Rising Concerns: ADHD Medication Misuse in Schools.
A new study found that 1 in 4 teens in some middle and high schools in the US report they've abused prescription stimulants for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder during the year prior. Schools with the highest rates of teens using prescribed ADHD medications were about 36% more likely to have students misusing prescription stimulants during the past year. Nonmedical uses of stimulants can include taking more than a normal dose to get high, or taking the medication with alcohol or other drugs to boost a high. The solution to the problem of stimulant misuse among middle and high school teens isn’t to limit use of the medications for the children who really need them, but to look at school strategies that are more or less effective in curbing stimulant medication misuse.