Teens Abusing And Selling Ritalin for High

Feb. 25 -- A growing number of young people are snorting Ritalin — a much-lauded drug for hyperactive children — to lose weight, study for exams and in some cases, just to get high, according to some drug experts.

Teens and 20-somethings are the key abusers, and some even go to their doctors and fake symptoms in order to get prescriptions for Ritalin that they subsequently misuse themselves, and even sell to their friends, experts said.

"I'd take six, seven, eight pills at a time," said Jacob Stone, a high school student at Sobriety High, a drug treatment school in Minneapolis, who used to abuse Ritalin. "I'd snort them. Along the way, I knew a couple who would melt them down and shoot them up."

There has been a six-fold increase in emergency room visits associated to Ritalin abuse over the past decade, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, which tracks drug abuse data for federal health authorities. There were 271 Ritalin-related emergency room visits in 1990 and 1,478 visits in 2001.

"All the kids know about Ritalin abuse," said Dr. Robert Millman, a psychiatry professor at Cornell University-Weill Medical College in New York. "They know about other kids sharing their pills, and they know about kids snorting it."

Stone began misusing Ritalin after being diagnosed with ADHD as a sixth-grader, and later sold the prescription drug to fellow high school students, charging $5 for three blue 10-milligram pills or one orange 30-milligram pill.

"And the people who were most interested in it were the younger kids who weren't trying to do real drugs," Stone said. "They wanted something that seemed like it was okay to do and that still would give them a good buzz."

Parents Clueless About Misuse

For children with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, medications like Ritalin and another stimulant called Adderall, can be miracle drugs. These stimulants help an estimated 4 million children remain focused on learning, and allows them to get ahead in school.