Subject Ritalin

Martin WR, Sloan JW, Sapira JD, et al Physiologic, subjective, and behavioral effects of amphetamine, methamphetamine, ephedrine, phenmetrazine, and methylphenidate in man. Clin Pharmacol Ther 12 245-258, 1971 McCormick TC Jr, McNeil TW Acute psychosis and Ritalin abuse. Tex State J Med... 

Because of these opposing viewpoints, the medical use of Ritalin has become quite controversial. Many books and articles have been published on the subject, raising the public s awareness about the drug and its effects, and leaving many to wonder whether Ritalin is a miracle pill that solves a medical problem or a way of drugging children into being more compliant and easy to handle. 

To understand this, let s imagine that you are listening to a lecture. If you are not interested in the subject, you may become bored and start to fidget. But if you took a stimulant such as Ritalin before attending the lecture, you would find the lecture more interesting and may not fidget as much. An observer, who only sees your behavior, might come to the conclusion that your level activity has been directly decreased by the stimulant. 

Ritalin has been hailed by many parents and teachers as a miracle pill once described by its makers (Novartis, formerly Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals) as a mild central nervous system stimulant and by the New York Times as a mild stimulant that is roughly [equivalent to] a jolt of strong coffee. 24 These statements belie the fact that Ritalin has been known, since it was first marketed in the mid-1950s, to be a highly addictive drug subject to widespread abuse. 

It is true that Strattera has not been demonstrated to cause dependence and abuse like Ritalin, Adderall, and the other stimulant drugs used to treat ADHD and therefore has not been placed in Schedule II by the DEA. But Strattera is a highly stimulating drug. According to the label for Strattera, as found in the Physicians Desk Reference (2007, p. 1817, Table 1), in the clinical trials used for FDA approval, irritability was reported in 8% of subjects, crying in 2%, and mood swings in 2%. 

Following a single oral dose of 20 mg to 2 subjects, peak plasma concentrations of 0.013 and 0.058 pg/ml were attained in 3 hours ritalinic acid concentrations averaged 0.22 pg/ml at the same time (R. M. Milberg et al, Biomed. Mass Spectrom., 1975, 2, 2-8). 

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