‘When Dr. Michael Anderson hears about his low-income patients struggling in elementary school, he usually gives them a taste of some powerful medicine: Adderall.

The pills boost focus and impulse control in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although A.D.H.D is the diagnosis Dr. Anderson makes, he calls the disorder “made up” and “an excuse” to prescribe the pills to treat what he considers the children’s true ill — poor academic performance in inadequate schools.

“I don’t have a whole lot of choice,” said Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician for many poor families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. “We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the kid’s environment. So we have to modify the kid.” ‘ (NYTimes.com).

Related articles

• Spike in stimulant abuse packs ERs with students, others
• Kill Pills
• Tedium Is Torture: What It’s Like to Have Severe ADHD

“The story of Richard Fee, an athletic, personable college class president and aspiring medical student, highlights widespread failings in the system through which five million Americans take medication for A.D.H.D., doctors and other experts said.

Medications like Adderall can markedly improve the lives of children and others with the disorder. But the tunnel-like focus the medicines provide has led growing numbers of teenagers and young adults to fake symptoms to obtain steady prescriptions for highly addictive medications that carry serious psychological dangers. These efforts are facilitated by a segment of doctors who skip established diagnostic procedures, renew prescriptions reflexively and spend too little time with patients to accurately monitor side effects.” (NYTimes.com).

Related articles

• Stimulant Abuse and Teens
• First Do No Harm: A.D.H.D. & Amphetamines
• Adderall, a Drug of Increased Focus for N.F.L. Players
• Are the Side Effects Worth It?
• Amphetamine Addication
• Adderall Knockoffs Skirt Regulations

“No, this isn’t a make-believe place. It’s real.” (Krulwich Wonders… : NPR).