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Article: Ritalin - Better Living Through Chemistry?(author analyses use of Ritalin in U.S. and places it in social context)(Statistical Data Included)
- Article from:
- The World and I
- Article date:
- November 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D., is a physician and psychologist in private practice in Montgomery County, Maryland.
In 1961, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a medication named Ritalin for use by children with behavior problems. In 1975, roughly 150,000 American children were taking Ritalin.1 By 1988, that number had increased over 500 percent, to just about 1 million children.2 This year about 6 million American children--roughly one child out of every eight--will take Ritalin.3
No other medication in American history has had this kind of success in achieving and maintaining such a grip on its market: not Valium, not Prozac, not Viagra. The ...