News / Education
Medication Implicated in Drug Abuse
Those who work in drug treatment have long known often a drug abusers history includes childhood use of attention deficit medication
A recent study released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services administration links stimulant use, including those drugs used to treat attention deficit disorder, with an increased risk of drug abuse and higher crime rate.
Adolescents who abuse stimulants are more likely to use other illicit drugs and to commit crimes, according to The Nation Survey on Drug Use and Health. The nonmedical use of stimulants as defined in the study does not include over the counter medications but does include methamphetamine and other pharmaceutical stimulants.
Some common pharmaceutical stimulants include Adderall and Ritalin, both used to treat attention deficit disorder. The study did not include the medical use of these substances but it is likely that stimulant use whether medical or non-medical could lead to the same result.
The study show that youths who used stimulants were over twice as likely to commit any of six kind of delinquent behavior, ranging from fights to carrying a handgun, on average these youths were twice as likely to get in a fight and three times as likely to attack someone.
Some common pharmaceutical stimulants include Adderall and Ritalin, both used to treat attention deficit disorder. The study did not include the medical use of these substances but it is likely that stimulant use whether medical or non-medical could lead to the same result.
Since 1991 prescriptions for all drugs to treat ADHD have quintupled. This year about six million children, roughly one child out of every eight, will take Ritalin or other forms of methylphenidate. The number of stimulants prescribed for children 2 to 4 has increased 200% to 300% between 1991 and 1995.
The drugs used to treat ADHD/ADD are closely related to illegal street drugs such as methamphetamine. There is no evidence to suggest that adolescents with ADHD/ADD do not suffer the same consequences of use just because they are prescribed the drug.
The constant drugging of our children to cure a disease which has almost no basis in medical science puts our children at risk for increased drug abuse and criminal activity. The additional risk of abuse imposed by the great volume of these medication makes prescribing these drugs dangerous at best.
Narconon of Georgia provided addiction treatment and drug education.
