ADHD, Drugs: strattera, concerta, adderall

The rising sentiment
against stimulant drugs for ADHD/ADD

Continued

Next they [Psychiatrists] would "balance" the "chemical imbalance" of the brain, and CHADD (Children & Adults with ADD) and it's benefactor--pharmaceutical giant, Ciba-Geigy--have just the thing--Ritalin ! And other amphetamines too ! Without Ritalin, they warn, your child will never gain self-control, learn, graduate, mature ! Without Ritalin, ADD will last a lifetime and lead to "substance abuse disorder" (drugs and alcohol) aggression, violence and even murder ! All of this from a pencil-paper behavior checklist filled out by a second grade teacher--not one other piece of evidence can they adduce !

How could this be ? How can a behavioral check-list or any paper-pencil test prove the presence of a brain disease. The answer is that none can. Not ever ! That too, is deception.

The epidemic rages. All children are at risk. 10 to 15% nationwide, doubling every 3-4 years. In some classes 50% are on Ritalin. Invented in 1980, a half million were affected by 1988 and 4.0 million today. The Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) manufacturer's quota for Ritalin rose six-fold from 3,889 lb. to 22,902 lb. in 1995.

Why does the Center for Disease Control (CDC) who's business it is to diagnose and track epidemics, refuse to tell me whether ADD is a real disease or not. Why do National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) ADD experts Drs. Peter Jensen, Judith Rapoport, Alan Zametkin and Xavier Castellanos refuse to answer whether a physical abnormality has been found or not? Why in 5 years of asking, has Ciba-Geigy provided me with no proof that ADD is a disease. Instead they push CHADD - paid spokesmen and deceived believers - to the fore-front to misrepresent ADD to be a real disease and Ritalin to be safe and non-addictive.

Immunize Your Child Against Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

By Fred A.Baughman Jr., M.D.

However, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Food and Drug Administrative (FDA) did answer. Paul Leber, M.D. of the FDA replied, December 22, 1994, "as yet no distinct pathophysiology for the disorder has been delineated" (no abnormality has been found). Gene R. Haislip of the DEA answered, October 25, 1995, "We are also unaware that ADHD has been validated as a biologic/organic syndrome or disease." Why then, do the FDA and DEA collaborate in the drugging of millions of normal children? What business does the US Department of Education have encouraging (at the behest of CHADD) the drugging of normal children who come to them not for psychology and psychiatry but for an education. Are they bored, distracted and fidgety because they are passed from year to year without literacy, much less an education ? Are ADD and all of the LD's (learning disabilities) - not one a proven disease -- sought-after excuses for the massive educational malfeasance we have in the US today?

Keep in mind all of the above and you can keep your child from contracting ADD .

If a teacher or any school personnel suggest that your child has ADD and urges evaluation by a physician, advise them that there is no proof that ADD is a real disease (show them this document). If they persist, request a written description of the symptoms considered to be abnormal and beyond remedy by collaborative action of teacher and parents. And make clear that before considering such an evaluation, or any testing of your child whatsoever, that you insist upon having a school-to-physician referral letter that contains references to the specific scientific articles that constitute proof that ADD is a disease (such as those which the Ciba-Geigy, CHADD, NIMH, CDC, FDA and the DEA were unable or unwilling to produce and which I cannot find in the scientific literature.)

Should they refuse these requests but continue to coerce you to have your child medically evaluated, or condition your child's treatment in school and their education upon your acceptance thereof, write to your elected representatives, learn of organizations who combat the excesses of psychology, psychiatry and education, and make known your intention to seek legal counsel. In final analysis, it is the responsibility of the parents -- and only the parents -- to decide if and when to take their child to a physician.

In "Analysis of the Legal Issues Surrounding the Forced Use of Ritalin" (1993), states,"Such a decision [to drug a normal child] affects the child's present educational opportunity and, more importantly, his health. It may also affect the child's ability to come to grips with his own personal developmental challenges. Any state attempt to regulate a child's behavior through chemical means, absent exigent circumstances, is a violation of the United States Constitution and should not be allowed."

The potential for harm to your child demands that you insist upon "informed consent" , [that you] document each step of the way, and [get] tape recordings of all meetings with school authorities. Ask the prevalence of ADD in your child's class? In the school? Document everything !

