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April 2nd, 2013 
Peter Nolan
The figures shocked US child neurology experts, who have warned that more
thorough research is needed into the sharp rise in cases of ADHD and into
the potential side-effects of the medication.
“Those are astronomical numbers. I’m floored,” Dr William Graf, a
professor at the Yale School of Medicine, told The
New York Times, which received the government figures.
Dr Graf said that it was now clear that American parents were encouraging the
medication of their children merely to enhance their mental performance
rather than to cure an illness.
“Mild symptoms are being diagnosed so readily, which goes well beyond the
disorder and beyond the zone of ambiguity to pure enhancement of children
who are otherwise healthy,” he said.
James Swanson, a professor of psychiatry at Florida International University,
added: “There’s no way that one in five high-school boys has ADHD”.
Prof Swanson warned that prescribing such powerful medication to children
would inevitably lead to “abuse and dependence”. He also warned
pupils would pass the drugs to their friends.
A thriving black market for drugs such as Adderall, which is designed to focus
the user’s mind, is believed to exist in several American universities.
Students given prescriptions by their doctors are known to sell tablets to
classmates, some of whom depend on the medication to work through the night.
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