‘I WAS TOLD TO DOPE MY KID'

New York Post ^ | 8/07/02 | DOUGLAS MONTERO

[kattracks]

Should school systems be allowed to recommend that children be put on psychoactive drugs?

A 12-year-old upstate boy says the trusted educators in his local school forced him to take a cocktail of drugs that turned him into a psychotic who heard voices in his head.

[archy]

Remember COLUMBINE HIGH and the bad voices telling them what to do.

And one of them was on psychiatric drugs, too.

It's also believed that the anti-depressant psychotropic drug Luvox prescribed to Eric Harris, often used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder may have been shared with Dylan Klebold, and taken in combination with alcohol or other drugs, including possibly on the day of the shooting, though it was stated that no evidence of drugs or alcohol had been found in Harris's body after his death. But there have been other falsehoods issued by authorities regarding the events of that day.

[alisasny]

Try some reading at this site for my childs doctor in NY.

www.dyslexiaonline.com

[dead]

Why do I get the notion that if a doctor had "prescribed" marijuana and the school and the courts forced the mother to keep administering it to her kid, that the outcry by some on FR would be against the parent for demonizing the wonderweed.

You get that notion because you have not the slightest grasp of the issue.

[alisasny]

After my son came home it was recommended that he have physical therapy at home to keep him on track. He was born in August and the following January after all of that therapy ( it was so brutal he would just make himself fall asleep during it) I took him back to the hospital for his 6th month checkup after release from NICU.

There major concern was he was not rolling over and that we needed to do more intrusive therapy. I flipped out needless to say. The following day (NO JOKE) he rolled over. I never looked back nor returned to that hospital!! He walked a week before his first birthday. Which was so cute as he was only 16 lbs with zero body fat. He never recieved any more therapy and has been just fine. His coordination level is in the top 90%! The kid is so agile he never gets hurt.

ANyway, one major problem we have had with his birthweight is his teeth. It seems as soon as a new tooth comes in it has a cavity. He has had to have a tooth pulled and 4 root canals not to mention all the cavaties filled. This all began when he was three. Right now his teeth are at age 6 when he is ten so we have to postpone braces and the like . So far he has lost only 4 teeth naturally and even then the permanent teeth grew behind them before they fell out. Meanwhile he has twice yearly cleanings.

Have either of you had this problem?

[alisasny]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0871316250/dyslexiaonline/104-3149775-4163950

Also, I highly recommend this book written by our childs doc. It helped us out greatly even though he does not have dyslexia.

[HumanaeVitae]

Why not dope your kid? People are nothing more than a bunch of nerve ganglia, muscle and bone--no immortal soul you see. All you have to do is push the right buttons, prescribe the right drugs, and everyone is happy, happy, happy!

Is the 20th Century over yet? How 'bout the Enlightenment?

[FBDinNJ]

I'm pretty sure ADD & ADHD drugs are more related to Methamphetamines than they are to Cocaine. I'll try to dig up some info to back my claims up.

[Orangedog]

The parent(s) should be worrying more about their child and less about getting back at the school district.

If a bunch of union/government stuffed shirts did something like this to my kid, "getting back at the school" would not be optional...it would be required. What happened here was a kid was needlessly experimented on with powerful drugs, and the parent was threatened with criminal sanction if she didn't hand over her child for this experimentation. They recklessly endangered a child, caused him and his family unbelievable stress, and caused him to hallucinate and hear voices. All of this started because a government teacher was to lazy and unskilled to handle a 12 year old boy in the classroom. If this were my kid, everyone involved would pay the price these acts...and I make damn sure it was a very high price.

[rb22982]

Total balogny, hardly anyone against the drug war is in favor of anyone under 18, save cancer patience, having access to marijuana.

Personally, I hope they sue the hell out of the school.

[Vic3O3]

Fed up, Weathers stopped medicating her son in December 1999 when Michael pleaded, "Mom, make it stop - there's a person inside my head telling me to do bad things."

There is anecdotal evidence that most of the school shootings were done by students who were on Ritalin. And a kid acting out in 1st grade!?? He was BORED! The schools are too dumbed down for most kids as it is...

We will be homeschooling our kid(s) when of age.

[drjimmy]

Been there, done that, with my 12 year old, though I do believe we have now found the "right mix" of medication for his behavioral issues. He has ADHD, OCD, and Asperger Syndrome, and our problems have more often been with busybodies who don't want him to be on any medicines. We wish it wasn't needed, but it has eliminated his potentially self-destructive behaviors (opening a car door while it was moving, climbing on building ledges, e.g.) while allowing the "boy" in him to still come out.

It really does help to have good teachers. In fifth grade his teacher allowed him to hang upside down in his chair while reading the newspaper, as long as he didn't disrupt the rest of the class and could show he was paying attention to what she was teaching (he was always able to answer any question she asked of him on the spot). We have learned that team sports are not a good fit for him, so we have gotten him into swimming and even fencing (his older brother's reaction: "You're giving him a sword?!")

While his behaviors are frequently exasperating and exhausting for us, my wife and I do enjoy discussing politics and other serious topics with him because his mind is so quick and he keeps us on our toes.

[BJungNan]

There is an important message board for anyone faced with the problem of the schools trying to force their children to take these drugs.

Link here

Warning. This is a very sad situation. I can not imagine the hell this family had to go through and then to lose their son.

[rb22982]

This kid's IQ is 182+/-

Goodness, unless this is on a different scale than I was taught, 130 is top 2.5%, 140+ is 1%, 182 must be like .0001%.

