Category — ADHD: Health
Student Use of Stimulant Meds
The Denver Post (www.denverpost.com) reports that Boulder police arrested three teens on felony charges of distribution and possession of a schedule II controlled substance. The incidence occurred on April 4 at Nevin Platt Middle School where the youth attended school.
Apparently one student had the drugs, gave one to another student who swallowed it and was taken ill. The sick student was then taken to the hospital and released. Other students were involved in the safekeeping of the drugs after they were brought to school.
The student that brought the drugs (Strattera and Concerta for treatment of ADHD) attempted to trade the drugs for alcohol.
The Denver Post says,
Two of the students have been charged with distribution and possession of a schedule II controlled substance and unlawful acts while the third was charged with possession of a controlled substance and unlawful act. Possession and distribution of a schedule II controlled substance is a felony, officials said.
While these students were apprehended, the incidence of ADHD drug sales and use is quite common among students at middle school, high school, and university.
The New York Times (www.nytimes.com) reported in 2005 in an article called The Adderall Advantage that:
At many colleges across the country, the ingredients for academic success now include a steady flow of analeptics, the class of prescription amphetamines that is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD].
Since Ritalin abuse first hit the radar screen several years ago, the reliance on prescription stimulants to enhance performance has risen, becoming almost as commonplace as No-Doz, Red Bull and maybe even caffeine. As many as 20 percent of college students have used Ritalin or Adderall to study, write papers and take exams, according to recent surveys focused on individual campuses. A study released this month by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia found that the number of teenagers who admit to abusing prescription medications tripled from 1992 to 2003, while in the general population such abuse had doubled.
Dr. Robert A. Winfield, director of University Health Service at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, sees a growing number of students who falsely claim to be A.D.H.D. so they can get a prescription. At least once a week, a jittery, frightened, sleep-deprived student who has taken too many tablets for too many days shows up at his office. “Things have really gotten out of hand in the last four to five years,” he said. “Students have become convinced that this will help them achieve academic success.”
On campus, the drugs are either sold or given away by people with prescriptions, or they are procured by students who have learned to navigate the psychiatric exams offered by campus health centers, which usually provide the drugs at a discount. Unlike Ritalin, two newer members of the family of analeptics – Adderall and Concerta – come in time-release forms and can keep a patient medicated an entire day.
Louisiana State’s The Daily Reveille (www. media.www.lsureveille.com) reported that a survey documented in the journal Nature cites that one in five students used Adderall & Ritalin for a study booster.
Final exams traditionally have students studying long hours to cram for their final exams. But some students are now using a quick-fix for brain retention.
One in five respondents of adult professionals said they have used drugs to enhance brain power, according to a January survey in Nature journal. The online survey polled 1,400 people in 60 countries.
Ritalin and Adderall were the two drugs participants said they took.
Ritalin and Adderall are commonly used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. They are also used to treat symptoms of narcolepsy and chronic fatigue syndrome. The stimulants are supposed to reduce impulsive behavior and facilitate concentration.
But people diagnosed with ADHD are not the only ones who can benefit from the drugs.
“It does work [for anyone]. We know that from lab studies,” said Martha Farah, director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, according to CNN.com
This is an international phenomenon. The reason is that low-dose stimulant medication is not a targeted approach to fixing ADHD. Instead, low-dose stimulant medication works the same for non-ADHD students. Here’s an example: if we have 50 ADHD students and 50 high functioning non-ADHD students, give them both a boring task, the both will perform better on that task.
Students know this and it helps the cram for exams. Will it help to prosecute all these students under felony charges? Not likely.
May 2, 2008 Comments Off
ADHD and Food Additives: European Food Standards Agency calls for ban on six artificial colors
For years, parents have complained that certain artificial additives to brightly colored cakes, soft drinks, and candies, had caused their children adverse reactions such as hyperactivity, skin problems, mood volatility, headaches, etc. after consumption.
The Food Standards Agency (“FSA”) recommended ministers call for manufacturers to remove six artificial colors by the end of 2009. The FSA also urged a European Union-wide ban. This reversed the FSA’s decision last month when it dismissed calls for action on the additives.
According to The Independent, “The FSA’s advice to parents will be strengthened to warn them about the dangers of the E-numbers tartrazine (E102), quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), ponceau 4R (E124) and allura red (E129).”
The Independent further reports that, “These colors and the preservative sodium benzoate (E211) were linked to hyperactivity in a £750,000 study by Southampton University, which found they made primary school children become distracted and fail a computer attention test.
The researchers estimated that 30 per cent of cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) would be prevented if companies removed the colors used in the £13bn-a-year global additives industry.
