RITALIN ABUSE: THE CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY OF INADEQUATE SCHOOLS

                   by John R. Woodward, M.S.W.
      Center for Independent Living of North Florida, Inc.

Case History #1: Vonelle M., a black single mother living on
welfare benefits, has three children in the public schools. All
have been labeled as troublemakers with inferior learning
capacities. Over the years, Vonelle has developed some very
personal antagonisms with the county school officials. Her
youngest child, a seven-year-old boy, has just been referred for
evaluation because "he has adjustment problems in the classroom."
The school social worker intends to refer him to a physician for
Ritalin treatment when the evaluation is complete, and Vonelle
has already been told by the elementary school principal that if
he doesn't take the drug, he will be taken out of his mainstream
classroom and put in a "disciplinary situation."  What is this
magic drug that abolishes the effects of poverty, bigotry and
cultural deprivation, transforming any child into an "appropriate
scholar"? 
     
     For fifty years now, the drug methylphenidate (casually
known by the brand name "Ritalin") has been the principle agent
of social control used by the medical community to fit creative
or willful children into mediocre classrooms. The Cult of Ritalin
and Hyperactivity is still promoted by school officials to
deflect the blame for poor learners away from inept teachers,
meaningless curricula and overcrowded classrooms, and onto the
victims of these phenomenon. As a "Ritalin Survivor," I want to
examine with you why so many educators, doctors and parents have
formed a cult around this drug, despite the huge weight of
scientific evidence that it has limited powers and is usually
applied to the wrong children.

THE DRUG
Case History #2: Alice K. took her son off Ritalin and put him on
a placebo, despite the fact that her son's principal called her
up and screamed at her when the druggist admitted to the scam.
"Daniel wasn't doing any better with the drug that without it,"
she told me, "and the drug was making him sick. He lost 17 pounds
when he went off the drug. He started to sleep at night. The
headaches went away. The trouble he had focusing his eyes went
away; so did the pains in his stomach."

     Ritalin is technically a "psychoaffective stimulant,"
chemically similar to benzedrine (methamphetimine, casually known
as "speed"). It is classified as a "mild central nervous system
stimulant" by the Physician's Desk Reference on Prescription
Drugs (PDR). According to the PDR, "There is neither specific
evidence which clearly establishes the mechanism whereby Ritalin
produces its mental and behavioral effects in children, nor
conclusive evidence regarding how these conditions relate to the
central nervous system." In layman's terms, no one understands
how it works -- which is odd, given that Ritalin will be
prescribed for as many as 7.5% of all school-age children at some
point during their schooling. 
     Besides the side effects suffered by Daniel W., the PDR
lists 28 additional problems caused by Ritalin, including failure
to grow, high blood pressure, irritability, psychotic reactions,
withdrawal symptoms, seizures and lethargy. As you would expect,
some of these symptoms are similar to those of the "speed freak"
who abuses stimulant drugs. The PDR recommends "drug" holidays
during weekends, school breaks and "challenges" (brief periods
when Ritalin is discontinued to see if it is still necessary).
These "drug holidays" are supposed to control the side effects;
but there is no evidence that most physicians build "drug
holidays" into Ritalin prescriptions.
     The first doctor to treat misfit kids with stimulants was
Charles Bradley, who began by giving them Benzedrine in the
1930's. In the words of one Ritalin apologist, "Nobody knows for
sure why he gave stimulant medication to [hyperactive] children,
but the important thing is that he did." This sort of ruthless
and muddled thinking -- "Let's go ahead and suspend the usual
rules of scientific research and proof!" -- is typical of the
Cult of Ritalin. The same apologist, writing in the U.S.
Department of Education's official research digest, admits
elsewhere that " . . . studies that have attempted to determine
if treated children actually learn more have generally been
discouraging. For example, although hyperactive children score a
little better on achievement tests when taking medication and the
amount of gain increases with time, the overall effect is rather
small. When medication is stopped for a period of time, the gains
disappear." In other words, Ritalin has proven to be effective in
getting some children to comply with the requirements of the
classroom, such as sitting still and controlling aggression, but
it has only had a minimal success in helping them to learn.
Ritalin, when it works, serves the interests of the teacher and
the school system, not the needs of the child.
     A computerized search of the scientific literature on 
Ritalin and the hyperactivity diagnosis turned up 60 articles
published between 1960 and 1990, of which 35 cast strong doubts
on the validity of the hyperactivity label, the use of Ritalin to
treat children labeled hyperactive, or both. The scientific
literature confirms that Ritalin is almost never prescribed
except at the instigation of school officials, report