One of my favorite pulpits.
Wish we could get more stats and general info on adverse side effects though. Last time I checked there wasn't much exploration into long-term use. Time to go googlin'.
I was talking about this with my therapist today. Every generation has it's novelty illnesses and novelty drugs. The Victorians had 'Hysteria' and nitrous oxide parties (It's a gas), the chinese in the early 1800's had Neurasthenia which then 'spread' to the US, and had it's pop-treatments, such as Electroshock Therapy. Lately it's been ADHD and ODD, and we like to give these kids amphetamines or sedatives, or even xanax in elementary schools. No school nurse should have childrens dose xanax. Combine that with the aforementioned pathologization of being a young boy, and you have a very scary system.
More ludites trying to shame actual science?
As someone with ADHD I will be the first to say that most doctors over prescribe medicine, and that most worth while doctors are very expensive and out of the average person's price range. They system is broken, and it is abused too easily. That being said, there is nothing inherently wrong with adhd medicines. We do actual have large bodies of peer reviewed research about these drugs. Under a good doctor's treatment, these drugs can really help people who are struggling with adhd.