But there is a good deal of debate as to the wisdom of their use. Stories of Ritalin s effects often make it seem like the drug soma administered to the citizens of Aldous Huxley s Brave New World to make them passive and conformist. According to the 1995 Archives of General Psychiatry, Cocaine is one of the most reinforcing and addicting of the abused drugs and has pharmacological actions that are very similar to those of Ritalin. Millions of Americans including a large number of children and teenagers are regular consumers of these mind-altering prescription drugs. O Meara makes a further, chilling point when it reports that there is a linkage between the use of these drugs and school violence.
Insight points out the payoff financially.
The alternative solution for the ills of the human spirit is that of religion. After all, we might consider, if those millions of children were cared for in loving families, they would not need psychiatrists and drugs. Religious faith and morals, guided by ministers of God s word, form healthy families and children. Once relegated to the ash-heap of history, and more recently rebounding, religion should provide the key to resolving these ills. Here the situation is complex.