TESTIMONY CONTINUES IN RITALIN SUIT

Teen, Now In Prison, Alleges Drug Led To Cocaine Habit

A Jefferson County teenager serving a manslaughter sentence blames his
cocaine addiction on Ritalin and is suing the physician who prescribed the
medication.

The lawsuit being heard in Fayette in Jefferson County Circuit Court claims
Dr. Brian Stretch was negligent in treating Roderick Frye with Ritalin and
not explaining how he should be withdrawn from the prescription drug used
to treat Attention-Deficit Disorder.

Jim Shannon, attorney for Frye and his mother, Brenda Doss, says Ritalin is
addictive and a child is supposed to be gradually weaned from the drug. He
said the boy's mother took him off cold turkey, causing his addiction to
crack cocaine.

Shannon said the doctor gave the mother no instructions on use of the drug.
He said the mother took her son off the drug after he began to experience
side affects, such as diarrhea.

Jackson attorney Ray McNamara said Stretch believes "very strongly" that he
didn't do anything wrong in the treatment of the youth.

In 1999, Frye pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the stabbing death of a
schoolmate on a school bus.

McNamara said physicians prescribe Ritalin daily for children with
Attention Deficit Disorder.

"Literature doesn't support that Ritalin causes addiction to cocaine,"
McNamara said.

McNamara said Stretch believed Ritalin was the right treatment for the boy
based upon his diagnosis.

Shannon said an expert on Ritalin, Peter Bregan of Maryland, testified for
the plaintiffs about the addictive nature of Ritalin.

The lawsuit, which claims Frye, then 11, became addicted to cocaine at age
12 after his mother took him off of Ritalin, seeks $500,000. The lawsuit
originally included the makers of Ritalin and the drugstore that filled the
prescription, but they were dropped from the lawsuit.

Shannon said the lawsuit doesn't claim that Ritalin played any part in
Frye, then age 13, stabbing to death 14-year-old Kenneth Grayson on a
school bus carrying students home from Jefferson County Middle School in
November 1998.

After his manslaughter plea, Frye was sentenced to 15 years in prison with
seven suspended and eight to serve. However, Shannon said, "I believe it
(Ritalin) had something to do with it."

Grayson was stabbed twice in the chest and once in the arm. He was
pronounced dead at the scene.

Frye, now 17, is serving his sentence at the Walnut Grove facility for
youthful offenders.

The case is expected to conclude late today or Friday.