ADHD / AADD - by Mike Exsted
 Yancey has been advertising for something to run in his opinion page, so at the risk of stirring up someone's emotions and thought processes, I have a topic for Mr. Sexton.
 Everybody has heard of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This is the imaginary disorder psychiatrist and the pharmaceutical industry would have us believe that 80% of all school age children, and now a majority of adults mysteriously suffer from. The adult version, Adult Attention Deficit Disorder (AADD) like its cousin ADHD is reported to cause an inability to concentrate making routine daily activities difficult and confusing. Young people who suffer from the disorder are said to have some form of learning disability, and can be difficult to handle in a classroom setting.
 ADHD was supposedly identified in the late 60's, which as coincidence would have it coincides with the peak of the hallucinogenic drug use of the 60's and 70's. I graduated in 1973, and I don't remember hearing anything about ADHD or any form of it until the mid to late 80's. I'm not sure what the relevance of that is, but I assume that could have been about the time the flower children and the chemically enriched would have been entering the work force as doctors, psychiatrists, teachers, and lab techs in the pharmaceutical industry. Ironically, the deep thinkers and drug abusers of earlier times may have actually discovered something less relevant than themselves, ADHD. Recognizing in themselves an inability to function in normal “sober” society, they put their education to good use. They named their problem ADD, associated a group of drugs to remedy it, and soon found a way to market it. I'm quite sure that AADD was recognized long before the childhood version, but it would've been a little obvious if they self-diagnosed and prescribed hallucinogenic drugs to themselves. They would have to find a more profitable and less addictive way to get their product to market. They would need an unsuspecting victim. Knowing that psychotropic drugs have the ability to turn a Mike Tyson into a drooling well mannered moron, I'm sure it seemed plausible that unruly, out of control school children could benefit from the drugs, but how do you sell it? Take a pharmaceutical company head that contacts an old frat buddy who just happens to be an administrator for a school district. He convinces his old friend he has a cure for his dysfunctional students and ADHD is officially born. I also found it interesting that ADHD originated at about the same time that corporal punishment in our public school system became socially unacceptable. When I was in school there were many children who had learning disabilities and were disruptive in class. Their inability to learn had more to do with their screwing around than it did any mental disorder. A trip to the principal's office for a good lecture and a paddle usually cured the problem. The students who had legitimate learning disabilities had special tutoring and psychiatric help available, not a handful of hallucinogens. There were also students from dysfunctional and abusive families that needed help, and they got it. Now, due to “inadequate funding” for our public school system, political correctness, and the introduction of Ritalin, students no longer have what we once took for granted. If a student has a problem, or causes the slightest distraction in the classroom, the teacher diagnoses them with ADHD, pops them a pill, and their problems are over. Children that once had access to social and psychiatric help are now force fed Ritalin, a psychotropic methylphenidate. It's unfortunate, but school administrators and teachers have bought into the whole drug thing hook, line, and sinker. And why not, drugs were, and still are the cure all for most of them.
 Now, after almost twenty years of successfully indoctrinating America's teaching establishment, they still aren't satisfied. How does the add go, if you are unable to concentrate, or you are easily distracted and confused, you may have Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. It may sound silly, but guess what folks; half of you already have your children on Ritalin or something comparable. How hard can it be to convince you that you need it?
 I'll tell you what, after September 11, 2001, eight years of the Clinton's, Afghanistan, Iraq, and everything else going on in this country for the past 20 years, who wouldn't be distracted and confused, or just not give a rat's hind end about anything anymore. If your head isn't screwed up your not normal. As for your kids, do you think they actually suffer from a mental disorder, or are they too just fed up and don't care? Do yourself a favor, get your children off the drugs and talk to them about what is really going on. You might be surprised what you learn.