CCLE Actions |  Resources 

PLEASE VISIT OUR "NO RITALIN, NO EDUCATION' PROJECT
http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/makingchoices/

Ritalin (the trade name of Methylphenidate) may provide many people with cognitive benefits, but in recent years some school districts have reportedly been coercing parents to place their children on the drug. The CCLE believes that just as Ritalin users should not be criminalized, no one should be forced, or coerced, to take it. As CCLE continues to monitor Ritalin trends, policies, and laws, we have begun compiling this page of resources.

Revving up the brain
By Julie Deardorff (c), Chicago Tribune, March 7, 2004
An article on the use of Ritalin for cognitive enhancement.

Drugs, Children and Behavior Control
Resources compiled by the President's Council on Bioethics

Child Medication Safety Act (HR 1170)
Would prohibit schools receiving federal education money from coercing children into taking drugs like Ritalin as a precondition to attending class.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/health/2110307
New law stops educators from urging use of Ritalin

http://www.laegemiddelstyrelsen.dk/en/statistics/analyses/ritalin_e.asp
An Increasing Trend in Ritalin Use, by the Danish Medicines Society

Just Say Yes to Ritalin!
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=9838
By Lawrence H. Diller, Salon
September 25, 2000

Just Say No to Ritalin
New Hampshire Law Review (1993)

http://timesargus.nybor.com/Legislature/Story/41650.html
Legislation concerning Ritalin

News on Connecticut School Policy Concerning Ritalin
 

Brain Politics
National Journal Article on Ritalin

Douglas Montero articles on Ritalin and School Pressuring

New Hampshire is No. 1 Ritalin State

Mom Say's School Forced Her To Give Son Ritalin

http://www.breggin.com/ritalin.html
The Center for the study of Psychology and Psychiatry. The Center takes a position against forced drugging as well as against the double standard that legislation creates.

http://www.educationreport.org/pubs/mer/article.asp?ID=3218
Michigan Education Report. (Michigan ranks third in Ritalin use)

International Narcotic Board's Warning on Ritalin
 

One Pill Makes You Larger
Article from the American Prospect magazine looks at the Ritalin phenomenon in the light of other drugs that became popular during the 1990s movement towards "cosmetic pharmacology": Prozac and Viagra.

Medicating Kids --PBS Frontline Report

http://www.doitnow.org/pages/526.html
One page fact summary on Ritalin and growing trends

http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/44_e.shtml
Sol Morris of the SCI Youth Committee writes that “the power to force children onto mind-altering substances is rising as fast as the pharmaceutical companies' profit margin.”

http://www.breggin.com/congress.html
Peter R. Breggin M.D. Testimony September 29, 2000
before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations committee on Education and the Workforce U.S. House of Representatives.

http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq294ritalin.html
Ritalin on Trial: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Drug Company, psychiatrists and CHADD, from the National Association of School Psychiatrists.

http://www.afn.org/~iguana/archives/1997_05/19970503.html
Druglord Ciba-Geigy pushes Ritalin on kids May/June 1997

http://cpt.fsu.edu/ese/accomm/IDEA.html
Information about 1997 amendment to IDEA act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

http://www.reedmartin.com/addpresentationatlrp.html
Report on whether ADD is covered by IDEA. Brief summary of legislation, court decisions, and education memorandums that led to ADD being listed as a disability.

http://www.ideapractices.org/law/briefs/brief06.php
Laws and regulations under IDEA concerning children with ADD.

http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed352747.html
Lists and explains federal laws affecting children with ADD.

http://www.tommyjones.org/allaboutdrugs/ritalin.html
This web page presents several articles that make cases against Ritalin use.

http://www.resultsproject.net/psychotropic_drugs.html
Contains links to other sites where information about the potential harms of certain psychotropic drugs administered for ADD/ADDH can be found.

http://www.mentaldisorder.com/ritalin.html
Provides statistical information about Ritalin use in the United States.  Includes histograms and pie graphs.  This site is biased; it reproaches Ritalin use.

http://add.about.com/cs/ritalin/?once=true&
An all encompassing Ritalin site with everything from general information to FAQ’s. 

NIDA Ritalin Infofax
US government info.