House: Don't require Ritalin in school

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a measure Wednesday banning schools from requiring students to take Ritalin or other anti-hyperactivity drugs as a condition of attending class.

The bill is aimed at what lawmakers say are anecdotal but disturbing reports of officials barring disruptive children from schools unless they use drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or attention deficit disorder.

Nearly 4 million U.S. children had been diagnosed with ADHD by 2004, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Physicians use stimulant drugs including Ritalin and Adderall to reduce hyperactivity and help children focus their attention. But the drugs have been criticized by some who see them as overused in children who act up but are not necessarily ill.

More than 5.6 million prescriptions were written for Adderrall, the most popular ADHD drug, in the first half of 2005, up 15 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information and consulting company.

Doctors often rely on teachers to identify persistently disruptive behavior in kids that could be a marker of an illness. Backers of Wednesday's bill, which passed 407-12 with one member voting "present," said the measure was not intended to discourage such alerts or use of the drugs.

"This bill is not anti-school, anti-teacher or anti-medication," said Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the bill's main sponsor.

"Parents should never be forced to medicate their child against their will and better judgment in order to ensure their child will receive educational services," he said.

House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, said he had received "a number of complaints" from parents accusing school officials of coercion.

Dr. Lance Clawson, a child psychiatrist based in Cabin John, Md., said that drug coercion was not a widespread problem and that the bill could have a chilling effect on teachers and schools.

"It's already illegal for schools to diagnose or treat illnesses. They can't force anyone to do it," said Clawson, who has testified in front of Congress against the legislation.

"If you put schools in the position where they can't encourage and in some ways pressure parents to get an assessment, you do the child a disservice," he told United Press International.

Gina Moran, a spokeswoman for Ritalin manufacturer Novartis, declined to comment directly on the legislation. But she said teachers often play an important role in getting ill children into treatment.

"This belongs between a parent and a physician. But sometimes the teacher is the one to first notice that something is going on with the child," she said.

A similar measure passed the House in 2003, though the Senate never passed a bill of its own.

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