Study: More Teens Abusing ADHD Drugs

Researchers from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center say calls to poison control centers about teens abusing attention-deficit drugs soared 76 percent over eight years.

[Samantha]

I was taking Adderall for my ADHD, and only took it because it made me loss weight. I decided I should stop taking it. So, I slowly decreased my doses. For a month and a half I had these crazy panic attacks and was severely depressed. A friend of mine said that's what happens. He did the same thing. Come to find out it’s made of amphetamines the same stuff that's in methamphetamine that people smoke. I can't believe I was proscribed medical grade methamphetamine. No wonder I lost weight…I can’t believe how stupid we are not to look up the ingredients to something we put in our bodies. My parents never question medications the Dr. prescribes. Those days are over!

[bmoretruthful]

I wish they were over. How many kids in your city do you think are on this stuff'legally. how many of their parents'do you think were just like your parents. multiply in the undereducated poor parents in urban cities and the entire country has a
serious problem. let those same kids
'decide to experiment with illegal
drugs...ballgame

[Adult with ADD]

Kids with attention issues who take these medications are much LESS likely to abuse other drugs. The reason these kids are drawn to illegal drugs in the first place is that they are frustrated with the expectations they can't seem to live up to. Properly-prescribed and administered medication makes a difficult situation more manageable and LESS chaotic. It's the desperate SELF-medication using whatever they can get their hands on that causes the real problems. Maybe if I knew about my condition earlier it would've been easier to develop "executive" skills (punctuality, organization, etc.). Plus, the article buries the fact that an 86% rise in prescriptions and 74% rise in abuse means that the percentage of treated kids who are abusing has DECLINED!-DUH! They hope people are that dumb?! This proves that statistics are at the mercy of the wordsmith.

[jas]

So the ones who get it legally are selling it to the abusers?

[Adult with ADD]

jas wrote:

So the ones who get it legally are selling it to the abusers?

It's a theoretical possibility, but not what I was trying to say.
The article emphasizes that a handful more kids who get prescriptions for themselves may be abusing their drugs. However, that number pales in comparison to the number of additional kids who are actually being helped through medication. Overall, the percentage of treated patients who abuse has decreased. That is progress overall. Think of it this way--If more kids are being treated properly through medication, it could mean that less of these kids will try to self-medicate illegally and become addicts. There's no way to stop drug abuse without offering an alternative solution--Help.