FREE ESSAY ON IS RITALIN THE ANSWER TO AD (H) D?

IS RITALIN THE ANSWER TO AD (H) D?

Is Ritalin the Answer to AD (H) D?
The tousled brown hair that weaves so mischievously around his head may hint at the way
he feels inside. He is seven-years-old and has already had to repeat a grade. He has an
imagination that puts others to shame, but nothing seems to hold his attention for more
than five minutes. He was recently diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder, or what we call AD (H) D.
This scene is all too familiar for individuals who discover that they, too, have this
learning disorder as they progress from elementary school to college. In today's society
we want a quick fix to remedy our problems. Therefore doctors are prescribing the drug,
Ritalin, to control AD (H) D. Although Ritalin is a widely used drug to control AD (H) D,
there are other safer alternatives to combat this worldwide disorder.
Ritalin, like many other drugs, has several side effects-some of which are severe.
Ritalin is in a class of drugs called Methylphetamines. These types of drugs (also called
Central Nervous System or CNS stimulants) affect our central nervous system that controls
everything from thought process to everyday breathing. Ritalin's major side effects
influences the cardiovascular system (palpitation, tachycardia, and increased blood
pressure), the central nervous system (psychosis, dizziness, headache, insomnia, tic
syndromes, attacks of Gilles de la Tourette), gastrointestinal (anorexia, nausea),
endocrine/metabolic system (weight loss, growth suppression). (What You Need To Know
About Ritalin 1999) Also, Ritalin is a fairly new drug (introduced in the early
eighties). It hasn't been around long enough to study the long-term effects.
Since Ritalin is a Methylphetamine (closely related to the amphetamine family, such as
cocaine), it has a high rate of abuse. In light of methylphenidate's abuse liability, it
is important to note the tremendous increase in availability of this substance and the
expanded population (adolescents and adults) receiving prescriptions for the treatment of
AD (H) D. For example, the production quota for methylphenidate has increased from 1,361
kg in 1985 to 10,410 kg in 1995 with the primary increases occurring in the last five
years. (Ritalin 1996) This drug is abused in two ways. One way is for recreational
purposes. The abusers use the drug as a form of speed to pick themselves up. They feel
that they need this in order to be alive and full of life. The other way this drug is
abused is very different. Students are using Ritalin as a study aid. They take a pill
(either orally, or by crushing it and snorting-much like cocaine, or they emulsify it in
water and inject it like heroin) and cram for an exam. College today has become more
competitive. Students feel a need to have an edge over the others. They feel that Ritalin
gives them this edge. Another danger is that since Ritalin is related to amphetamines, it
has almost the same physiological effects. A users body will build a tolerance to the
stimulant, therefore requiring more drugs to sustain the same level of abuse. This is
very dangerous since the side effects on a normal dose are already dangerous; it has the
potential for addiction and overdose. (Ritalin Nation 1997) 


  
    
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Hate Crimes
One dark, muggy spring night in the heart of Texas, a black man was drug behind a pickup
truck for five miles. He didn't survive the attack against him by two white, high school
dropouts. Police believe the only motive was the fact that the man was black. He was
different from them and the accepted norm. A black man in what they perceived as a
country belonging to white men. These two men took it upon themselves to invade this
man's personal space, going as far as killing him. It seems he did nothing to provoke
them, and he was singled out only because he was black. Flash forward to a cold, windy
night in a small college town. A hopeful young university student is lured from a bar by,
yet again, two high school dropouts. The student was quite small, and really had no means
of defending himself. He was taken out of town by pickup truck and brutally beaten. After
his attackers were through torturing him, they tied him to a fencepost and left him for
dead. Police say the motive for the attack was robbery, but it has also become apparent
that he was targeted because he too was different from the accepted norm. His difference
wasn't quite as obvious as skin color, but most everyone on campus had heard about him.
He happened to be gay and because of this he was singled-out and brutally murdered. These
two incidents are not the only ones of their kind. In fact, brutal, hate-filled crimes
happen every day all over America. The problem has become so large that there are several
newsletters printed monthly aiming only to educate the public about the volume of these
kinds of crimes. People are singled out every day for being different, and sometimes it
leads to their demise. Now, what is wrong with a nation that is so filled with anger?
People strike out at one another in many different ways, and there must be some reason.
One correlation between the two crimes mentioned before is the fact that all four
perpetrators were high school dropouts. Education seems to be the one key factor in
preventing crimes of this degree form happening. A program based on teaching tolerance
for different people, lifestyles, and ways of thinking would be a huge step in
diminishing these horrid, brutal crimes. This call for teaching more tolerance in school
seems to be a much-needed step in preventing crimes of this magnitude. The ongoing debate
about whether or not states need hate crime legislation could be virtually eliminated.
These debates are often heated, and make rational people do and say irrational things.
Children, who are taught to be open and accepting, have no justification for killing each
other. They would not see people who are different as people who have deviated from the
norm. There would be no norm for them to compare against. A white child would never be
under the impression that he was better than an Asian or a Latino. This kind of program
would teach children to believe in individuality, and the value of a person as a whole
unit. If children were more tolerant of each other and the decisions made by people, it
would lead to fewer people harming other people. Men wouldn't be drug to death because
their skin color wasn't right. The perpetrators of these brutal crimes could have been
taught to be open and accepting of different people. With fewer people hurting and
killing each other, the crime rates would obviously fall. This would lead to a chain
reaction of fewer people in prison and therefore less taxpayer money spent. The cost of
implementing this kind of a program could be paid off very quickly with the money that
was saved on inmates. Finally, America as a nation would become more accepting, and
embrace people from all walks of life. The effect that a program of teaching tolerance
would have on the entire nation could be compared to the drop of a pebble in a lake. We
first teach the children and the children in turn teach their parents. This great ripple
effect would eventually touch every single person in America. No more would blacks walk
together through white neighborhoods, and no more would gays be forced to stay closeted
to avoid terrible mistreatment. People could be themselves and not fear persecution for
it. Tolerance is a characteristic that could very well turn the future of this nation
around. One single idea could have so many positive ramifications. Nations become
stronger, because all of a sudden we're all Americans. We're not white Americans or
Spanish-Americans; we're all just Americans. Race religion, gender and sexual orientation
no longer are identifying words for our people. America needs some hope in its future and
this could be just one way to help bring some hope about.