Ritalin, Adderol, Concerta and other drugs aimed at children are currently being widely prescribed in the US - up to 50% in some classrooms - for treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other behavioral concerns.
Selective serotonin uptake inhibitors are a new class of antidepressant drugs that has been increasingly used for symptom reduction for ADHD. Antidepressants carry a strong warning regarding their use in children and adolescents. This warning admonishes doctors and parents that "Patients who are started on therapy should be observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior".
You owe it to your children, your relatives, your friends and yourself to understand the dangers of these and other similar drugs.
Unfortunately, most of the available information is produced by drug companies and psychiatrists who have a strong financial interest in selling and prescribing these drugs. The "discovery" of ADD and ADHD - and the resulting national epidemic of psychotropic drug use in children - have produced enormous windfall profits for the pharmaceutical corporations.
As long as we continue to put these drugs down the throats of our children, these drug companies can look forward to a whole new, rapidly expanding market of "long term customers", who will be dependent on psychiatric care and psychotropic drugs, potentially
for life.
What is not common knowledge, in addition to understanding the dangers, are the alternatives to drugging children.
Respected scientists and leading health care professionals have developed effective alternatives to drugs. This web site will provide you with that information and link you to other sites that can help you as well.
It is important to know that you have alternatives to drugging your child. Those alternatives include medical actions, legal action (in case a school is insisting on "medication"), and the alternative of informing yourself so that you can make the right decision. Your children are counting on you.