Pubdate: Mon, 19 Nov 2001
Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright: 2001 The Salt Lake Tribune
Contact:  http://www.sltrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/383
Author: Martha Irvine, The Associated Press

KIDS BUY AND SELL RITALIN-TYPE DRUGS

She had no idea she had a popular party drug on hand.

To her, the vial of prescription pills she had once been given to treat 
attention deficit disorder were just leftovers, until a friend from New 
York called to ask if she'd mail out a few -- just for fun.

The woman, a 29-year-old San Diego resident, did not do it. But she and her 
friends were intrigued.

"We said, 'We should just try it. It could be fun,' " says the woman who, 
on the condition that she not be named, told how they partied on the drug 
once this summer and again in September.

In this case, the stimulant of choice was Adderall, an amphetamine. Others 
use methylphenidate, another attention-deficit drug more widely known by 
one of its brand names: Ritalin.

Whatever the type, authorities are concerned about ADD drug abuse.

Some unprescribed users are adults. But experts say many are young people 
- -- a good number of them grade schoolers, who get the drugs from peers 
being treated for ADD.

"They've got pretty easy access to it," says Steve Walton, a detective with 
the Calgary Police Service in Canada and author of the book "First Response 
Guide to Street Drugs."

Users often crush the pills and snort them to get a cocaine-like rush.

Walton says he also has found youths who frequent the rave dance-party 
scene "stacking" the drug Ecstasy with Ritalin to try and prolong their 
high. He calls the practice "alarming."

Reports of ADD stimulant abuse continue to surface in this country, too. 
They include the case of two rural teens arrested in January for stealing 
$9,700 worth of drugs, including Ritalin and amphetamines, from a pharmacy 
in tiny Lacon, Ill.

In March, 11 sixth-graders in Scituate, R.I., were suspended for buying and 
selling prescription drugs, including Adderall and Concerta, a newer form 
of methylphenidate.

Surveys of young people -- from Massachusetts to the Midwest -- also have 
documented the trend.

One of them, published in this month's Psychology in the Schools journal, 
focused on 651 students, ages 11 to 18, from Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Researchers found that more than a third of students who took 
attention-deficit medication said they had been asked to sell or trade 
their drugs. And more than half of students who were not prescribed the 
medication said they knew students who gave away or sold their medication.

"I've been trying to tell anyone who will listen," says William 
Frankenberger, study co-author and a psychology professor at the University 
of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. "People don't realize what these drugs are -- and 
that the similarities between them and cocaine are much greater than the 
differences."

Terrance Woodworth, deputy director of the Drug Enforcement 
Administration's diversion control office, says the age range of users is 
expanding.

"The kids who were abusing in junior high and high school are now in 
college," Woodworth says.
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