>Subject: Re: Drug Enforcement Agency: Methylphenidate (Ritalin)
>From: [email protected] (PF Riley)
>Date: 9/20/2003 1:06 AM Pacific Standard Time
>Message-id: <[email protected]>
>
>On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 06:10:32 +0100, jake <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 04:43:54 GMT, [email protected] (PF Riley)
>>wrote:
>>
>>>On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 04:32:24 GMT, [email protected] (David
>>>Wright) wrote:
>>>
>>>>In article <[email protected]>,
>>>>Roger Schlafly <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>"jake" <[email protected]> wrote
>>>>>> no ..is this relevant to whether ritalin is nearly identical with
>>>>>> cocaine as the DEA says?
>>>>>
>>>>>It is true, whether the DEA says it or not.
>>>>
>>>>And yet another oracular pronouncement from Roger. How about some
>>>>chemical formulas for each substance, just for starters?
>>>
>>>Roger is a complete idiot and most anything he says is completely
>>>wrong.
>>>
>>>Jake has demonstrated he is a complete idiot too.
>>>
>>>This pronouncement that methylphenidate and cocaine are "nearly
>>>identical" is another example of garbage spread about by anti-ADHD
>>>morons who do nothing but regurgitate nonsense they are fed by other
>>>morons whom they worship (e.g. Phyllis Schlafly) without questioning
>>>the motives and/or resources and/or credibility of said other morons.
>>>The cycle then continues unabated, as has the oft repeated ********
>>>that MMR contains thimerosal.
>>>
>>>Roger and Jake, please look:
>>>
>>>http://www.biopsychiatry.com/methamphetamine/index.html
>>>http://www.biopsychiatry.com/mdma/index.html
>>>http://www.biopsychiatry.com/methylphenidate/index.html
>>>http://www.biopsychiatry.com/cocaine/index.html
>>>
>>>Please note the fundamental structure of methamphetamine and its
>>>derivates MDMA and methylphenidate. Please explain how these
>>>relatively small secondary amines are "nearly identical" to cocaine, a
>>>large tertiary amine with a complex double ring.
>>>
>>>Or, check this page out, for, in the first frame, a good drawing of
>>>amphetamine, a primary amine, and cocaine, a tertiary amine. Nearly
>>>identical, huh?
>>>
>>>http://www.chem.uic.edu/web1/234/CH22-23HO.pdf
>>
>>
>>the issue is not whether ritalin or cocaine have an identical
>>molecular structure..obviously if they did they would be the same.
>>the*effects* are nearly identical
>>
>>what part of this do you not understand?
>
>The part where you said "[R]italin is nearly identical with [sic]
>cocaine..."
>
>PF
Evidently you don't understand truth.
Ritalin 'Cocaine Properties' May Lead To Later Drug Abuse
Ritalin is More Potent Than Cocaine
Schedule ll
These medicines have therapeutic uses and have the highest abuse and dependence
potential for drugs with medicinal purposes. Examples include Morphine,
Demerol, Speed, Opium, Cocaine and Ritalin. A written prescription is required
and refills are not allowed.
US: Pay Attention - Ritalin Acts Much Like Cocaine
http://www.rense.com/general13/kidsf.htm
A recent study reveals that the drug being prescribed to tens of millions of
school-age children for a scientifically unproved mental disorder is more
potent than cocaine.
Thirty years ago the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that Ritalin was
pharmacologically similar to cocaine in the pattern of abuse it fostered and
cited it as a Schedule II drug - the most addictive in medical use. The
Department of Justice also cited Ritalin as a Schedule II drug under the
Controlled Substances Act, and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) warned that
"Ritalin substitutes for cocaine and d-amphetamine in a number of behavioral
paradigms."
Despite decades of official warnings and supporting research confirming the
similarities of methylphenidate (Ritalin) and cocaine, tens of millions of
children in the United States have been prescribed this psychotropic drug for a
widely accepted yet scientifically unproved mental condition:
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Now a recently concluded study
at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) not only confirms the similarities
of cocaine and Ritalin, but finds that Ritalin is more potent than cocaine in
its effect on the dopamine system, which many doctors believe is one of the
areas of the brain most affected by drugs such as Ritalin and cocaine.
The outcome of this research was so surprising that team leader Nora Volkow, a
psychiatrist who is associate laboratory director for life sciences at BNL,
told the media that she and the team were "shocked as hell" at the results.
"The data," explains Volkow, "clearly show that the notion that Ritalin is a
weak stimulant is completely incorrect."
This revelation should be of no surprise to the medical and psychiatric
communities, given the already documented warnings about methylphenidate by
federal law-enforcement agencies and international organizations, but it is
noteworthy on one level. Volkow's newly released research reinforces what
critics long have known - that the "medication" being prescribed for ADHD is
not merely similar to cocaine but is in fact more potent. And the results raise
further questions about the validity and repercussions of having an entire
generation of children diagnosed with a "mental disorder" or "brain disease"
which to date has no basis in physical science.
Volkow's findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience and reported in the
Journal of the American Medical Association, may act as a wake-up call to
parents, educators and lawmakers who have yet to address the question of
whether ADHD is a real physical, medical or neurological disease that can be
scientifically confirmed or is even confirmable. Because the ADHD diagnosis is
the No. 1 reason for drugging school-age children, and Volkow's research
reconfirms that Ritalin isn't just kid stuff, parents may want to re-evaluate
their child's treatment. The numbers alone are a telling sign of where the push
to medicate is going.
