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Scientologists Decry New Ritalin Labeling
By Jason Pierce
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
May 20, 2002

(CNSNews.com) - A mental health advocacy group in California connected to the Church of Scientology is railing against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's revised labeling for the drug Ritalin, which now includes the option of sprinkling the drug onto a tablespoon of applesauce.

Jan Eastgate, international president of the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), said Ritalin, the stimulant used by many to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), could be just as addictive as cocaine, since both are stimulants.

"This applesauce and kiddy-cocaine mixture is prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which has not been scientifically proven to exist," Eastgate said. "Parents should be advised: Don't buy the diagnostic lie, stick to applesauce, and leave the stimulants alone."

A spokesperson for the FDA said the new labeling was approved April 13 in an effort to give parents an easier way to administer the medication to their children.

But Eastgate pointed out that between 1988 and 1994, a 19-fold increase in prescriptions for antidepressants such as Ritalin was reported for children between the ages of two and 19. Prescriptions for the drugs are most common among boys aged 10 to 14 and girls aged 15 to 19.

"Such drugs send the wrong message to children, that they are unable to control their behavior without using a pill," Eastgate said. "By their teens, they cannot differentiate between a legal drug and an illegal one.

"We spend millions of dollars fighting the War on Drugs but allow billions of dollars worth of brain and mind-altering drugs to be legally pushed on children each year," she said. "And it's the FDA approving this for essentially fictitious psychiatric disorders."

Dr. Russell Barkley, professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said CCHR's claims are false.

"The CCHR release is, as usual, highly misleading for what it doesn't tell people," Barkley said. "Ritalin is not cocaine and when taken orally has no risk of addiction."

Barkley added that the drug must be administered either through nasal inhalation or by injection for it to be addictive.

"What determines addictiveness of any drug is the speed with which it enters and clears the brain," Barkley said. "Oral Ritalin enters the brain slowly and clears slowly, over hours, and hence is not addictive when taken via this route."

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