I follow the ADHD news cycle pretty closely, and the “big story” of the last couple weeks has been that 1 in 4 teenagers are mis-using prescription stimulants, according to a national survey. A CNN headline referred to it as a “wake-up call” and quoted a Yale pediatrician who said:
“We know this is happening in colleges. A major takeaway of the new study is that misuse and sharing of stimulant prescription medications is happening in middle and high schools.”
Sounds like a scary new threat! But, is it?? (lol no) Take my hand. To understand where we are, we must first see where we have been. To the archives! (newspapers.com)
Timestamps:
00:05 - my adhd news-gathering process
01:17 - “ADHD Medication Abuse in Schools is a Wake-up Call” CNN article
02:34 - “diversion”
03:59 - the medicine-drug divide
06:16 - NBC + ADDitude Mag coverage
08:02 - ADDitude Mag says: gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss!!!!!
8:40 - original press release for the 1 in 4 study
09:17 - some stats + facts on US amphetamine history
11:10 - going down the newspapers.com rabbit hole / pre-ADHD stories (1950-1980)
19:08 - post-ADHD stories (1980-2010)
24:54 - Monitoring the Future & history repeating
25:00 - Conclusions
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