STUDY FINDS STUDENTS ON RITALIN PRESSED TO SELL IT

Researchers Say Abuse In Pursuit Of A High More Common Than Thought

Sixteen percent of students in kindergarten through high school who are
prescribed Ritalin say they've been approached to sell, give away or trade
their pills, a new study by Marshfield Clinic researchers reveals.

It suggests that abuse of Ritalin -- a drug that thousands of Wisconsin
students take to help them concentrate in school -- is far more common than
has been believed.

"This is probably an underreporting. It's a conservative figure,"
Marshfield psychologist Frederick Theye said of the 16% who said they'd
been pressured to part with the drug. "We had several of them say to us
spontaneously, 'I was asked to sell or give this to my classmates.' That
was our first warning that this (abuse) was out there."

The study also found lax security for storing Ritalin and other medications
in many schools. Policies ranged from keeping Ritalin under lock and key to
allowing students to carry it around in their pockets and take it as needed.

"What we're saying to (schools) is: 'Heads up. This is a potential area for
concern, and you ought to be proactive rather than reactive,' " Theye said.

The study involved 53 rural and small-town schools in Wisconsin that
collectively enroll 15,800 students. Of those, 161 students who have been
treated for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder at the Marshfield
Clinic for at least five years were surveyed and included in the study.
Results were published in the medical journal Developmental and Behavioral
Pediatrics.

Ritalin is prescribed for ADHD, which affects 3% to 5% of all school-age
children, according to federal health officials. The drug is a stimulant
that, in children with ADHD, has a calming effect and enhances
concentration.

But it also can be abused, usually by teens seeking a high.

Alcohol and marijuana still are more commonly abused than Ritalin,
researchers stressed.

"The only reason Ritalin is being abused is there's a ready access to it"
because the drug has become so common, Theye said.

He and Marshfield neurologist Peter Ahmann decided to research Ritalin
abuse after one of Ahmann's patients, a seventh-grade boy, told Ahmann that
two ninth-graders in the school lunchroom had offered him $10 for the
Ritalin he kept in his pocket.

Another patient, a sophomore girl, complained to school officials that
someone broke into her locker and stole her Ritalin.

The Marshfield researchers checked medical journals for information on how
common Ritalin abuse was, but "we couldn't find any other study" that
looked at that issue, Theye said.

They also surveyed school administrators to determine their attitudes
toward Ritalin use and found that 21% believe the drug is overprescribed by
doctors.

However, Theye said that doesn't appear to be the case. The incidence of
Ritalin prescription in this state is 3.7%, in line with the 3% to 5%
incidence of ADHD in schoolchildren.

"I think it's right," Theye said. "To our knowledge it's not" being
overprescribed.

A large study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
in April also found Ritalin was not overprescribed.

"Our study would substantiate that," Theye said.

"The major difficulty is there has been no biological marker" to make
diagnosis of the disorder more clear-cut. Psychological evaluations and
behavioral tests are used for diagnosis.

"I'm very hopeful we can reduce the controversy around this through the
findings of the gene research," Theye said, noting that a team from the
University of California at Los Angeles recently reported finding a gene
believed responsible for ADHD.