Ritalin: Prescribed Devastation
...and duck-duck-goose is now too childish, the years where spending most of their time with friends at the movies or on the football field is quickly becoming the most important part of their routine. But, what about eleven year old Cameron Pettues who suffered and died from an allergic reaction to desipramine, fourteen year old Jonathan Bain who died of liver damage, eleven year old Stephanie Hall who passed away in her sleep (Wittmeier, 1999), or fourteen year old Matthew Smith who died from sudden heart failure (Smith, 2001), and most recently, in March 2008, fifteen year old, Anthony Cole, who was found by his father hanging lifelessly in his bedroom while his family waited for him to join the dinner table (Gysin, 2008)? These are the names and tragic endings of only a small portion of our lost young community. What do all of these young people have in common? Each one was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and prescribed users of the potentially toxic narcotic known as Ritalin. Even though Ritalin is presumed as a safe and effective cure to ADHD for over 40 years, Ritalin should not be prescribed to children because diagnostic testing for ADHD is subjective, it poses life-threatening risks to health, and there are safe drug-free alternatives available.
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, also known as ADHD, is commonly referred to as persistent patterns of being impulsive, easily distracted, and overly active. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) furthers this definition by explaining that when a pattern of such behavior persists for six months or longer, and occurs in at least two different settings, it may meet the criteria for ADHD (Livingston, 2001). Also considered a mental disorder by the APA, ADHD is a major cause of repetitive dysfunction somewhere within a persons’ daily life. In children, this dysfunction is...
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