Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children

["Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>]

> tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May) writes:
> The doublethink and hypocrisy of modern society is
> astounding.
> 
> When the mother (a single mother, as this is California)
> drops her son off with my friend (also single, of course),
> she includes several "Ritalin" capsules with instructions on
> how to dose her son with this depressant/behavior
> modification drug.
> 
> My friend ignores these Ritalins, which upsets the Mom
> greatly the next day when she realizes her son has not been
> given the tranks that are also known as "Mother's little
> helpers."

Ritalin is not a tranquilizer or anything like a tranquilizer. It is
an amphetamine -- it is a close chemical analog to speed and could
only be characterized as a tranquilizer by someone without any
knowledge of the drug or its effects. Most people would become very
"up" on the stuff, but it has a paradoxical, completely reverse effect
on some people who have problems with their dopamine/norephinepherine
(sorry, I may have the spellings wrong) systems in their brains that
cause them to have difficulty focusing or to become hyperactive -- it
calms and focuses such children and adults.

The support newsgroup on Usenet for people with ADD discusses this in
detail.

Most people would have no particular urge to stop a child with
diabetes from taking her insulin. Your friend seems to have the sick
idea that they know better than the child's parents whether the child
should be taking their meds or not, simply because the medication is
for a "mental" problem. This isn't your friend's child. Its someone
else's child. They have no right to make such decisions.

Oh, and by the way, Ritalin has never been known in slang as "mother's
little helper". That would be a tranquilizer taken by the mother to
help her get through her own day.

Perry