None Dare Call It Speed

Jacob Sullum | September 16, 2005

Last year, according to data collected by Medco Health Systems, 1 percent of Americans between the ages of 20 and 44 took prescription stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall to treat "attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder." That was double the percentage in 2000 (but still less than one-quarter the rate among children, which rose from 2.8 percent to 4.4 percent during the same period). It's not clear how many of these stimulant users were diagnosed as children and how many first obtained prescriptions as adults. "I think this shows a clear recognition and new thinking that treatment for A.D.H.D. does not go away for many children after adolescence," Medco's chief medical officer told The New York Times.

Or maybe it shows that Americans are rediscovering the usefulness of prescription stimulants. "Studies have shown that the pills can increase the concentration of almost anyone," the Times notes, "and they are widely used by college students hoping to do well on exams. " The paper also cites "Dr. Lawrence Diller, a behavioral developmental pediatrician in Walnut Creek, Calif.," who "pointed out that stimulants often promote weight loss, which could be one explanation for their increasing use."

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|9.16.05 @ 9:51AM|#

Hmmmm, I think I smell our next "epidemic".

Does taking amphetamine-like stimulants to lose weight or do better on exams constitute use or abuse? Does the answer hinge on how fat you are or how much trouble you have concentrating? Is pretending to have a psychiatric disorder so you can obtain stimulants for these purposes itself a psychiatric disorder?

Or to put it another way (maybe): if it's okay to use drugs to go from sub-par to acceptable, should it also be okay to use those same drugs to go from acceptable to outstanding?

On an unrelated note, I think I may be coming down with glaucoma. If only there were some naturally occurring substance I could smoke for it. . . .

|9.16.05 @ 9:58AM|#

I want my medical marijuana.

I used to have a prescription for ritalin. Now, I have a stockpile. The stuff kicks ass. Pop one before an exam, and I get a 20% reduction in time required for any given problem.

It's like having ten cups of coffee, without the jitters or the rampant pissing.

Most users will tell you they're handicapped. About half are secretly taking it for the same reasons I do.

|9.16.05 @ 10:05AM|#

Love my blue Addys.

|9.16.05 @ 10:08AM|#

Forgot to mention the thing I set out to say. Diagnoses of ADHD are by no means confined to sub-par kids. In fact, a lot of remarkably intelligent kids have an attention deficit as a sort of Achilles� heel. Taking Ritalin makes them nearly super-human.

I know this because I attended a charter high school from 99-02� though those schools are a good idea, they become magnets for public school rejects.

The Anti-Puritan|9.16.05 @ 10:12AM|#

Is pretending to have a psychiatric disorder so you can obtain stimulants for these purposes itself a psychiatric disorder?

No, it's making the system work for you. Maybe I'm being cynical, but I think cynicism is the appropriate response to policies that are so hypocritical.

|9.16.05 @ 10:12AM|#

I wish my parents had been able to put me on Adderall. I was the quintessential kid who couldn't, still can't, focus or concentrate.

Jennifer,

If what you've smoked to this point hasn't helped, you could undermine the case for those who say it does.:)

|9.16.05 @ 10:16AM|#

David--

All I know is I haven't smoked in awhile, and today when I went to work everything looked all gray and fuzzy and out-of-focus, even when I had my glasses on. My colleagues say it's because it's a really foggy morning, but they're just trying to make me feel better. Nope, it's glaucoma, and I clearly need to smoke to get rid of it.

|9.16.05 @ 10:23AM|#

Mark my words, this is the next big thing congress is going to be sticking its big fat nose into.

Talk radio dumbass, Rusty Humphries has been running his ill-informed moron mouth for a couple of years now about the evils of Ritalin.

I will concede that ADHD and it's nomitave cousins has become something of a "disease de jour".

And the willingness to prescribe Ritalin and it's offshoots to placate lazy lay parents who think normal pre-schooler behavior indicates abnormal levels of hyperactivity or poor attention is somewhat disturbing.

My own inlaws insisted that my perfectly fine 6 year-old nephew was ADHD and talked his pediatrician into prescribing Ritalin. Now he's like Roy Scheider in "All That Jazz". Pill to wake up. Pill to go to sleep. Pill to do homework. And so on.

Still, while I acknowledge some definite problems, I (as always) question any congressional attempts at an effective solution.

|9.16.05 @ 10:38AM|#

Anyone want to talk about the real reason to use SSRIs? Sure I have ADHD, but that's not the reason to take the drug, just the pretext to get the script. SSRIs delay orgasm.

|9.16.05 @ 10:41AM|#

Forgot to mention the thing I set out to say

AHA! Time for you to up the dosage.

|9.16.05 @ 10:55AM|#

But the real problem is that the poor and minorities cannot afford these drugs as the well-off can. It is unfair that the rich middle class cheats like this to get an advantage.

