From: "Clay Olbon II" <Clay.Olbon@dynetics.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 00:26:25 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children
Message-ID: <AE0916E0-3A5976@193.239.225.200>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


First, a disclaimer:  I think adults should be allowed to ingest whatever
substances they desire, and parents should be allowed to raise their kids
without undue interference from the government.  

Having said that, I think that the major issue with Ritalin is that parents
are giving it to their children in significant percentages of the
population.  Since Ritalin is "medicine" and is prescribed by doctors, it
is assumed to be safe.  However, I would bet that many parents whose
children are on daily doses of Ritalin would not think of drinking coffee
or alcohol while pregnant or nursing.  It is important to consider that any
drug used over a period of time may have lasting (possibly negative)
effects, and that these effects are multiplied when the drugs are taken by
still-developing children.  

While it is crucial for an adult to be able to function and maintain a job,
is it really as important for a kid to be able to sit still in school?  

	Clay

***************************************************************************
Clay Olbon II       *      Clay.Olbon@dynetics.com
Systems Engineer    *    PGP262 public key on web page
Dynetics, Inc.      * http://www.msen.com/~olbon/olbon.html
***************************************************************** TANSTAAFL