In a recent article in Policy Review , Contributing Editor Mary Eberstadt writes that the number of children taking Ritalin is approaching 4 million and that production of the drug has increased 700 percent since 1990. In some parts of the country school nurses spend much of their days simply handing out the drugs. Ritalin is supposed to treat Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD, a condition so nebulous that its name has changed 25 times in a century. If these remedies didn t work, the swift application of a video game or comic book often did the trick. Then there s the Ritalin for grown-ups we call Prozac.
Millions take it and swear by it.
Which of course brings us to the millions who take Viagra. This wonderful pill has brought our country a little closer to the old adage that anyone can be president. We re not there yet, but they can certainly be like him now. And of course it has the side benefit of making Alan Dershowitz taller. The Clinton administration wants Medicare to pay for prescription drugs for seniors.