According to the DEA, the number of prescriptions written for Ritalin since
1991 has increased by a factor of five (2.2 million) and about 80 percent of
the 11 million prescriptions written for Ritalin are to "treat" ADHD. This
means that nearly 9 million children have been prescribed the cocainelike
"medication."
Furthermore, according to a study published last February in the Journal of the
American Medical Association, "Trends in the Prescribing of Psychotropic
Medications to Preschoolers," psychotropic medications have tripled in
preschoolers ages 2 to 4 during a five-year period. More disturbing, say
critics, given Volkow's recent revelations, is that during the last 15 years
the use of Ritalin increased by 311 percent for those ages 15 to 19 and 170
percent for those ages 5 to 14.
The most recent figures available reveal that in 1998 there were approximately
46 million children in kindergarten through grade 12. Twenty percent - one of
every five children in school - have been doped with the mind-altering drug.
This can be good news only for investors in the Swiss-based pharmaceutical
company Novartis, which makes Ritalin. For instance, if the number of children
taking the drug increased fivefold, so did the drug company's resultant profits
and (presumably) stock value. In a June 28, 1999, article, "Doping Kids,"
Insight estimated that Novartis generated an increase in its stock-market value
of $1,236 per child prescribed Ritalin. Based on these evaluations, the drug
company would have enjoyed an increased stock-market value of approximately $10
billion or more since 1991.
In fact, the number of children being prescribed the cocainelike drug is rising
at such a rate that, while good for investors, if ADHD were based on science
and were a communicable disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
would consider it a major medical epidemic among America's youth. In the
meantime, prescriptions continue to increase even as researchers continue to
focus on the effect of psychotropic drugs such as Ritalin rather than on how
scientifically to verify or validate the diagnosis. And critics of this mass
drugging have become convinced that is no accident.
Take neurologist Fred Baughman for example, who tells Insight, "Yes, they have
proved and we've known for decades that Ritalin alters/damages/changes the
brain. But with no evidence that ADHD is a disease we also know that these
children are normal. All this research [from Volkow at BNL] says to me is that
9 million children diagnosed as having ADHD are being damaged by Ritalin just
as with cocaine and every other psychotropic drug."
"The point," explains Baughman, "is that normal children are being drugged
exactly like the Cali and Medellín cartels, but under the guise of medication
to help and with all in the medical community being knowing participants. She
[Volkow] found something very alarming about Ritalin and at the same time is
writing like ADHD is a proven thing - that ADHD is a real disease. It just
isn't so. It's pure propaganda and there never has been proof of a specific
chemical [or] physical abnormality in children diagnosed with the alleged ADHD.
None."
Renay Tanner, an expert in human rights and psychiatry and a doctoral candidate
in sociomedical sciences at Columbia University, tells Insight, "Volkow isn't
saying anything new. She's just looked at the issue with a different technique.
The important thing to remember is that no child ever has died from ADHD, yet a
number of children have died from the 'treatment,' not to mention the brain
damage, stunted growth and suicidal feelings they experience. One has to ask
why children are being targeted for the myth of the chemical imbalance when no
one can show that an alleged sufferer has a chemical imbalance and no one -
certainly not the medical community - even knows what such a chemical imbalance
might be."
Tanner continues: "The brain is too complex and our understanding of it is too
minimal to be giving children these drugs. We know the drugs cause harm to the
brain but have yet to find any real evidence that they are helpful. Sure, the
drugs may shut them up, and I suppose that's good for the parents and teachers,
but is it good for the children? I strongly believe that the federal government
should remove the financial incentives from school districts as a kind of
reward for the number of children put on these drugs. After all, why does the
government do this? Is it good intentions gone bad or social policy with
unintended consequences? At the most, Volkow' s research is excellent evidence
that children should not be given Ritalin. One has to ask why this research
wasn't done before millions of children were put on a mind-altering drug."
Despite Volkow's revelations about Ritalin's potency, critics don't see changes
in the status quo anytime soon. Beverly Eakman, founder of the National
Education Consortium, a nonprofit corporation specializing in education law,
and the author of Cloning of the American Mind, tells Insight, "The agenda is
to dope as many kids as possible because it makes them more suggestible - more
open to doing what normally they wouldn't do."
According to Eakman, "These drugs make children more manageable, not
necessarily better. ADHD is a phenomenon, not a 'brain disease.' It is
culture-caused, and what we need to focus on is that we are manufacturing drugs
for diseases that don't exist. Because the diagnosis of ADHD is fraudulent, it
doesn't matter whether a drug 'works.' You've got doctors being encouraged to
prescribe these drugs whenever a complaint from a patient is too difficult or
costly to diagnose. Why aren't people up in arms about the fact that children
are being forced to take a drug that is stronger than cocaine for a disease
that is yet to be proven?"
Critics of the ADHD diagnosis have been asking this question for years, but the
psychiatric community appears to have turned more and more to medicating. A
closer look at what leaders in psychiatry are saying may prove helpful. In
January, for example, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Director Steve
Hyman reported at the NIMH Advisory Council meeting that "we can make correct
clinical diagnoses if the right kind of evaluation is available to children.
When proper diagnosis is made, methylphenidate/Ritalin can be safe and
effective." Hyman warned: "We ignore mood disorders in children at our peril.
Just because a child is in their seat doesn't mean they are okay."
Critics suggest that it also doesn't mean that they aren't okay, and that
Hyman's remarks only confirm that psychiatric diagnosis is subjective - that
diagnosis of mental health depends upon who is looking.
http://www.insightmag.com/archive/200110015.shtml
Jan