If you have already taken your child to a psychiatrist, or any kind of a physician, they especially are legally bound to provide you all of the information (in writing, please) you need about the diagnosis, testing, and treatment to execute a truly "informed consent." Natanson v. Kline (1960), holds that a physician administrating treatment without informed consent is guilty of malpractice no matter how skillful the treatment is administrated. For a physician to knowingly misrepresent a condition as a disease when it is not, is a flawed informed consent and is malpractice.

Whether your child will be considered normal or not is what is at stake. like it or not, you must question all that they do. You sent your child to school to learn to read and for education and that is what teachers are there for, not to practice psychology and psychiatry.

Vital Information About Ritalin, Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder and the Politics Behind the ADHD/Ritalin Movement

Summarized from Talking Back to Ritalin by Peter R. Breggin, M.D.

Several million children are being treated with Ritalin and other stimulants on the grounds that they have attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and suffer from inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity. The stimulants include: Ritalin (methylphenidate), Dexedrine and DextroStat (dextroamphetamine or d-amphetamine), Adderall (d-amphetamine and amphetamine mixture), Desoxyn and Gradumet (methamphetamine), and Cylert (pemoline). Except for Cylert, all of these drugs have nearly identical effects and side effects. Ritalin and the amphetamines can for most purposes be considered one type of drug.

•The number of children being drugged has escalated several-fold in the last few years.

•Ritalin and amphetamine have almost identical adverse effects on the brain, mind and behavior, including the production of drug-induced behavioral disorders, psychosis, mania, drug abuse, and addiction.

•Ritalin and amphetamine frequently cause the very same problems they are supposed to treat--inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

•A large percentage of children become robotic, lethargic, depressed, or withdrawn on stimulants.

•Ritalin can cause permanent neurological tics including Tourette's syndrome

•Ritalin can retard growth in children by disrupting the cycles of growth hormone released by the pituitary gland.

•The recent finding that Ritalin can cause cancer in some animals was not taken seriously enough by the drug company or the FDA.

•Ritalin routinely causes gross malfunctions in the brain of the child. There is research evidence from a few controlled scientific studies that Ritalin can cause shrinkage (atrophy) or other permanent physical abnormalities in the brain.

•Withdrawal from Ritalin can cause emotional suffering, including depression, exhaustion, and suicide. This can make children seem psychiatrically disturbed and lead mistakenly to increased doses of medication.

•Ritalin is addictive and can become a gateway drug to other addictions. It is a common drug of abuse among children and adults.

•ADHD and Ritalin are American and Canadian medical fads. The U.S. uses 90% of the world's Ritalin. CibaGeneva Pharmaceuticals (also known as Ciba-Geigy Corporation), a division of Novartis, is the manufacturer of Ritalin. It is trying to expand the Ritalin market to Europe and the rest of the world.

•Ritalin "works" by producing malfunctions in the brain rather than by improving brain function. This is the only way it works.

•Short-term, Ritalin suppresses creative, spontaneous and autonomous activity in children, making them more docile and obedient, and more willing to comply with rote, boring tasks, such as classroom school work and homework.

•Short-term, Ritalin has no positive effect on a child's psychology or on academic performance and achievement. This is confirmed by innumerable studies and by many professional reviews of the literature.

•Longer-term, beyond several weeks, Ritalin has no positive effects on any aspect of a child's life.

•Labeling children with ADHD and treating them with Ritalin can keep them out of the armed services, limit their future career choices, and stigmatize them for life. It can ruin their own self-image, subtly demoralize them, and discourage them from reaching their full potential.

•There is no solid evidence that ADHD is a genuine disorder or disease of any kind.

•There is a great deal of research to confirm that environmental problems cause ADHD-like symptoms.

•A very small number of children may suffer ADHD-like symptoms because of physical disorders, such as lead poisoning, drug intoxication, exhaustion, and head injury. Physical causes may be more common among poor communities in the United States.

•There is no proof of any physical abnormalities in the brains or bodies of children who are routinely labeled ADHD. They do not have known biochemical imbalances or "crossed wires."

•ADHD is a controversial diagnosis with little or no scientific or medical basis. A parent, teacher, or doctor can feel in good company when utterly dismissing the diagnosis and refusing to apply it to children.

•Ciba spends millions of dollars to sell parent groups and doctors on the idea of using Ritalin. Ciba helps to support the parent group, CH.A.D.D., and organized psychiatry.

•The U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) push Ritalin as vigorously as the manufacturer of the drug, often in even more glowing terms than the drug company could get away with legally.

