At 05:32 PM 7/8/96 -0500, you wrote:
Tim writes about Ritalin:
I've been over visiting my friend to see some of this. The Ritalin-sodden kid arrives like a zombie. When the Ritalin wears off, he's rambunctuous,
Alex, our 8 year old son, uses Ritalin. He doesn't need Ritalin to concentrate. He can get caught up in a building project for hours and create a masterpiece. He can focus so thoroughly you can't pry him loose.
What Alex *can't* do is get comfortably through a day of grammar school. I sympathise -- I was the same way when I was that age. I had
Errrrr. Ever hear of home schooling? Seems like if your child needs drugs to go to school than perhaps school is the problem not that your child's body lacks Ritalin. Sheesh. So it happens that I was talking with a fellow Saturday who grew up on Ritalin. He's 36 now and strung out. Life with Ritalin prepared him for drugs, you know. They were natural. Like the body is made for different laboratory made molecules with dubious effects. He never got into the hard stuff (like the opiates) like the anti-drug people promised though. Also turns out that he now has a neurological disorder that is untreatable and uncurable. So now he's goes through his days in constant pain courtesy of the best childhood his wealthy Pacific Palisades Parents could buy. I wonder if there are any other Ritalin side affects that don't become prominent until 30 years later? But than someone who thinks milk is wholesome needs some lessons is nutrition, anatomy and physiology. --j