Addral make you addicted to Meth later?

[maggie1562]

my 10 year old great grandson has ADHD he was given Addaral and Prozac to take.but his Mother wont give it to him
He is doing poorly in School and has already repeated the 3th grade. His Mother says he is mean to her and she doesn't care anymore she has two other children 2 and 3 and he causes problems all the time  . I worry about him all the time and I can't get her to give him his meds.She says everyone that take Addaral will become addicted to meth in later years ..
I need to know is she right on the addiction . I need the facts so I can convince her to give him the meds he needs to help him in life

[EOoms]

Not giving a child the correct medications out of spite is not accomplishing anything. I've been on adderall for a while now too and have done extensive research on almost all there is to know. Adderall is basically medical meth. Its an amphetamine while meth is a meth-anphetamine. So the mother has a somewhat logical point but an incorrect one. Just because someone does adderall, it doesn't mean they are going to do meth. If someone takes vicodine (an opiate) to take away the pain after a serious injury, does that mean they will do heroine in the future? No.
Adderall itself is addicting and can be abused but only if the user increases the amount they take themselves. Also the users body can form a sense of dependency which means their body relies on it to help them out and when they don't take a dose their body is thrown out of whack since it relies on the adderall being there.
Adderall is a very helpful thing and I wish I had been diagnosed with ADD when I was younger because I would have been a much better student with much higher grades if I had known and could have taken the correct steps to help myself.

[gonzal13]

I have been on Ritalin for at least 30 years. From my research, a person with ADHD or ADD cannot get addicted to the medications.  Meth is chemically different and illeagal. Amphedamines are drugs for ADHD, ADD. It is the usual reaction ofdparents when their children are put on meds like Ritalin. My wife has been a consultant for parents with ADHD/ADD and represent them at school meetings.

[Sandman2]

    If she were right there would be about 10 million more Americans addicted to meth.  What she needs is information about ADHD and how to help a child with it.  But to answer your question, the book,  "The ADD/ ADHD Answer book," by Susan Ashley ( I highly recommend you both buy it), says  "those who were not treated with medication were over three times more likely to develop a substance abuse disorder" (p. 225).  What she may have been referring to is the fact that, " teens with AD/HD who use drugs have a much higher rate of developing a substance abuse disorder" (p.222).   Anyway, she is wrong in so many ways.  If she doesn't start getting more help for him, he will only get much, much worse.  And by help, I don't mean just meds.  Both of you really need to get the book I recommended.  It will give lots of other ways to help. Meds alone are not the answer!