If the ministers elect to have the dyes and additives banned, the UK’s biggest producers of confections, soft drinks, ice cream, and others will have to reformulate their products.
The Independent:
The Southampton researchers had warned the seven additives were as harmful as lead in petrol, which was banned after it proved to lower children’s IQ by five points. Their research, in The Lancet in September, was the evidence that artificial additives worsened the behavior of normal children as well as those diagnosed with ADHD.
Dame Deirdre Hutton, who chairs the Food Standards Agency, said: “It is the agency’s duty to put consumers first. These additives give color to foods but nothing else. It would therefore be sensible, in the light of the… study, to remove them.”
The board decided to take no action on sodium benzoate because it was “a preservative” rather than a color. E211, which is linked with other potential health problems, is found in many soft drinks including Diet Coke, Irn-Bru, Lucozade and Fanta, and its removal would pose a significant technological and financial challenge to drinks companies.
The FSA stressed that its decision “does not mean there is an immediate ban”.
Campaigners welcomed the first decisive move in the UK against additives, whose effect on hyperactive children were first identified in 1975. Richard Watts, of the Children’s Food Campaign, said: “This decision is good news for children and parents, who have known for many years that these additives affect children’s behavior.” Anna Glayzer, an Action on Additives campaigner, said the FSA had put the consumer first. “We will be keeping a close eye on the industry to see what effect the voluntary ban has.”
The Food and Drink Federation said the recommendation was “bizarre”, as manufacturers were already removing the additives. “[Most] products don’t contain these colors,” a statement said.
The six colorings facing a ban:
Tartrazine (E102)
Description: Synthetic yellow dye found in sweets, biscuits, mushy peas
Products: Disney Winnie the Pooh Cake Kit, Lidl orange jelly, Bacardi Breezer tropical lime, Asda mushy peas
Health effects: causes hyperactivity, linked to allergic reactions and migraine.Quinoline Yellow (E104)
Description: Synthetic dye in sweets, pickles, smoked fish
Products: Aero orange, Galaxy Minstrels, M&Ms, Bassett’s Sherbet Lemons
Health effects: Causes hyperactivity and is linked to rashes. Banned in US.Sunset Yellow (E110)
Description: synthetic yellow dye found in sweets, ice cream, fizzy drinks
Products: Cadbury Creme Egg, Haribo Jelly Beans, Irn-Bru
Health effects: causes hyperactivity and linked to stomach upsets and swelling of skin.Carmoisine (E122)
Description: Synthetic red dye found in ready meals, sweets
Products: Love Hearts, Galaxy Minstrels, Cadbury Mini Eggs, various lollipops
Health effects: causes hyperactivity and is alleged to cause water retention in those allergic to aspirin. Banned in US.Ponceau 4R (E124)
Description: synthetic red dye found in sweets, biscuits, drinks
Products: Bassett’s Pear Drops, Halls Blackcurrant Soothers, Supercook Alphabet Icing
Health effects: causes hyperactivity and is believed to cause problems for asthmatics. Banned in US.Allura red (E129)
Description: synthetic red dye found in sweets, soft drinks, Turkish delight
Products: Fry’s Turkish Delight, Cadbury Mini Eggs, Maynards Wine Gums
Health effects: causes hyperactivity and may bring on allergic reactions.
April 13, 2008 Comments Off
States sue over costly ADHD drug program
Florida undecided as states sue over costly drug program
By M.C. MOEWE, staff Writer
They’re powerful psychotic drugs, used to treat conditions like schizophrenia. No one knows what their effects are on children, especially infants, yet within seven years the number of children prescribed the drugs in Florida’s health insurance program for the poor has nearly doubled.
There’s no doubting one side effect, though — drug companies watched sales soar, aided by a Florida program they helped create.
Florida is far from unique. Several states also noted the costly boom of atypical antipsychotics — a new class of the drug that was touted to have fewer side effects. The states are suing drug makers, alleging the companies pushed newer, untested drugs that proved no more effective in treatments — but were far more costly.
In Florida, the taxpayers’ bill for the drugs jumped from $9 million seven years ago to nearly $30 million in 2006. Whether Florida will join states like Texas, Pennsylvania and South Carolina in trying to recoup some of those costs is unclear.
“Our office is aware of concerns with antipsychotics in Florida’s Medicaid program but we cannot acknowledge nor provide any information pertaining to ongoing criminal investigations,” said Sandi Copes, a spokeswoman with the Florida Attorney General’s office.
Florida Medicaid records show the number of children — some just months old — who were prescribed the drugs went from 9,364 seven years ago to 18,137 in 2006. No records for privately insured patients are available.
