The most widely used treatment for the disease Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is the stimulant Ritalin. Use of the drug in the United States has been growing at an alarming rate since it was first prescribed for ADHD in 1981. Of the 8.5 million tons produced, over 90% of Ritalin consumption occurs in the United States. The number of children taking the drug has risen from 900,000 in 1990, to over 2.5 million today (Russell, 9). According to Jeanie Russell, author of the Good Housekeeping article, 'The Pill that Teachers Push,' "Experts say that about five percent of American kids actually suffer from ADHD, yet as many as fifteen percent of children in some grades in some school districts have been on Ritalin" (par. 11). These figures contribute to growing concerns that the American society is over-drugging its children.
             Teachers and schools play a leading role in labeling ADHD children. In 'The Pill that Teachers Push,' Russell points out that teachers have become more adept at identifying ADHD, than in "figuring out how to invigorate their classrooms" (par. 26). In an age of television, game boy, computers, and the Internet, the students of America are being taught in overcrowded classrooms that "focus on boring material dating from the 1940's." Yet, teachers wonder why the children are not paying attention. (Russell, 26).
             Lawrence Diller notes in 'The Run on Ritalin' that higher student-teacher ratios "and diminishing special education services" also contribute to the inattention of children. Teachers and administrators find "it easier to medicate a child than to work with a dysfunctional family, decrease the size of the classroom, or augment funding for special education services" (Diller 21).
             Insurance companies inhibit ADHD children from receiving adequate patient treatment. In 'The Age of Ritalin,' former pediatrician Je...