Ritalin and related drugs are now widely used in the United States that they appear to be redefining a whole generation of young people. Prescription and illegal use of this stimulant continues to surge:
Between 1990 and 1997, production increased 700 percent, and two million children were using it; between 1997 and 2003, use tripled again, to six million.
Those are stunning statistics and they leave out what is assumed to be a massive black market in these substances. The use of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity dirorder) medications is exerting a skewing effect on young America as a whole.
Methylphenidate has replaced Prozac as the drug defining an entire cohort, with authors beginning to speak of a “Ritalin nation,” a “generation Ritalin,” and the like.
Students themselves actively seek the ADHD diagnosis. The pills have many uses related to the spectacularized culture of testing, overwork, stress, and body-consciousness—they aid in concentration, provide wakefulness, suppress appetite, assuage certain emotions, and improve athletic performance. They can be crushed and snorted or smoked recreationally in ways similar to methamphetamines. The diagnosis itself directly addresses high-stakes testing: medicated or not, ADD and ADHD-diagnosed students can request additional time in many testing circumstances.
Many more students than diagnosed use the medication: There is an active black market in Ritalin in every educational environment from primary school through graduate degrees. Students pay up to $10 a dose for “vitamin R.”
Ritalin is a logical outgrowth of a culture that essentially says, “For every ailment, there should be a pharmaceutical treatment or cure.” And like many medications, reliance on the chemical approach takes the place of more natural approaches. In the long run, this is a profoundly dangerous path for a society to take.
