While this is an op-ed being run by a web tabloid, there's no superstition or anti-science on display that I can sense.
So let's find some quieter common ground:
A class of prescription psychoactive drugs are increasingly being used by tens of millions. They substantially alter the motivation systems of the human brain, have a poorly understood method of action, are extremely easily and inexpensively sourced from the graymarket, and are being issued to children as young as five. Off-label use is increasing to the point where it's omnipresent in high-pressure social arenas.
There are no social rituals or consumption contexts that retard use of these amphetamines - they're privately consumed as "medication" (therefore perceived as "undangerous" and "acceptable") in a way that street drugs would never be considered.
But the results are the same. They're the same for ADHD folks, they're the same for non-ADHD folks, they're the same for the habitual user, and they're the same for the occasional user. Ferocious forever focus! ...for a while... with a comedown. And then: more?
The end-game for every single one of these users is potentially the same. Five years old with ADHD, 24 years old trying to make it in NYC, whatever. It's habit forming, excessive use comes with a boatload of major side effects, and it's directly monkeying with a core part of the human psyche for a sprawling number of reasons, all of them social in nature.
We're doing something new and big here as a society, and it's worth discussing.
Where did you get this from? Using psychostimulants to treat ADHD is one of the most researched treatments in psychiatry. We've been prescribing Adderall for almost 100 years now. We know it works, and it works well when prescribed correctly.
Either way, if you want drugs to get up in arms about, better choices are SSRIs and atypical antipsychotics. Those are the drugs with poorly understood mechanisms of action that are given to way too many people.
> But the results are the same. They're
> the same for ADHD folks, they're the
> same for non-ADHD folks...
It's certainly worth talking about, but I'm not at all sure that's true. Our understanding of Adderall's mechanism is incomplete but our current understanding is that, in those with ADHD, appropriate doses of stimulants can boost some functions to where it would be in a non-ADHD brain.
It's kind of like saying that platform shoes make everybody taller. Yes, they do, but some people need platform shoes just to reach an "average" height.
Drugs like Adderall tend to increase Dopamine and Norepinepherine. The idea being that people with ADHD tend to not have enough of these chemicals. When they take drugs like Adderall, they feel better. If they take too much, or someone who already has enough of these chemicals takes them, they tend to become irritable and have trouble sleeping.
For someone with ADHD, a single Adderall isn't going to make them stay up all night. It isn't going to cause them to stop eating. There is no "razor sharp infinite focus".
Instead, it just brings things up to normal. Rather than being unable to even have a chance to focus, the possibility now exists.
Well, it's probably safe to assume that at least some of the effects are the same for ADHD and non-ADHD users. Stimulants affect pretty much the whole brain; probably much more of the brain than merely the part(s) that differ between those with ADHD and those without ADHD.
So let's find some quieter common ground:
A class of prescription psychoactive drugs are increasingly being used by tens of millions. They substantially alter the motivation systems of the human brain, have a poorly understood method of action, are extremely easily and inexpensively sourced from the graymarket, and are being issued to children as young as five. Off-label use is increasing to the point where it's omnipresent in high-pressure social arenas.
There are no social rituals or consumption contexts that retard use of these amphetamines - they're privately consumed as "medication" (therefore perceived as "undangerous" and "acceptable") in a way that street drugs would never be considered.
But the results are the same. They're the same for ADHD folks, they're the same for non-ADHD folks, they're the same for the habitual user, and they're the same for the occasional user. Ferocious forever focus! ...for a while... with a comedown. And then: more?
The end-game for every single one of these users is potentially the same. Five years old with ADHD, 24 years old trying to make it in NYC, whatever. It's habit forming, excessive use comes with a boatload of major side effects, and it's directly monkeying with a core part of the human psyche for a sprawling number of reasons, all of them social in nature.
We're doing something new and big here as a society, and it's worth discussing.