From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Jul 1996 11:13:35 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children [RitalinPunks]
In-Reply-To: <199607082103.OAA07069@jobe.shell.portal.com>
Message-ID: <199607082237.SAA10948@jekyll.piermont.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



anonymous-remailer@shell.portal.com writes:
> Something like 10% of ALL public school students in Tennessee are on
> Ritalin.

I don't know whether this figure is true, but regardless...

> Presumably, the percentages are similar in other states.  I have
> trouble believing there are so many kids suddenly suffering from a
> disorder that wasn't even discovered until a few years ago.

Actually, it and the treatment have been around for a very long time.

You are probably right that there are many cases in which the drugs
are given incorrectly because it is often easier to medicate than to
deal with problems by other means. However, that does not mean that it
is always a bad idea to medicate.

As for the long rant from the drug addict that took up the balance of
your posting, Ritalin isn't prescribed for ADD in quantities that get
someone "high", nor are its effects the same on such people.

> This has gotten extremely long, and I wasn't planning on it.
> But this ritalin thing is so insidious and is so OBVIOUSLY
> meant to do harm that I have to write this long thing about
> it. The whole attention-deficit disorder is a fabrication
> that traitors use to pump kids full of controlled substances.

The person writing this doesn't sound exactly rational.

Perry