Medicating Children: ADHD and Stimulants

By the end of “America’s First Amphetamine Epidemic” in 1970, there were about 150,000 children in the U.S. receiving stimulants for a diagnosis of what we now call ADHD, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

In just four decades, there has been a twenty-fold increase in the use of stimulants for ADHD, and twice the number of those diagnosed with ADHD. Why this meteoric rise in the diagnosis of ADHD and the use of stimulants as a treatment?

About Our Guest

Rick Mayes is a Professor of Public Policy and an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Richmond. He is a former Medicaid policy advisor to the White House, an analyst for the AARP, and a two-time University of Virginia alumnus.

He has written many scholarly articles, and is the author of three books including: Medicating Children: ADHD and Pediatric Mental Health.