word ritalin, i think of the word thalidimide.

[mlocher]

thanks for the post. everytime i hear the word ritalin, i think of the word thalidimide.

[George Smiley]

My son just got diagnosed with ADD.

And it was after a three year struggle where the diagnosis was first depresssion, and then bipolar, and finally bipolar with ADD.

And to top it off, while reading Driven to Distraction to learn about this disorder, stuff started jumping off the page-- not just about my son, but about me as well. (We're both on once-a-day meds now.)

The difference between his performance in school pre and post-med is, on average, two letter grades in each subject.

Perhaps the diagnosis of ADD/ADHD is overused and Ritalin is overused, but there are instances when the results cannot be discounted.

[dead]

bttt