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Monday, August 8, 2011

Drugs / Games Ritalin Is Bad For You

Posted by Earnest "Nex" Cavalli on Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 2:51 PM

Is it just me, or do they look a lot like Percocet Aspirin?
  • Novartis
  • Is it just me, or do they look a lot like Percocet Aspirin?

This past Saturday, a 15-year-old New Zealand boy was rushed to the hospital by his father. Local news reports claim the boy was "was having a panic attack, hyperventilating and had turned white." He survived and was eventually released, but hospital staff say he was still "on edge" and fatigued.

The cause? Snorting Ritalin. According to the boy's father, he had been routinely getting high to complement marathon videogame sessions. When questioned about his drug abuse, the boy (unnamed for fear of reprisals) justified his actions by claiming the drug is non-addictive.

"Being such a traumatic, emotional experience of thinking my boy was dying, to `he is snorting drugs', put me in shock. I had a hundred questions but was too shocked and drained to address them," the father said, before warning other parents to lock up their prescription drugs lest their children develop a taste for the high life.

I'm doing my best to sound uncharacteristically sincere here, but admittedly, this piece was inspired by a pressing question I have for you all: Is this really a thing now?

I mean, I know Ritalin abuse is nothing new, and maybe I'm just not of that subculture, but is this a widespread issue? Do any of you spend your nights huffing faux amphetamines and writing thesis papers, or stuffing little baggies of ADHD pills in your pockets before heading out to a show?

 

Comments (12) RSS

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1
used to be commonplace to use related drugs for attention, dieting, and other purposes. moderation probably was not heeded...
Posted by Spoolo on August 8, 2011 at 2:59 PM · Report
2
prescription drug abuse is a thing, and its not new.
Posted by ebag on August 8, 2011 at 3:06 PM · Report
3
It's definitely a thing. When I was in college, kids would snort adderall or ritalin before going out dancing. That was over a decade ago. It's kind of surprising that you don't hear about this more often.
Posted by Ghassan on August 8, 2011 at 3:23 PM · Report
4
This has been a thing for a long time - no need to ask how I know that.

And it's a thing for young adults, who are determined and reckless enough to crush and snort whatever comes into their field of view until something works.

Adults generally have the money/inclination to buy real drugs or alcohol.
Posted by Commenty Colin on August 8, 2011 at 3:25 PM · Report
5
Look, Nex, if you want to try it, go ahead, you don't have to ask our advice first.
Posted by Todd Mecklem on August 8, 2011 at 3:49 PM · Report
6
No one offered me ritalin or adderall in college. :-(
Posted by Never Alone on August 8, 2011 at 7:21 PM · Report
7
#4:

Totally agree.

Also, yeah, snorting Ritalin has been "a thing" for a long time. I graduated high school in 1996, and during my sophomore, junior, and senior years both regularly witnessed my peers snorting Ritalin, as well as did it myself a few times.

The basic line of thinking at that time for bored kids my age was that if we couldn't get pot (which is expensive [on a teenager's budget] and illegal), then we'd have to get something else, and Ritalin was pretty high up on the list of other things to get high with, and it was easy to obtain.

All things considered, this kind of story isn't a terribly shocking revelation.
Posted by Snagglepuss on August 8, 2011 at 8:09 PM · Report
8
Yeah, I knew a few kids in high school that snorted the stuff in the mid-90s. One friend of mine was prone to Rit Rage - not fun to be around. And my brother's roommate at a state school in the south had to buy a safe to keep people from stealing his Adderall. Kids down there would use it as a study aid. I'd say that makes their degrees about as valid as Barry Bonds' home run record, but hey, I'm a traditionalist, I guess.
Posted by ElGordo on August 8, 2011 at 8:38 PM · Report
9
Judicious use of methamphetamine got me through the writing during grad school. However, I wouldn't recommend it if one doesn't have a specific set goal to meet. And no, taking the engine of the rusting heap in the front yard apart over and over again doesn't count. Or maybe it does..
Posted by jake on August 9, 2011 at 12:02 AM · Report
10
i have heard of it being used countless times by college class mates as a way of being able to cram for tests. I once read an editoral piece on how these drugs are like steroids for body builders when it comes to preparing for examines and that the potential for abuse could lead to an epidemic of high school and college kids using the drugs to just stay competitive.
Posted by somewhereinbetween on August 9, 2011 at 6:14 AM · Report
11
It takes certain personality traits to like to want to/not want to snort, huff, smoke, ingest and shoot weird shit.
Posted by Tom [______] . on August 9, 2011 at 10:01 AM · Report
12
OH Tom! That was amazing...
Posted by Britney Spears on August 9, 2011 at 10:31 AM · Report

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