(Debate) Children With Attention Deficit Disorder Being Forced to Take Drugs – Is It Ethical?

I am thirteen years old, soon to be fourteen. Even when I was a small child, my mother knew I had ADD. I had good manners. I wasn’t defiant or unwilling, but I struggled greatly with focusing, remembering and following directions, finishing work on time and etc, etc. The same problems still exist, but because I am on Adderall, they are less blatant. I know my problems aren’t caused by a poor diet. I am a slight health freak and a strict vegetarian; in other words, I have learned to be very conscious about what I eat.

Now, about the medicine:

1) Medicine affects children in both positive and negative ways, but does one side outweigh the other?

My opinion: I can concentrate better when I am on Adderall, but on the contrary, I have suffered from headaches, weight loss, panic attacks, periods of moodiness, lack of sleep and self-doubt.

Is it ethical to use drugs to try to change a child?

My opinion: I’m not so sure myself. I may be a little slow in doing certain things, but I excel in spelling, abstract math and vocabulary. I believe that attention deficit disorder is just an alternative (but equal) way of thinking, with its own attributes.

Do parents consider the possibility that their child can become addicted to methamphetamine?

My opinion: I don’t believe mine do. On the days that I don’t take it, I feel horrible. Although it is used to treat attention deficit disorder, it is still methamphetamine, and cravings are quite possible, even without nicotine as an ingredient.

And, finally, shouldn’t children with the “disorder” be taught to consider their creativity and abstract thinking a gift?

My opinion: I’m not sure about considering it a gift, but Hell will freeze over before I ever conform to calling it an impairment, as does most of society.

I would love to hear from parents and teachers who have children with ADD, as well as other children who have it.