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Er... Tim... Ritalin is an amphetamine.

At 07:25 AM 7/7/96 -0700, Sandy Sandfort wrote:

Yes, normally, but doesn't it have a paradoxical reaction for hyperactive children (i.e., it acts as a depressant for them)?

Not really: Ordinary college students who use it to facilitate cramming report that it has the same effect on them as on hyperactive children. A well known symptom of amphetamine abuse is that the abusers will cheerfully persist in pointless and boring activities for hours on end, such as folding paper bags or stirring long overcooked spaghetti. Furthermore, people generally have to be forced by the threat of violence to take depressant drugs, especially neuroleptics, whereas everyone cheerfully takes their Ritalin. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd@echeque.com