And snorting of crushed Ritalin was blamed for three deaths. Meanwhile, schools around the U.S. routinely keep large stocks of the drug to dispense freely to their speed-happy charges. There are powerful incentives to foist the drug on children. Insurance companies eager for quick and cheap treatments push the pills on doctors. And Mommy and Daddy would rather blame a child's minor behavior problems on a mysterious disorder than on divorce, 70-hour workweeks and complete abandonment of kids to malls and television.
Doctors are all too happy to oblige.
Hundreds of doctors continue to tout the drug as a miracle cure to a wide variety of behavior problems. The long-term side effects of Ritalin are, however, not widely known. Of course, it causes cancer in mice.