RITALIN MAY ENCOURAGE DRUG ABUSE, STUDY SAYS

A medicine regularly taken by a millions of hyperactive children has
properties similar to cocaine and could encourage drug abuse in later life,
New Scientist magazine said Thursday.

Methylphenidate, better known as Ritalin, is the leading treatment for a
neurological condition known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
which prevents children from concentrating on a task for more than a few
seconds.

New Scientist said growing concerns over the longtime effects of the drug,
a stimulant that works by making the neurotransmitter dopamine more
available in the brain, have put it on the agenda for the U.S. National
Institutes of Health conference on ADHD, scheduled for November.

A 1995 study by Nora Volkow, director of nuclear medicine at the Brookhaven
National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., found the Ritalin's properties were
very similar to cocaine.