See how how Ritalin chemically affects the brain. Also view Dr. Peter Breggin’s testimony before the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs. Click here.
“Adolescent addiction is particularly pernicious because over a long period of usage, the brain responds to the hyperactivity of dopamine by reducing dopamine receptors, and a loss of receptors means less stimulation. The result is called tolerance. The addict must take increasingly larger doses of the drug to obtain the same high he or she experienced the first time around. And with the reward pathways so hyper-sensitized to being stimulated, withdrawal also comes quickly and is more pronounced than in adults, leaving the teenage drug abuser susceptible to anxiety, irritability, and depression and therefore even more determined to get high again. “
Francis Jensen, Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania