RITALIN ADDICTIONS WORRY OFFICIALS

Board Looks At Ways To Stop Prescription Drug Abuse

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Wisconsin officials contend they can't get a handle
on the growing problem of Ritalin abuse by adults because they lack a
centralized system for tracking abusers of prescription drugs.

Cindy Benning, leader of the state Controlled Substances Board, has
called for a computerized data system that would identify people with
addictions to legal drugs.

"If somebody's getting 600 doses of a particular drug in one month --
and they're visiting six doctors for prescriptions and six pharmacies
to get them filled -- the computer would spit out that person's name,"
Benning said.

Such systems already are running in 26 states, but they are costly to
install, and the data are not available instantly, Benning said.

Benning has testified before a special legislative committee
investigating problems related to Ritalin and similar drugs given to
children.

"I don't know how we'll ever get a handle on all the illicit stuff
going on," she said. "We don't have any way to get concrete data on
abuses involving drugs like Ritalin."

Ritalin once was considered a wonder drug for hyperactive children,
but there is growing evidence that adults are becoming addicted to its
caffeinelike jolt.

Jennifer McNeil, a 33-year-old mother from Ozaukee County, is
suspected of robbing eight pharmacies to get it. She told authorities
she made toy weapons and hogtied clerks while apologizing to them.

"She is an example of how addiction to any drug, even a prescription
drug like Ritalin, drives someone to do something they never thought
of in their wildest dreams," Washington County District Attorney Todd
Martens said.

Cynthia Long, a Cedarburg mother, was charged in January with a
misdemeanor offense of stealing Ritalin twice last year from a school
her child attends.

Pharmacists said a computerized tracking system wouldn't stop most
drug abusers from finding a way to get Ritalin and similar
medications.

"Is it a good idea? Yes. But would it be attainable? I don't think
so," said Marty Becker, a pharmacist at Port Apothecary in Port Washington.

Ritalin, the trade name for methylphenidate, is a prescription drug
used to treat children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, which affects 4 to 12 percent of all school-age children.

The amphetamine-based drug produces an emotional high in children and
adults who do not have the disorder.

Ritalin production increased 650 percent from 1990 to 1997, according
to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The increased production rate opens the door to abuses, said Eric
Heiligenstein, a physician who studied the habits of students using
Ritalin at UW-Madison.

Ritalin and its generic equivalents accounted for 13 percent of all
drugs stolen or missing from Wisconsin health agencies in 1999 and
2000, said Mike Grafton, an investigator at the Drug Enforcement
Administration.