"Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill"

<p>From a psychiatrist's forum;</p>

<p>"I'm writing a blog post on this...parents of our patients will be reading and sharing this article:</p>

<p>The number of prescriptions for A.D.H.D. medications dispensed for young people ages 10 to 19 has risen 26 percent since 2007, to almost 21 million yearly, according to IMS Health, a health care information company — a number that experts estimate corresponds to more than two million individuals. But there is no reliable research on how many high school students take stimulants as a study aid. Doctors and teenagers from more than 15 schools across the nation with high academic standards estimated that the portion of students who do so ranges from 15 percent to 40 percent......</p>

<p>"......Fooling the Doctors</p>

<p>During an interview in March, the dealer at Lower Merion High reached into his pocket and pulled out the container for his daily stash of the prescription stimulants Concerta and Focalin: a hollowed-out bullet. Unlike his other products — marijuana and heroin, which come from higher-level dealers — his amphetamines came from a more trusted, and trusting, source, he said.</p>

<p>“I lie to my psychiatrist — I expressed feelings I didn’t really have, knowing the consequences of it,” he said, standing in a park a few miles from the high school. “I tell the doctor, ‘I find myself very distracted, and I feel this really deep pain inside, like I’m anxious all the time,’ or something like that. Fooling the Doctors</p>

<p>During an interview in March, the dealer at Lower Merion High reached into his pocket and pulled out the container for his daily stash of the prescription stimulants Concerta and Focalin: a hollowed-out bullet. Unlike his other products — marijuana and heroin, which come from higher-level dealers — his amphetamines came from a more trusted, and trusting, source, he said.</p>

<p>“I lie to my psychiatrist — I expressed feelings I didn’t really have, knowing the consequences of it,” he said, standing in a park a few miles from the high school. “I tell the doctor, ‘I find myself very distracted, and I feel this really deep pain inside, like I’m anxious all the time,’ or something like that.”</p>

<p>He coughed out a chuckle and added proudly, “Generally, if you keep playing the angsty-teen role, you’ll get something good.</p>

<p>Christine, a junior sitting nearby, said she followed the well-known lines to get her drugs directly and legally, a script for scripts. “I’m not able to focus on schoolwork,” she said in a mockingly anxious voice. “I’m constantly looking out the window.</p>

<p>.......Crucially, some of this impairment must have been in evidence by age 7; a proper diagnosis for a teenager claiming to have A.D.H.D., several doctors said, requires interviewing parents, teachers and others to confirm that the problems existed long before.”</p>

<p>^ THIS is the criteria that might be changed for DSM V.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/education/seeking-academic-edge-teenagers-abuse-stimulants.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/education/seeking-academic-edge-teenagers-abuse-stimulants.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<h1>1 of 2, Added By:***** 9:57AM Jun 10, 2012</h1>

<p>"(A little boy pointing at the naked Emperor)</p>

<p>No child left undrugged."</p>

<h1>2 of 2, Added By:******, 1:09PM Jun 10, 2012</h1>

<p>"(Life is trial and error)
I only prescribe stims to patients who have a reasonably clear history of early childhood ADHD symptoms. If everyone were to do that, the problem would be significantly less IMO.</p>

<p>Would it be unreasonable to make that requirement part of the rules for writing controlled rx for stims?</p>

<p>I don't think this is an insurmountable problem if someone takes the time to sort it out and establish a plan.</p>

<p>OTOH, making more rules and regs likely isn't in anyone's best interest."</p>