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Home › Articles › ADD/ADHD › The Great Ritalin Debate

The Great Ritalin Debate

Treating ADHD With Medication

By Kelly Burgess

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(Perseus Publishing, 2001), referred to a number of disturbing reports filed over a 12-year period with the FDA's Spontaneous Reporting System. Of the 121 cardiovascular problems associated with Ritalin use, there were nine cardiac arrests and four heart failures in addition to numerous lesser, but still serious, problems.

Weathers is in the forefront of the anti-drug movement. She has testified about her experiences before Congress and has appeared on a variety of national television shows. She is also a co-founder of theNational Coalition of Parents for Label and Drug Free Education.

"I believe families throughout this country need protection," says Weathers. "They need factual information about ADHD and the effects and side effects of the drugs used to treat it. No parent should be pressured into medicating their child by a school system as I was."

Efforts of Weathers and like-minded people have born fruit. Currently, nearly every state has passed legislation protecting children and their parents from being coerced into administering psychotropic medication in order to attend school.

Finding Solutions
While there's well-documented evidence that drugs such as Ritalin and other stimulant medications do control the symptoms associated with ADHD, there's also a growing body of evidence that it has been over-prescribed and that the diagnoses of ADHD relies too much on the observations of teachers and not enough on thorough physical and psychological examinations.

In addition, there are alternatives to drug therapy that are very effective in treating children with ADHD, but do not give the immediate results that Ritalin does and so are often balked at by school officials.

One popular program, which Weahers took her son to, is operated by Dr. Mary Ann Block, founder of The Block Center and author of No More Ritalin: Treating ADHD Without Drugs

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