Letter to the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Demanding an End to Restrictions on Prescriptions of Stimulants to Children with ADHD

DEA Diversion Control Division
Attn: Liaison and Policy Section
8701 Morrissette Drive
Springfield, VA 22152

    RE: Prescribing of Stimulants in Children

Dear Madam or Sir,
I am requesting a waiver from your rules and oversight for doctors with child psychiatry training, for pediatricians, and for family doctors prescribing stimulants to children with attention deficit disorder, some with hyperactivity (ADHD), some without it (ADD). These rules include the prohibition of refills, the filling of scripts within days of their date, the limiting of post dated prescriptions to a total of three, oppressive tracking of prescribers, disruptive  harassment of legitimate prescribers.

Your statutory purpose is to reduce addiction in the United States. In the case of children and adolescents on stimulants, the majority must be forced to take them. Most resist doing so to avoid getting slowed down. Untreated ADHD is as silly, goofy, disruptive as any intoxication you care to name. They do not want to come down off this innate “high.”

This resistance to taking stimulants is despite tremendous resulting success, the ending of harassment for impulsive behavior, winning academic and conduct awards, the pressure of their families. The majority also have concomitant oppositional defiant disorder, where they engage in pointless opposition to adult instruction for no advantage to them. It comes as a package with ADHD.

This reaction and their features are the polar opposite of addiction. Your restrictions on these prescribers represent regulatory quackery. They violate the American with Disabilities Act Amendment, now covering mental conditions. They are against good policy by restricting access to care. They are cruel and stupid. Let me know your decision and any analysis by your legal counsel. If you decline this request, I will sue you in federal court for the above violations of law and of policy.