Originally published June 23 2010
ADD and ADHD Drugs Skyrocket in Use by Sixty-Five Percent in Britain
by Aaron Turpen
(NaturalNews) Drugs often prescribed for children with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit, hyperactive disorder (ADHD) jumped in use by 65% from 2005 to 2009 in Britain. These figures account only for children whose medications come from the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK.
The numbers, released under a Freedom of Information request by the Guardian,1 show that NHS spending on three common ADD/ADHD prescription drugs rose from 18.97 million pounds in 2005 to 31.14 million pounds in 2009 and that the number of prescriptions rose from 486,5356 to 744,078 in the same period.2
These so-called "chemical cosh" drugs are often prescribed for hyperactivity and other problems associated with ADD. They include methylphenidate (trade name Ritalin), atomoxetine (trade name Strattera), and dexamphetamine (trade name Dexedrine).
Of course, these numbers account only for the NHS-covered drugs and do not include those receiving the drugs on private prescriptions and receiving them from hospital in-house pharmacies. So they are only a part of the whole picture of Britain's child-doping.
As in the U.S.,3 diagnosis and prescription treatments for ADD/ADHD appear to be over-aggressive in Britain and the treatments are, regardless, ignoring the cause. Probably the most common cause is poor nutrition and the over-use of food additives in children's nutritional lives.4
Between the increasing class sizes, decreased incentives for dealing with children one-on-one to learn if symptoms are biological or social/cultural, and the vague guidelines promoted by psychology as to what constitutes ADD/ADHD.. It all adds up to more kids on prescriptions. Much to the chagrin of Big Pharma, to be sure..
Meanwhile, public schools are often ill-equipped to handle problem students - even those of the standard variety, such as sugar-hyped gradeschoolers - and seem to be resorting more and more often to recommending medication. Despite an average student:staff ratio of 7.9:1 in most American schools5 (no numbers were available for Britain), this high ratio of students to staffers still results in classrooms of over 25 children each.
At the same time, students on both sides of the Atlantic who are put on these chemical cosh treatments often have the same complaint. They often claim that the drug "takes away their soul."
This may be the point of these drugs (not to mention what passes for public education now), if you really think about it. After all, soulless zombies won't question nutritionally-bereft foods, toxic corporate methods, and the other atrocities of the Government-Pharma-Agra Complex.
Resources:
1 - Are drugs the solution to the problem of ADHD among young people? by Rowenna Davis, Guardian
2 - NHS spending on 'chemical cosh' child-calming drugs soars by 60% to 31 million pounds by Laura Clark, Daily Mail
3 - Schoolchildren Are Increasingly Dosed With Both Ritalin and Anti-Psychotic Drugs, Says New Research by Mike Adams, NaturalNews
4 - Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, has a simple cause: poor nutrition and food additives by Mike Adams, NaturalNews
5 - Budgeted Back Into the Stone Age ... or 1998 by Neil McCluskey, CATO
About the author
Aaron Turpen is a professional writer living in Wyoming in the USA. His blogs cover organic/sustainable living and environmental considerations (AaronsEnvironMental.com) and the science debunking mainstream medical and proving alternatives (HiddenHealthScience.com).
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