Next thing you know, they'll let everyone use steroids.

|9.16.05 @ 11:07AM|#

I spent my entire high school goofing and being lazy, yet I never met a standardized test I couldn't ace. I often wonder what my grades would have been like had I gotten a hold of this stuff. I still wonder what I could do now if I could get a hold of it. Wow, a drug that will make me skinny and more productive as opposed to alchohol which makes me fat, loud and obnoxious. Where do I sign up?

|9.16.05 @ 11:10AM|#

"Nope, it's glaucoma, and I clearly need to smoke to get rid of it."

I will tell you first-hand that it's a miracle cure. It works so well, that I've never had glaucoma in the first place.

|9.16.05 @ 11:18AM|#

""pointed out that stimulants often promote weight loss, which could be one explanation for their increasing use.""

I wish.

|9.16.05 @ 11:24AM|#

Taking Ritalin only at exam times is kinda stupid. It won't help if you haven't learned anything. You'll just fail faster. Better to use it for lectures, and for reading and homework.

Hell, I was diagnosed with ADD at 21, though I never had any problem with tests. I'm often the first person done. It's the boring crap like lectures and studying and homework that were always a problem, and with which the ritalin helps.

|9.16.05 @ 11:27AM|#

I don't have glaucoma, but I've had more than my fair share of eye diseases. And I've never engaged in any interstate commerce.

Let this be a lesson: Clean living may be bad for your health.

(And since somebody will probably think I'm being serious, or at least literal, the disclaimer: I know that one data point is not a trend. I'm just having fun here.)

|9.16.05 @ 11:33AM|#

Thoreau,

I'm never been into interstate commerce either, and my eyes used to be 20/15. They aren't anymore, so maybe a trend could be forming after all.

Shannon Love|9.16.05 @ 11:47AM|#

' "Studies have shown that the pills can increase the concentration of almost anyone,""

I have to quibble with this statement. Although literally true, the degree of improvement various dramatically. For people in the middle of the bell curve for attention control, stimulants like Ritalin improve concentration only slightly more than a cup of strong coffee. For people with very good concentration control at the right side of the bell curve stimulants noticeably degrade performance. For people with poor concentration control at the far left of the curve the stimulants cause a tremendous increase in performance.

The new class of non-stimulating ADD drugs work very well for those with poor concentration control but produce almost no effect in those who do not.

|9.16.05 @ 11:50AM|#

Shannon brings up a good point about the variable response to stimulants.

The variable response to the medication has been taken by some as evidence that maybe, just maybe, there's some unique brain chemistry in people diagnosed with ADD in accordance with rigorous criteria compiled by experienced professionals (as opposed to "The kid's tough to deal with").

I know, that's crazy talk. But still...

|9.16.05 @ 11:57AM|#

It seems we've missed the most popular medical use for Ritalin--crushing it up and snorting it off the hip bone of a hooker.

|9.16.05 @ 12:19PM|#

...stimulants often promote weight loss, which could be one explanation for their increasing use.
I think its plausible that this has something to do with Ritalin use among women. Hell, that was the only reason I stopped taking Ritalin as a high school senior. For the first time ever I could concentrate in class without zoning out entirely, but I would be concentrating so hard I'd forget to eat. For several days in a row.
After losing more than 10% of my body weight over the course of a month, we fiddled around with dosages but I never found one that let me concentrate AND didn't mess up my appetite. The doctor seemed surprised that this side effect was bothering me-- after all, none of his other female teenage patients complained about it. . .

|9.16.05 @ 12:23PM|#

Lo--

Sounds like your doctor was a jackass. Even assuming a person is overweight to begin with, is it healthy to lose so much weight so fast? Ten percent in one month can't be good for you.

|9.16.05 @ 12:41PM|#

I was on ritalin 1st grade to 5th. It made a tremendus difference. I was ALWAYS done with tests in about half the time everyone else was and usually aced them.

It had terrible side effects, though. Very little appetite, facial and verbal tics, ocd (very annoying and an almost constant burden).

|9.16.05 @ 1:18PM|#

Sounds like Jennifer and Mr. Nice Guy are taking preventative steps to avoid developing glaucoma.

I've been on Adderall for a few years now, and had been on Ritalin since about third grade before that.

Honestly, it does make a big difference in the ability to concentrate. I also find that being able to do so keeps me from getting overwhelmed when faced with accomplishing multiple tasks.

|9.16.05 @ 1:56PM|#

I've always had pretty bad ADD as long as I can remember, and I have to admit the interstate commerce hasn't helped it much.

But the way I look at it, it is like stumbling off a grand staircase, but from the bottom step.

|9.16.05 @ 3:42PM|#

Looks like I need to go to my doctor and get me a scip for ritalin. I'm 31 now, though. Do you think any doctor would hook a brotha up?

For the record, I do have a real hard time focusing, and I know from recreational use that stimulants can help me focus at the right dosage.

|9.17.05 @ 3:44PM|#

I don't think I have a bad enough attention span to qualify for ritali....hey, is that a butterfly on my window?

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