Our society has institutionalized drug abuse among our children. Worse yet, we abuse our children with drugs rather than making the effort to find better ways to meet their needs. In the long run, we are giving our children a very bad lesson--that drugs are the answer to emotional problems. We are encouraging a generation of youngsters to grow up relying on psychiatric drugs rather than on themselves and other human resources.

What Every Parent Needs To Know About A.D.D.
Fred A. Baughman, Jr., M.D.

In a recent column, Ann Landers said "Parents need new skills to deal with children with A.D.D." What "skills," Ann?

A.D.D. (also known as Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity) has become the most common childhood "disease" of childhood and is spreading like wildfire. Just as in the pre-Salk vaccine era of polio, there is reason to fear for the children. Affecting 6-33% in grade school, A.D.D. strikes adolescents too, persists into adult life, causes school failure, dropping out, aggression, violence, criminality, substance abuse; needs treatment with addictive medication "uppers," and is a certifiable disability. Characterized by inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity, it is a "brain disease" due to a "chemical imbalance of the brain" diagnosed by a teacher checking "any 8 of 14 behaviors" on a pencil-and-paper, behavior checklist, needing no physician, laboratory, x-ray or brain scan confirmation--because there is no confirmation! Skepticism and science are what parents need to deal with A.D.D., not skill.

In numbers unmatched in any part of the world, U.S. school children are diagnosed and drugged in a quid pro quo association between education and for-profit psychiatry and psychology. Labeled "brain-diseased", the schools have an excuse for the rampant illiteracy and unpreparedness, cause enough for the mounting unhappiness and failure of the children, while psychiatry/psychology gains lifetime patients.

Parents, wake up! Do you really believe that your child, seemingly normal until eight (the average age of diagnosis) has a "brain disease" due to a "chemical imbalance of the brain," diagnosed by a teacher? I don't think so.

As a child neurologist for 35 years, I have authored original descriptions of real diseases characterized by objective abnormalities. Witnessing the burgeoning numbers of school children said to have A.D.D. and made to take brain-altering drugs, I have found, I can validate none of it.

In three years of trying, I have been unable to extract from Ciba-Geigy, manufacturers of Ritalin, references to any articles proving that A.D.D. is a real disease. On September 23, 1993 I testified at the National Institutes of Health that A.D.D. conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder - the so-called disruptive behavior disorder (DBD's) - are not proven diseases--organic or biologic--and therefore, that it would be unethical and fatally flawed, scientifically, to proceed with research into biological intervention, such as drugs.

On November 17, 1994, I wrote David Kessler, MD, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA and asked how they could allow CibaGeigy to portray A.D.D. in the Ritalin "insert" as a "syndrome," a term meaning the same as "disease." The FDA response: "We acknowledge...that as yet no distinct pathophysiology for disorder has been delineated" affirmed my conclusion--that A.D.D. is not a proven disease.

To the extent that they allow Ciba-Geigy to perpetuate the illusion of a disease, calling it a real "disease", necessary, of course, to sell Ritalin, the FDA is in collusion with the manufacturer who they are supposed to monitor and regulate.

To understand how A.D.D., not a disease at all, became the most common "disease" of childhood: Why its numbers double every 4 to 7 years and why the U.S. Food and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) quota for Ritalin has risen from 1700 kilograms in 1990 to 8000 kilograms in 1995, one has to understand the power of advertising, the ties of psychiatry to the drug industry: "provider-induced need", what Brumback calls the "Chinese cookbook" approach to diagnosing, whereby Psychiatry's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), with 292 diagnoses as of 1992, was considering 94 new ones, and the dire straits in which psychiatry finds itself, being forced more rapidly to down-size and reconfigure along the lines of rapidly advancing "managed care" (HMO's).

If your child is not reading at grade level, is frustrated, increasingly unhappy, inattentive or even disruptive, there is no "diagnosis" or "pill". To eradicate these "diseases", we must get the medical/ psychiatric/ psychological model out of the classroom and commit, once again, to the proposition that the children can and must read at an age/grade-appropriate level and that they are educable and must be educated. Parents, if an A.D.D. diagnosis is applied to your child, assert that it is not a "disease": that representing it as such is false, a breach of "informed consent" and "malpractice".

