Fourteen Year 9 students had to be taken to hospital recently after overdosing on prescription medication during their lunch break at a north Brisbane school. The mass overdose is understood to have involved Ritalin, a drug usually used to treat attention deficit disorders.
While the normal dose of Ritalin is two or three tablets a day, the 10 girls and four boys at Narangba Valley State High School are understood to have swallowed up to 15 tablets each.
Teachers became aware the group had taken the pills when one of the affected girls came forward. The school immediately called an ambulance, but waited about an hour to notify parents.
About 12 paramedics arrived at the school around midday, where they found the teenagers "clearly drug-affected", according to an ambulance spokesman. "The kids were displaying symptoms such as increased heart rate, nausea and some of them a bit of dizziness." Ambulance officers transported 12 of the group to hospital, but two girls went missing from the school grounds. The girls were later found after searches by family and police and taken to Caboolture hospital.
Police believe one of the teenagers brought the prescription drugs into the school and distributed them to friends throughout the day. Inspector Keith Miller said there was no indication the child had been dealing the pills for money.
"Once kids take over 100mg a day (10 tablets), and all at once you are talking about risks of serious side-effects," Dr Jarman Senior pediatrician at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital said. Ritalin overdoses could lead to full-blown psychotic episodes, as well as hallucinations, increased heart-rate, agitated behaviour and tearful outbursts.
Click Here To Read About This On The ABC Web-Site...
A lot of ADHD kids are very bright - and some don't like taking their medications because of the common side effects: What better way to get rid of unwanted meds than to give them to someone else?
On my DVD, "ADHD To Drug Or Not To Drug" I made the prediction that we would soon see the sale of Ritalin at schools for "hits", and it has now happened as this article graphically demonstrates. The more worrying prediction I make is that there will be violent crimes committed by long-term users of Ritalin and Dexamphetamine - the signs are there that we are getting closer to this sad day? To find out more about how you can be part of the solution check out my "ADHD To Drug Or Not To Drug" program...
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