Posted by Mark Probert

This is from the Intellihealth Newsletter I get emailed from Johns Hopkins
School of Medicine.

Study Eases Hyperactivity Drug Worry
August 3, 1999

CHICAGO (AP) - Hyperactive boys who were treated with stimulants such as
Ritalin were one-third as likely to abuse alcohol and other drugs as
teen-agers than similar boys who had not been treated, a new study
found.

Some experts not involved in the study said it was flawed and too small
to reach meaningful conclusions.

But authors of the study which involved 212 boys, including 75 with
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD said the findings
should help allay concerns that giving children potentially addictive
drugs such as Ritalin may promote harmful habits later.

An estimated 3 million school-age children have ADHD, and as many as
half may be taking Ritalin or other stimulants, past research indicates.

``There has been a mythology that the use of these medications could
`prime' children to become addicts in the future or could develop `a
culture of drug taking,''' said Dr. Joseph Biederman of Massachusetts
General Hospital, lead author of the study published in the August issue
of Pediatrics.

``We believe that children with ADHD who are medically treated will have
fewer problems resulting from their disorder and more successful lives,
probably giving them fewer reasons to experiment with substance abuse,''
he added.

Ritalin acts on dopamine, a brain chemical that helps regulate thinking.
Ritalin is believed to calm hyperactivity by helping children's brains
disregard distracting stimuli, such as classroom noise, so they can
focus on learning.

The subjects for the research were part of a previous study of families
with an ADHD child and families with no ADHD children. The children and
their mothers were interviewed on three occasions when they entered the
study, one year later and four years after enrollment.

The authors studied 56 ADHD patients who were on medication, 19 ADHD
patients not on medication and 137 patients without the disorder.

At the study's end, 75 percent of the unmedicated ADHD subjects had
substance abuse disorders, compared with 25 percent of the medicated
subjects. Abused substances included alcohol, marijuana, hallucinogens,
cocaine and other stimulants. Eighteen percent of the non-ADHD subjects
were substance abusers.

A critic of the study, psychologist Nadine M. Lambert of the University
of California at Berkeley, said it was too small to show significant
differences in rates of drug abuse.

Her own research involving more than 200 ADHD subjects tracked for more
than 20 years shows that those who took stimulant medication were more
likely to be cocaine and tobacco abusers as adults than non-medicated
subjects, she said.

Lambert said she is not opposed to treating ADHD youngsters with
stimulants because the benefits have been shown clearly, but she
believes there are risks and they should be acknowledged.

Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

---------------end quoted text--------------

I like the way Biederman refers to the myth...there are so many...

--
Mark Probert
Children can be cruel...unless adults teach them to be kind.

Follow Ups:

• Re: Ritalin may prevent substance abuse Kelly P. Minor

Post a Followup