Should students be tested for drugs before writing exams?

Ritalin the much vetted cure for ADD and ADD and AADD etc is as far as I am concerned a medication that was created by pharmaceutical companies and psychologists in order that either or both can peddle their wares. I don't believe that ADD or ADHD or any other permutation of attention deficit disorder really exists. However this thread is not about the "disorders' rather the inventiveness of students and potentially the pressure they feel to perform and the lengths that they will go to achieve better results. How does that really differ from the use of steroids and drugs in athletics? Will we have to test students for "drugs" before they can write an exam? Or should kids who don't want to use intellectual stimulants be participating in an non-equal arena?

"It was late spring in her junior year, and Kelly Tek was having trouble focusing in her University of Pennsylvania classes.

She went to the student clinic, where she was given Wellbutrin for depression. But still, the classes were long and her attention continued to slip. The doctor prescribed Strattera, a drug commonly used for attention-deficit disorder (ADD).

"It helped somewhat, but it wasn't an amazing miracle," said Tek, 21, a senior majoring in International Relations, who said she has stopped taking the drugs. "But I have a friend who takes an ADD drug, and people are always borrowing some to help them get through a bad day of studying."

Forget going to the doctor for bronchitis or poison ivy. Nowadays, patients are increasingly demanding drugs to help them perform better at the company conference, study harder for tests, or eliminate performance anxiety before a big date.

It's called "cosmetic neurology," this use of new drugs that help people who aren't sick psychologically perform better socially.

Memory-enhancing drugs, ranging from stimulants such as Adderall to an Alzheimer's drug called Aricept, are particularly in demand, doctors say. Scripts to treat attention-deficit disorder increased 500 percent between 1991 and 2000, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. A 2002 study by the University of Wisconsin reported that one out of every five college students takes the stimulant Ritalin or Adderall, an amphetamine that can sharpen performance and memory that recently was suspended for sale in Canada. The drug has been linked to 20 sudden deaths in children in the United States since 1999.

Two newer drugs also are gaining a lot of attention in the performance enhancement arena. One, Provigil, is geared toward those with narcolepsy as a "wake promoting agent" but is often taken by students pulling all-nighters.

Another, called propranolol, has been shown to help people remember horrific memories without emotion.

Chatterjee said he was concerned that the marketing campaigns would not only have adult patients banging on physician doors, but parents demanding them for their children."

www.philly.com...


[edit on 8-3-2005 by Angelic1]

Are they going to start testing students for sleep too? ...
sleep has a lot to do with how well you do on a test..

Drug testing is an illegal violation of the right to privacy. Regardless of the status as licit or illicit, no one but perhaps your doctor, or your parents if you are a minor should have one iota of a right to pry into your body. Public Schools are the last place that this should become an acceptable practice, kids are learning that it is ok to be monitored with cameras, they are learning that it is ok to squeal on your parents, and now they are learning that it is ok for government and private industries to monitor even their freaking bodies. Right by right, facism is seeping into american values. Screw drug testing, unless I get incarcerated for crimes, what I take into my body is nobodies business, ever.

There is no plan to drug test any student that I know of - however should athletes be allowed to particpate whether they do drugs or not? Should kids be permitted to take drugs to increase their scores at school? Should kids vie for scholarships and entrance into choice colleges against students that take intellectual performance enhancing drugs? In the end what is this teaching children, especially when parents are encouraging them to do this?

My wife works at a center where juveniles are sent when they are beyond the scope of being able to function in society. Many that come to my wifes facility are on their last chance before going to prison. Some are from abusive families, parents that were drug addicts. Some suffer from mild (MR).

The ones from northern states almost all are considered ADHD/ADD and have been doped up at the facilites that they come from since day one. However at my wifes facility drugs are the LAST Resort. It is amazing how many of these kids start off unable to simply do the basic day to day activites without whining about how they need their drugs.

By the time they leave the facility the ones that fully complete it are able to reenter society without drugs and successfully complete school, some even complete school while at the facility. They have a higher success rate without returnees to the system than any of the facilities that send their youths to my wifes facility that use drugs as the primary source of controlling the kids.

There are some that fail the program and sadly there are some that the insurance companies fail them, insisting that their patient be drugged, and as my wifes facility refuses they are pulled out and sent to a ficility that will drug the child up, for the remainder of their lives or until the money runs out.

These kids that use drugs as the means to cope or deal are doing so because there are so many orginizations, health care workers, etc. out there willing to take the drug way out rather than a program that refrains from drugs.

Sure it may be harder, but its proven to be more effective and permanent. Give the kids the desire to accomplish things on their own, without relying on drugs, show them their worth as individuals, encourage them to set goals and make achievments and you will create a new youth.

Phae

Originally posted by Angelic1
There is no plan to drug test any student that I know of - however should athletes be allowed to particpate whether they do drugs or not? Should kids be permitted to take drugs to increase their scores at school? Should kids vie for scholarships and entrance into choice colleges against students that take intellectual performance enhancing drugs? In the end what is this teaching children, especially when parents are encouraging them to do this?

Yes they should be allowed to play .. just as some of the players themselves have mentioned... doing performance enhancing drugs does not coordinate the muscles to hit a baseball better or slam dunk better, the only thing it does it prolong the duration of your abilities.... if anything you'd think big bulky muscles get in the way ...

Originally posted by twitchy


Drug testing is an illegal violation of the right to privacy. Regardless of the status as licit or illicit, no one but perhaps your doctor, or your parents if you are a minor should have one iota of a right to pry into your body...Screw drug testing, unless I get incarcerated for crimes, what I take into my body is nobodies business, ever.

Umm, yeah...I think many would disagree with that outlook. If your "drug use" (licit or illcit) is placing the public at risk then testing is certainly warranted. For example: Driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence, piloting a plane while under the influence, etc, etc. Certainly you would agree that in some instances what you "take into your body" could very well be someone elses business.

Having said that, the idea of testing kids for ADD/ADHD drugs prior to exams probably needs more investigation.

haha interesting thread. back in the day i took a literature exam pretty intoxicated(lol alcohol), gota c heh heh. But anyways testing for that type a thing lol thats reasonable, but these positive enhancements with these i'll call em focus/concentration drugs i dont see it as neccessary. i mean cmon if theres a positive outcome who cares. theres no buzz involved its a tutor for focus basically at hand when needed. I've taken em never prescribed but off friends & they do make u think more clear, easier to do equations & what not. my 2 cents later

yeah would be kinda rediculous to test people before they took a test. my memory drug of choice is unisom...i know its a sleeping pill, but when i take it at night and study...i remember the stuff almost the first time i look at it...and then i can just lay in bed once the unisom kicks in really good, but i f i stay awake i can just lay there and literally look at my notes in my head like its some photographic memory or something...really nice...haha