I don't blame Joe's family at all if they wind up using Adderall for finals. I just know my limits as to how far I can ethically participate in this epidemic. But I suspect the other doctor will have no problem filling the prescription.

Shock and incredulity greeted a front-page New York Times article last week that nearly 1 in 5 American high school boys had attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

High schools and colleges across our nation need to be aware of this growing threat and the need to educate students about the dangers of prescription drug misuse along with excessive drinking and illegal drug abuse.

As I reflect on why this wave of opiate addiction is so rapidly gaining hold in America, I realize that the answer lies in the new realities of how doctors must practice to earn their livelihood.

There's certainly a place for these medications in the treatment of ADD. But I think we've done too good a job of "selling" ADD and Adderall as the answer to many teenagers who are in a normative struggle toward maturity.

The suicide problem is just the very tip of a much larger iceberg. That one active duty soldier per day is desperate enough to kill himself speaks volumes of the less obvious, but significant, distress experienced by many other soldiers and veterans.

It almost sounds too good to be true: painkillers that could be more effective in relieving pain and less likely to result in dependence and addiction...

We have to acknowledge that a certain percentage of the population will never be entirely drug-free, and we have to figure out what to do about that. It's costly and regressive to continually respond with arrests, drug courts and incarceration.

Children are learning that success comes not by training, practice and hard work, but by taking shortcuts. We tell young people, "Don't use drugs," but our beliefs and actions encourage them to win at all costs.