STUDY SUGGESTS RITALIN ABUSE OCCURS ON CAMPUS

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new survey of students at a small
college in Massachusetts suggests that recreational use of the
prescription stimulant methylphenidate--known also as Ritalin--may be
happening on campuses across the country.

Researchers at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North
Adams gave a 10-question survey to the school's 1,400 students asking
about their use of methylphenidate. More than 16% of the 283 who
responded to the survey acknowledged having used the drug "for fun"
at least once.

Nearly 13% reported snorting methylphenidate, according to the report
published in a recent issue of the Journal of American College Health.
Less than 2% reported having a prescription for the drug. Students
under 24 years of age who responded to the survey were nearly 7 times
more likely to admit to recreational use than were students over 24.

Researchers suspect that methylphenidate may be growing in popularity
among college students because of its ability to help students "pull
all-nighters," or stay up late partying or studying. But they also
acknowledged that their small study at one college could say little
about use trends at colleges and universities nationally.

"The patterns of use--whether chronic administration or simple
experimentation--are not clear" since the survey did not ask about
frequency of methylphenidate use, lead investigator Quinton Babcock
wrote in the report, It is also possible, the authors acknowledge,
that self-report surveys like this one do not reflect true patterns of
drug use because only 20% of the school's students completed the
survey. "Those who chose to respond may not be representative of the
college population (as a whole)," wrote Babcock, an undergraduate
researcher.

Neither Babcock nor his co-investigator Dr. Tom Byrne was available to
comment on their results.

Methylphenidate, most commonly known as Ritalin, is a stimulant often
prescribed to children with attention deficit disorder. Use of the
drug has become controversial in recent years, with many parent and
consumer groups upset over widespread use of the drug in very young
children.

SOURCE - Journal of American College Health 49:143-45, 2000.