Ritalin (Let's Make A Dope Deal)

<Roy said>
Re: Ritilan - the next street drug of choice?

I got this off another list back in April, thought you all might be
interested. [snip] RESEARCHERS WORRY RITALIN MAY SPARK COCAINE HABIT
[snip a lot]
</Roy>

For anyone who may have been wondering, this is a great indication of
how scientists sometimes fail to communicate with each other. There has
already been research which indicates that Cocaine is the most effective
drug for treating ADHD. The reason Ritalin is the most prescribed drug
treatment for ADHD is that it is effective and doesn't have the negative
effects of Cocaine.

Research concerning ADHD also indicates that certain people with ADHD
also have a propensity to become addicted to various substances. It's
not that ADHD causes the addiction, or that Ritalin "sparks" the
addiction, it's just another difference in brain chemistry. Caffeine,
Nicotine, and Cocaine have all been found to allow people with ADHD to
"focus" better. All of these drugs, though, have negative affects (or at
least the normal method of administration has negative affects) that
cannot easily be removed. Ritalin, and several other drugs used to treat
ADHD, have similar effects without the highly negative side-effects.

Now, I don't know how this particular thread got started, but I think
we're missing a very important concept here. Most of us are not licensed
physicians, neurologists, pharmacists, or psychologists. Some of us have
a good bit of knowledge about these fields, but are hardly experts. As
youth leaders it is not up to US to decide whether a Scout needs a
particular medication or not. Whatever we may believe about certain
medications, we MUST follow whatever medical instructions we are given
for our Scouts. If we don't, we're being negligent.

I know enough about ADHD to make certain observations about the behavior
of my Scouts, but I'm certainly not qualified to make judgements about
treating ADHD. I know next to nothing about Asthma and the medications
used to treat it, so I'm absolutely unqualified to make judgements about
treating Scouts who have asthma. For every medical condition I encounter
in Scouting, regardless of my own knowledge, I HAVE TO rely on
instructions from parents (who presumably get their instructions from
qualified people). If I ignore those instructions because of my personal
beliefs concerning a particular medication, I am taking the life of a
Scout in my hands (or at least his physical well-being). I certainly
don't want to have to explain to a parent that they need to meet me at
the hospital because I don't believe their son should be taking a
certain medication.

Now, all this discussion about Ritalin, and the somewhat informative
article that Roy posted has been very interesting, but there is nothing
useful here. Once you get the information you need to understand what
Ritalin is and what it does, that's about all you need. You certainly
can WANT to know more, but no other information will be of much use when
dealing with your Scouts.

YIS
Anthony J. Mako, ajmako@nls.net ,Scoutmaster, Troop 381
http://members.aol.com/Scouts381/ "Home of the Unofficial Boy Scout
Desktop Theme!"
Great Trail Council - Akron, Ohio

"I used to be an Eagle (C-7-97), but I'll always be an Eagle (1981)"

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