U.S. Attention Deficit On Legal Drug Risks

By Arianna Huffington

Filed December 7, 1998

Ten days ago the Food and Drug Administration issued new rules that require drug companies to study a lot more thoroughly the safety and effectiveness of drugs for children. Staggering though it is to believe, many drugs regularly prescribed to children have been tested only on adults. Even their labels admit as much: ``Safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients have not been established.'' Nonetheless, these drugs continue to be peddled to children, while unwitting parents and society as a whole turn a blind eye to the unknown and potentially disastrous long-term effects

On the surface the FDA ruling is good news indeed. But it opens an avenue for abuse. Dr. Peter Breggin, author of ``Talking Back to Ritalin'' and ``Talking Back to Prozac,'' told me, ``FDA pediatric approval could provide an official imprimatur that would give even more confidence to doctors to indiscriminately drug children. It could become another marketing strategy.''

One way to prevent this is to demand that all studies -- whether they show adverse effects or benefits -- are made available to the public, and end the practice of ceding to the drug companies proprietary rights to the information. ``The public might be shocked to learn,'' Breggin told me, ``that the vast majority of studies done for the FDA approval of psychiatric drugs such as Prozac show them to be of no value whatsoever. The companies are allowed to pick out two often marginally or questionably successful studies as `proof' that the drugs work.''

Making all studies available is all the more urgent given the growing evidence that the drug companies, by sponsoring research and offering grants, trips and other perks, are contaminating the conclusions of the research. Examples proliferate.

The most recent involves three doctors editorializing in the British Medical Journal that Prozac is not addictive -- presumably the same way Big Tobacco-paid research assured us that nicotine was not addictive. In this instance, the doctors had just returned from an all-expenses-paid -- by Prozac manufacturer Eli Lilly --trip to a symposium in Phoenix.

The FDA decision coincides with a report issued by the National Institutes of Health which conceded that for the most widely medicated childhood ``condition'' --attention deficit disorder -- ``there is no current, validated diagnostic test.''

This hasn't stopped prescriptions of Ritalin to children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder from jumping to 75 percent in 1996, up 20 percent since 1989. At the same time, the percentage of those receiving psychotherapy dropped from 40 percent to 25 percent. Such statistics highlight the crass, bottom-line approach of most health care providers, who prefer relatively cheap drugs to costly therapy. But they also speak to our lazy culture's inclination to medicate major social problems rather than act on them.

This problem was summed up by Dr. Lawrence Diller, author of ``Running On Ritalin'': ``Settling for Ritalin says we prefer to locate our children's problems in their brains rather than in their lives.'' Diller described three candidates for ADD diagnosis: 4-year-old Stevie, and his two younger sisters, all of whom get dropped off for preschool at 7 a.m. by their dad and are picked up at 5:30 p.m. by their mom ``if she isn't running late.'' Stevie is overly aggressive, and his parents, whose own marriage is troubled, are desperate, demanding a fix: prescription drugs.

In most cases, parents get the short-term relief they're looking for from prescription drugs, but as Breggin put it: ``Behaviors are signals that should be interpreted and understood, not suppressed.''

The over-prescribing of drugs has made possible the suppression of signals a society needs to detect and address growing problems -- in this case, the failures of our managed care system; the pressures imposed on children by two working parents, longer work hours and inadequate child care; and the connection between legal and illegal drug abuse.

This last may be the least well known, but has the potential to become the most dangerous. Dr. Nadine Lambert, a developmental psychologist at U.C. Berkeley, published a paper in October with the chilling finding that children on Ritalin are three times more likely to develop a taste for cocaine. Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Administration reports increasing Ritalin abuse among adolescents who sometimes crush it into a powder and snort it -- which can lead to heart failure.

When the government spends $16 billion a year on the drug war, and when more than half those in jail are nonviolent drug offenders, isn't it time we connected the dots between prescription drugs and street drugs? How many more prisons do we have to build to jail offenders whom, earlier in life, we had drugged with abandon?

Methylphenidate (MHP) commonly known as Ritalin

excerpts from DEA Press Release, October 20, 1995, "Methylphenidate"

...."Abuse of MPH can lead to marked tolerance and severe psychic dependence...."

...."Students are giving and selling their medication to classmates who are crushing and snorting the powder like cocaine. In March of 1995, two deaths in Mississippi and Virginia were associated with this activity...."

...."The U.S. manufactures and consumes 5-times more MPH than the rest of the world combined.....

...."MPH aggregate production quota has increased almost 6-fold since 1990...."

...."Every indicator available, including scientific abuse liability studies, actual abuse, paucity of scientific studies on possible adverse effects associated with long-term use of stimulants, divergent prescribing practices of U.S. physicians, and lack of concurrent medical treatment and follow-up, urge greater caution and more restrictive use of MPH...."