I've observed this whole drama unfold first hand. Having been born in the early 80's, I grew up on Ritalin and most of my classmates did too.

I actually do have ADHD, but I'm unmedicated for well over 15 years now. This is completely by choice; every time a new doctor sees my medical history they basically ask in a rather pushy manner, "Ya want some pills for this?"

I didn't grow out of ADHD, but I have had to learn a lot of coping mechanisms. I can't work with silence, I always have to have music on. If I don't, I start wandering around the internet and getting nothing done.

Pair programming is basically God's Gift to ADHD. All of my team knows that they are encouraged, and appreciated if I'm driving and they're like, "Whoa you are WAAAAAY off on some tangent here. Our card says to do X, let's do X."

To-Do lists and journaling are a way of life. Note taking during meetings is simply a must. If I don't, my short term memory gets really slippery and I start interrupting people with questions and thoughts lest I forget them in the next 20 seconds.

But the point is, while I have all sorts of weird hoops to jump through, they really aren't things that normal, non-ADHD people don't do. I just rely on and need them far more than non-ADHD people. Yet every doctor wants to give me a prescription for my ADHD. This is extremely ironic give a later point in this comment.

Meanwhile, while medication isn't an answer all the time, sometimes it is really the only option. Taking the medication is hell.

I know a group of people I grew up with who can't get through a workday without prescription stimulants. Then, they have to try to handle kids sporting events, social events, etc. on the weekends without it to try to keep their tolerances down. Still, those tolerances don't quite reset fully. Almost everyone in that group has to take regular PTO every 6 months and go off them for two weeks. They can't work. They can't clean the house. They can't care for their kids. It's pure misery. Sure, they may run off to a resort, but they're mostly just doing that so they can drink and sleep their way through withdrawals while their other half handles the kids.

In same group, there are a few that actively struggle to take their medication as prescribed as opposed to eating a 30 day supply in 10 days. We're talking getting the day's doses each morning from a significant other with the rest kept in a lock box that only said SO has the key.

Also, it's insanely embarrassing and stigmatized to get your medication filled when you're an adult. Pharmacies will be out of Ritalin when you show up to fill your prescription in the morning. "I don't know when we'll have more in, sorry." Then, a few days later you'll hear that same pharmacy filled your friend's daughter's prescription in 20 minutes a few hours after you left.

So on one hand, you have Big Pharma pushing the diagnosis and medication on children who are still neurologically developing. On the other hand, you have an informal cadre of pharmacists that think it's okay for kids to take this, but if an adult is taking it they're some meth'ed up tweaker. So kids who don't and probably shouldn't take these drugs are flooded with them. The adults that need it just to hold down a job and make rent can't get it.

The entire ADHD situation is just one massive, never ending mess. I'm so glad I'm on the lighter end of it and can side step the medication entirely.