[fabriclady]

The prisons are filling up with young criminals.
I don't know how many was on Ritalin.
I have a feeling if a survey was done, you would find an astounding number has had Ritalin.

If you know any parent that is giving this abusive drug to a child, please talk to them.
They may get angry, but the child is the most important thing.

I pray we can get this drug out of he mouths of our precious children.

[Zack Nguyen]

demonizing the wonderweed

LOL.

[rb22982]

But what would you say about prescribing marijuana to a 12 year old as a behavioral management strategy?

As far as I know, marijuana's medical benefits include helping nausea and alleviating pain, so I'm not sure it would be prescribed for Behavioral management strategy. I guess it would depend on how much I trust the doctor of course.

[WyldKard]

Mind if I ask: How did the drug help you? How were you feeling when you had "ADHD"? What was happening that led to that diagnosis? And, if you were diagnosed with ADHD then, why don't you need the drug now?

Well, I suffered from several learning disabilities. When I was 4, several doctors kind of threw up their hands and declared me retarded and possibly deaf (This was back in 1979). My Mom of course, thought this was complete bunk, and after several long psychological evaluation sessions, it was determiend that I definately had ADHD. Right around that time (I was six) I told my mother I figured out what I had, that I must have epilepsy, cause it feels like I had trouble controlling my impulses. Naturally, my Mom knew I didn't have epilepsy, but was impressed that at that age, I knew something wasn't right with me. She told me as much as I could understand about Ritalin, and asked me to make the choice to go on it. And I told her I wanted to try it. And she told me to tell her the moment I felt like the Ritalin was making me feel worse.

I could definately tell a positive difference with the Ritalin. It helped focus me in, and tune out the constant malstrom of distractions playing about in my head. But Ritalin was just one key. I only took Ritalin on school days, and my therapy consisted of extra hours of tutoring and study, hypnotherapy, and conseling. I had to put in extra work to overcome, but I think the effort was worth it. On top of this, my parents continually listened to me, and asked me for my opinions on how I felt, and what I thought Ritalin was doing for my. My Mom swears that the moment I would have had any complaints, she would have taken me off of it.

See, the whole point about ADHD and Ritalin is that you aren't SUPPOSED to take it all the time, or for the rest of your life. In bad cases where it works, it helps focus a youngster enough so that other therapies are more effective. But as time goes on, you learn how to cope with ADHD, and certainly the effects lessen with age. By the time I was 16, I felt the time had come to make that final step, and learn how to cope completely without Ritalin (which I had been taking with less and less frequency for a while). I haven't looked back since.

The thing is, the number of people who have ADHD bad enough to benefit from Ritalin is pretty small. The drug companies wouldn't make the sort of mad profits they do now if they didn't convince everyone that every male child has ADHD, and NEEDS Ritalin...forever!

It's a scam...it's sickening, because it takes advantage of a very real problem, and cheapens and trivializes it, all for the sake of fattening some CEO's account...

[FBDinNJ]

Is meth the same thing as Amphetamines such as prescription drugs like adderall and ritalin?

"Meth" is meth-amphetamine, which is a type of amphetamine. The "meth" from Meth-amphetamine comes from the chemical name "methyl". The chemical Methamphetamine is composed of an amphetamine molecule with an additional methyl group attached to its nitrogen (amine group). A methyl is one of the simplest atomic groups which can be added to a molecule: it is a single carbon atom with a set of (usually) 3 hydrogens.

Take a look at Chem Compare. If you look on the far right end on these images, you can see that there is a "NH-CH3" on the Methamphetamine where there is a "NH2" on the amphetamine. For many of the known psychoactives, adding a methyl group slightly alters the effects, duration, and/or potency. As you start to pay attention to other chemical names, you'll see "meth" show up in many names and this will almost always indicate that there is a methyl group on the molecule somewhere. For Methamphetamine, the methyl allows it a little better fat solubility and thus better penetration into the brain.

Adderall is simply a brand name for a particular mix of different "stereoisomers" (same atoms connecting at the same places, just pointing in different directions in space at one point in the molecule) and salts of amphetamine. Take a look at the page describing Adderall for a little more info about this.

Ritalin (methylphenidate) does contain an amphetamine-like backbone, however it is more complex. Take a look at the difference in Chem-Compare. The additional structures on this molecule also alter its interaction with the body and the neurons in our brains. Methylphenidate is reported to have less euphoric effects (some people describe it as 'more dull') than methamphetamine, but every individual is unique in their reaction to psychoactives, so no statement is universally true. While similar in backbone structure, amphetamine, methamphetamine, and ritalin are all quite unique drugs, with somewhat similar, but distinct, effects.

Another thing to note when talking about the differences in the amphetamine-class stimulants is that one of the strange effects of current culture is that particular drugs are demonized in the news, entertainment media, government information, and school curricula. Methamphetamine is particularly demonized, amphetamine somewhat less so, even though amphetamine-related stimulant drugs -- including methylphenidate (Ritalin), amphetamine (Adderall, Dexedrine), & methamphetamine (Desoxyn) -- are commonly prescribed for children from as young as age 3. All three of these can lead to difficult-to-break habits and can become a problem for some people who try them. But the marketing teams of the pharmaceutical companies do what they can to soothe parents' concerns by separating the image of street-speed users from the clean, clinical, healthy use of their products.

All of these substances are swallowed, snorted, smoked, and injected by users (in estimated order of frequency) and all can be dangerous in combinations with MAOIs, at high doses, or at high frequencies of use.