Drug Issues
...rmaceutical companies promoting the drug. Ritalin is prescribed to children who are diagnosed with attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). If we look at the statistics we see that 90% of all the Ritalin produced is consumed by American children. It is argue that not everyone prescribed Ritalin needs it, this is because millions of dollars have been used to promote and sell this drug. Conversely you could also argue that the perception of Ritalin being over prescribed is fictitious. In fact some experts even go as far to believe it is under prescribed in some areas. They argue that the large increase in prescriptions for Ritalin is not a problem because more children who have ADHD are getting treatment compared to a decade ago. ADHD is a chemical imbalance and children who are diagnosed with this, benefit from taking Ritalin. If there is this many children who are being treated for ADHD, what about the other percent of children who have the disorder but not being treated? I don’t think that Ritalin is being over prescribed; I think that in the last decade there has been a lot of research done to learn more about ADHD, how to treat it, and how to detect it. With more knowledge of this disorder more and more children who weren’t getting treated are, “less likely to slip through the cracks,” as Dr. Sally Satel puts it. As a person who has been diagnosed with this disorder I couldn’t possibly think that drugs such as Ritalin are over prescribed. I was not diagnosed until I was 16 years old, to me that means that for a majority of my life I was suffering from a disorder that I didn’t know existed. I believe if I could go that long without knowing that I had a disorder then there must be other children out there who will never know and never get the treatment they require. As we learn more about ADHD, I think we will be able to make it easier to detect and diagnose. Issue 3: Will a Lower Blood Alcohol Level for Drunk Driving Reduce Automobile Accidents? A lower BAC level for drunk driving will most likely reduce automobile accidents for a number of reasons. First off, alcohol impairs your judgment which is extremely important for driving a car safely. Secondly there are numerous of accidents caused by alcohol that are not necessary, there is no reason to drink while you are impaired. Statistically a lower BAC level results in the decrease of number of automobile accidents. On the other hand the University of North Carolina conducted a study on the BAC law in North Carolina and concluded that the change to .08 had little or no effect. As well as no decrease in alcohol-related automobile accidents. There was no change in the percentage of fatalities that could be included with the .08 law. There is no indisputable evidence that proves lowering the BAC level will reduce automobile accidents. Personally I think lowering the BAC level will reduce automobile accidents because of the fact that alcohol impairs judgment. Even though it can’t be statistically proven common sense would lead me to believe that it would reduce automobile accidents. I don’t know whether ...