“The situation is out of control,” said David Cohen, a professor at Florida International University who has been studying the use of antipsychotics since 1983. While no long-term studies have been done on the effects the drugs have on children, there is evidence children on the drugs face greater risks of diabetes, hyperglycemia and extreme weight gain, Cohen said.
‘MOOD STABILIZERS’
Orange City child psychiatrist Manuel Mota-Castillo said age shouldn’t be a factor in determining whether the drug is needed. He has prescribed antipsychotics to children frequently, with the youngest being a 25-month-old child.
“I don’t want to use the name ‘antipsychotic.’ I use ‘mood stabilizer,’ ” said Mota-Castillo, who also worked for three years at Act Corp., the area’s main mental health facility.
The 25-month-old child had been kicked out of five day-care centers where complaints included punching other children, he said. “The child’s mother came to me in shorts so I could see the bruises and marks (on her),” he said.
Crystal Lamson of Sanford said Mota-Castillo has been treating her bipolar son for more than two years. Ryland, now 7, broke a Plexiglas window at a day-care center when he was 5.
“I get criticized all the time from family members,” Lamson said. “(But) there are some children out there who do need them.”
Another Sanford parent, Richard Davis, said he watched in horror as his daughter Ciara, then 6, gained 40 pounds, developed breasts and had uncontrollable tongue and facial movements.
“Those drugs were killing her,” Davis said.
Over his objections, he said Ciara was given antipsychotics by her mother and while in foster care. A court-appointed guardian also noted the effects in an August 2003 report, describing a visit in which Ciara “never once kept her tongue in her mouth.”
Ciara, now 11, was taken off the drugs after about a year, her father said, and she quickly dropped the added weight.
‘TAINTED’ MONEY
In Florida, even as drug makers were being told to issue warnings about risks, a Florida Legislature-directed program partly funded by pharmaceutical companies was recommending the drugs as treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with tics or intermittent explosive disorder, according to the program’s Web site that has since been shut down.
According to a study that looked at three years of data, about 40 percent of the antipsychotics prescribed to Florida Medicaid children were given to children diagnosed with ADHD — a use not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The Florida program was patterned after a Texas project that has spurred a whistle-blower lawsuit. The Florida Algorithm Project used some of the Texas-developed medical formulas that recommended drug treatments for mental diseases.
A year ago Texas joined the whistle-blower suit against Janssen Pharmaceutica and several other Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries. The suit alleges the program’s treatment guidelines — “improperly influenced” and paid for by the drug companies –increased sales of the antipsychotic Risperdal.
An official with Janssen said the company will defend its actions.
“We believe our participation in all aspects of our Texas Risperdal activities were in accordance with what the law required,” said Ambre Morley, a company spokeswoman.
Florida pilot programs using the Texas-developed guidelines began in 2001, according to state documents. Act Corp. in Volusia County was one of 15 sites that adopted the program until it was discontinued in September 2004.
James Bax, a former director of the Florida program, said the project began with funding from pharmaceutical companies.
“It did not take me long to realize that the money from the drug companies was tainted,” Bax said. “Once I got into it, I saw what I thought was very insidious.”
According to the program’s defunct Web site, Bax was director only a couple of months before a retired Johnson & Johnson employee took the title.
In 2002, the Florida Legislature permitted the Department of Children & Families to accept grants from pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop training for health care organizations serving public sector clients, according to a September 2003 Agency for Health Care letter about the Florida program.
When first interviewed, those familiar with the program said they did not recall any ADHD-related information. But archived pages from the program’s Internet site show the program had more guidelines on how to treat ADHD than any other ailment. A 2004 report about the program’s progress pointed to the development of an ADHD guideline as an accomplishment.
Rajive Tandon, chief psychiatrist for the Mental Health Program Office with Florida’s Department of Children & Families, said he’s not sure how much impact the Florida program had on the increased use of antipsychotics.
“It certainly was a contributing factor,” he said.
Doctors believed the new antipsychotics were better, Tandon said, citing “aggressive marketing.”
But the new antipsychotics proved no more effective than older drugs in two significant studies — one published in 2005 in the New England Journal of Medicine and another in the Journal of the American Medical Association published in 2003, said Cohen, the antipsychotics expert at Florida International.
Tandon said Florida should consider a lawsuit like other states.
“Should we at least look into it? Absolutely,” he said, calling for, at minimum, an investigation into the Florida program’s funding and impacts. “Then basically hold the appropriate people responsible.”
– News researcher Janice Cahill contributed to this report.
More Drugs
Atypical antipsychotics were touted to have fewer side effects than older antipsychotics, and their use increased among children in Florida’s Medicaid program under guidelines that drug companies helped create between 2000 and 2006.
January 29, 2008 Comments Off
