Spending Soars for Kids' Behavior Drugs

[Champ]

By LINDA A. JOHNSON, AP Business Writer

TRENTON, N.J. - As more children pop pills for attention deficit and other behavior disorders, new figures show spending on those drugs has for the first time edged out the cost of antibiotics and asthma medications for kids.


A 49 percent rise in the use of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs by children under 5 in the last three years contributed to a 23 percent increase in usage for all children, according to an annual analysis of drug use trends by Medco Health Solutions Inc.


"Behavioral medicines have eclipsed the other categories this year," said Dr. Robert Epstein, Medco's chief medical officer. "It certainly reflects the concern of parents that their children do as well as they can."


Antibiotics still top the list of the most commonly used children's drugs, but parents are paying more for behavioral drugs, such as stimulants or antidepressants, according to the analysis of drug use among 300,000 children under 19.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=541&ncid=751&e=8&u=/ap/20040517/ap_on_he_me/kids_behavior_drugs

[Sandpiper]

1. Hooray for Ritalin

It's so much easier than actually raising your kids.

[Champ]

3. This is sad the numbers are up 50% n/t

[lanparty]

5. It's the paddle or ritalin ...

Choose

Seriously, there are some pretty serious behaviour problems out there. ADHD medication goes to the root cause of the problem. Of course, therapy should ALWAYS accompany the medication to teach kids coping strategies and self-awarness.

[phaseolus]

10. You couldn't be more wrong, Sandpiper.

It is *not* a matter of lazy parents using a pill instead of discipline, as both you and Limbaugh seem to think. (I'm guessing you're childless, just like him -- right???)

Medical science believes that ADD and ADHD actually exist, with provable organic causes in the brain. I'll trust them. And it's backed up by personal experience -- one of our three children has a mild-to-moderate case of ADHD and medication has allowed him to stay on task in school and actually get good grades. For him, it's the difference between being an A student and a disruptive C student. And no, it's not a matter of 'doping him up' so he's docile, it's all about staying on task.

When he's off the medication the behavior problems manifest themselves as impulsiveness (in his case -- it's different for others.) Discipline just doesn't work. He'll continue to do what he's being told not to... he *wants* to follow instructions, but just *can't*. With medication, he responds to requests. He's still the same boy with the medication, it's just that he's in *our* world instead of a compartment no one else can get through to.

[ArkDem]

17. Adderall has helped my daughter go from a D student to

straight A's, National Honor Society, Beta Club and National Merit Finalist. These drugs can truly work wonders.

[EDT]

2. This boggles my mind- no one in my day took drugs- and...

we'd have 1 or 2 disruptors in a class of 30.

I wonder if it's parents not gaining the respect of their kids, too mild
with punishment, or something else.

[Mountainman]

4. Are all things equal today as in your day and age?

Just wondering.

[EDT]

7. It's impossible to truly decide if things were better or worse in the past

You can generate an endless list of just as many bad things about the past, as you can better things than now. I used to think the world was a better place in the 40's and 50's, but whoppers like Polio, racism, and in the later 20th century, fear of nuclear war, are just as weighty burdens as any fears we have nowadays.

[lanparty]

6. In your day ...

The teachers probably grabbed really nasty kids by the arms and swung them up against lockers. Than they would paddle their ass until they shut up.

I would think any good liberal would PREFER daily meds to "physical intervention".

[EDT]

9. Prefer daily meds daily??? Reminds me of THX-1138...

George Lucas' first film, where everyone was drugged from birth to death to be more manageable.

Happiness doesn't come in a bottle from a doctor.

I wasn't hit as a kid, but a superior father figure, with a stern voice and threat of physical intervention, kept me in line. I did my homework, mowed the lawn, didn't mouth off to parents (like kids seem to do at school without any punishment nowadays) and didn't get into fights in school.

Knowing your parents are your superiors when you're young, not just your pals, is not unhealthy.

[MAlibdem]

11. Meh

do you not acknowledge that some kids require meds?

[Yupster]

14. Not in my day

I grew up in New York City and in PS 50, no teacher would dare touch a kid.

I wonder too where these ADHD kids were in my day. We just didn't have disruptive kids in the classes. It was a very rare event.

I taught nine years in the public schools from 1983-91 and the schools were in chaos with kids openly challenging the teachers, principals, and even the police.

Something has gone very wrong, and I don't think ridalin is the answer.

[lanparty]

16. Do you think it took them some time ...

Don't you think it took the kids some time to figure out that the teachers and administrators were powerless. A couple of good lawsuits should have reinforced that point.

Not only can they not touch you in school. The parents can touch you either. Nor can they necessarily kick you out. That would be depriving you of your RIGHT to an education.

In my book, you should have the right to take advantage of the education that is offered gratis. Those who cannot abide by the rules, forgo that right.

What we REALLY need now is balance in lawsuits. Parents of the GOOD kids should be able to sue the parents of troublemakers for harming their kids education.

[Victimerican]

8. Hmm...

Maybe this is why so many people support Bush?

[evil_orange_cat]

12. 2 million years of human evolution... but now we need pills...

:eyes:

sorry, kids are supposed to be active... kids aren't supposed to like going to school. And now lazy parents want kids to pop pills to cure these "ills". It makes me sick. We're pumping drugs into kids. Maybe we ought to change the fundamental institutions (schools primarily) that consider these children to be hyperactive or possessing an attention deficit.

I just hope these drugs don't have unintended consequences that damage these children.

[Yupster]

15. You know they will though

what drug doesn't have some unintended side-effect?

[wellstone dem]

13. A year ago

my daughter was planning her suicide. A year ago she came crying to my bedroom, "help me, help me, I can't keep feeling this way." A year ago she couldn't go through a checkout line without starting to shake.

Today, she is on medication. She hates school. She takes the bus to the mall by herself. She yells at me. She laughs at me. She tells me, "remember last year." I'll never forget it. And I just yelled into her bedroom, "Did you take your meds?'