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Psychiatric drug use by children in US schools is turning into an enormous problem. In 1970, an estimated 150,000 US children were taking Ritalin. By 1980, the estimates were between 270,000 and 541,000--double the numbers of a decade before. By 1990, the numbers doubled again; close to 900,000 children were on Ritalin. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) estimates there was a 700 percent increase in the production of Ritalin between 1990 and 1997, 90 percent of which was consumed in the US.
Based on the available data, a realistic estimate of the number of school-age children on Ritalin today in the US is 5 million. Considering that Ritalin--like other amphetamines, a Schedule II controlled substance that carries a significant risk of abuse--represents 70 percent of the total prescriptions for amphetamine-like drugs, it is reasonable to estimate that over 7 million US schoolchildren are on some sort of stimulant drug. We can add close to 2 million children now on so-called antidepressants, so it appears that over 8 million children in this country are on psychiatric drugs today. According to census data from 1999, the US population for ages six to 18 is just under 51.5 million, meaning approximately 15 percent of our schoolchildren are on psychiatric drugs. In many schools and districts, the estimations are quite higher, as much as 20 or 40 percent. A study reported this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that Ritalin prescriptions for two to four year olds increased 200 to 300 percent between 1991 and 1995.1
In an era when we are constantly told to protect our children from drug abuse, it seems there are some very disturbing exceptions to the rule.
Notes
1. Zito et al., "Trends in the Prescribing of Psychotropic Medications to Preschoolers," JAMA 283 (2000): 1025-1030.