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U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration -What is the Extent of the Problem? The Drug Enforcement Administration has given permission to Safer Child, Inc. to reprint this article on ADD/ADHD and stimulants -- including methylphenidate (Ritalin).
What is the Extent of the Problem? Information from physicians, parents, schools, poison control centers, adolescent treatment centers, surveys, and law enforcement data, suggest that adolescents who are using this drug illicitly obtain it from individuals that have been prescribed this drug for ADHD. Adolescents are giving and selling their methylphenidate medication to friends and classmates who either digest the pills, or to get a more intense reaction, will crush them into a powder that they snort like cocaine. DEA has received a significant number of reports of methylphenidate theft at schools and homes where supplies of the drug are kept. It is important to note that many schools have more methylphenidate on hand for student daytime dosing than is available in some pharmacies. While state and federal laws require accountability of controlled substances by licensed handlers, no such requirements are imposed at schools. The manner in which medication is handled at some schools has provided an opportunity for some individuals to divert and abuse this medication. For example:
Schools have been broken into and medication supplies have been taken. In some of these reports, the school had no idea exactly how much or whose medication was taken. It is not at all surprising that these types of activities could occur. A 1996 DEA sampling of practices employed by schools for the handling of medication indicated that most schools did not have a nurse dispensing medication. Frequently supplies were kept in unlocked desks and a variety of people were tasked with giving medication to the students: school secretaries, parent aides, teachers and, in one school, the janitor was given that responsibility. Few schools kept records of drugs. At any given time, many schools may have no idea how much medication they should have. Although most schools had regulations prohibiting students from having drugs in their possession, many junior and senior high school students carried or administered their own medication.
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