Ritalin remains one of the primary drugs prescribed for children with supposed behavioral problems. Rather than be encouraged to modify diet and increase exercise, children are being given drugs by their doctors instead. Research from the National Institute of Mental Health has revealed that popular Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) drugs like Ritalin are responsible for causing sudden death in many children.
Prescriptions for psychiatric drugs increased 50 percent with children in the US, and 73 percent among adults, from 1996 to 2006, according to a study in the May/June 2009 issue of the journal Health Affairs. The CIA “World Factbook” estimate the world population to be about 6.8 billion and the US population to be a mere 307 million. In an April 2008 report, the market research firm Datamonitor reported that the “US dominates the ADHD market with a 94 percent market share.”
Stephen Hinshaw, professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, said marijuana is a “cognitive disorganizer” that produces roughly the same effect in users as those associated with ADHD. “The active ingredient in pot, THC, causes short-term memory problems and inattention,” Hinshaw said, “the very same things you want a medicine for ADHD to help alleviate.” However, Lester Grinspoon, emeritus professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, states,
“I’d have no hesitation of giving a youngster with ADHD a trial of oral marijuana.”
The Australian Government has been forced to stop the release of the ADHD draft guidelines and may have to rewrite them following the embarrassing scandal. A cloud had been cast over the draft’s validity after one of the psychiatrists, Dr. Joseph Biederman, whose research into anti-psychotic drugs helped form the guidelines, was accused of failing to reveal $1.6 million in payments from drug companies.
When asking the question, “Who is responsible?” there is at least one name that stands out. Dr. Joseph Biederman of Harvard University. Biederman is a very high-profile doctor that spear-headed the outbreak of children on psychiatric drugs. Biederman reportedly received $1.6 million from drug makers between 2000 and 2006. However, he failed to report most of this to his university, which may well have considered this to be a conflict of interest.