The interview became more heated when Lauer, who said he knew people who had been helped by the attention-deficit disorder drug Ritalin, asked Cruise about the effects of the drug.
"Matt, Matt, you don't even -- you're glib," Cruise responded. "You don't even know what Ritalin is. If you start talking about chemical imbalance, you have to evaluate and read the research papers on how they came up with these theories, Matt, OK. That's what I've done."
So I looked into that quote and yessir, Tom Cruise thinks Ritalin should be banned from being given to kids - same belief I have.
After watching Magnolia ........... I figured Cruise to be an absolute freak and the Scientology thing don't set well. But with this new piece of info ........ he's hard to pin down
Quote:
RD: You were diagnosed dyslexic as a child, right?
Cruise: Yes, but I didn't buy it. [When I got older] I tried speed-reading. I hired tutors. And I was just hitting this wall. It never made sense to me. I was very, very frustrated. I had a reading problem, no question. I was, from their definition, dyslexic, and, in their definition, I probably had ADD. I would ask, "Why am I having this problem? How do I resolve this?" They can't tell you why. There's no resolution.
RD: Did they want to medicate you?
Cruise: Yes, but Mom wanted to kill them. She said, "No way. No way." The amount of pressure brought to bear today is significantly different. It's like involuntary drugging that's legal.
RD: When did things being to change?
Cruise: In my 20s, I went through the basic Scientology tools and realized instantly that I'd found the answer. I was able to read.
I know very little about Scientology, but I do know or at least believe this. Our society has become dependant upon drugs for everything. If I had the time(maybe I should take the time), I would love to study herbal remedies. I also believe that major money plays a big role in developing and advertising drugs. I have a distant friend who uses old and natural processes to treat some ailments in her family with good healthy results.
Sorry I got off the subject................but I deplore the myth perpetrated by the medical community that there is seemingly a drug for every ailment.
Ritalin is a joke. I still can't get past the "coincidence" that when we stopped discipling kids, ritalin prescriptions started to steadily climb. We're doing such a huge injustice to our kids. We don't discipline them; then when they get rowdy, as kids do, we turn to a drug that will zone them out.
Sadly, public education is a huge reason for so many kids being classified as ADD or ADHD and being placed on ritalin. When I was an education major at one of Tennessee's most respected colleges of education, we spent at a third of our time in one of my special ed courses dealing with ADD and ADHD. That was unbelievable, considering the many much more serious disabilities out there. But the teachers-to-be are being trained, even ENCOURAGED, to seek out kids that can be classified as ADD or ADHD. Recently, the teacher of a friend of mine's son called him and his wife in for a conference and said that she thought the kid should be tested to determine if he had ADD. Which came as a bit of surprise to the both of them, but they agreed and took the kid to a pediatrician in Knoxville. After evaluating the boy, the pediatritian laughed and said there was no way that he had ADD or ADHD. He went on to add that this particular elementary school (which has only about 400 kids and is part of an entire special school district that focuses INCREDIBLY hard on obtaining the best test scores possible) sends more ADD or ADHD referrals to him than any other school in East Tennessee. The reason? ADD and ADHD were classified under the IDEA in 1991, meaning it classifies them as having a disability. Which means that, for one, for every ADD or ADHD kid, the schools get additional funding. And, for another, a kid who is ADD or ADHD won't have his end-of-the-year test scores added to the school's test scores. In other words, if you have a kid who performs poorly, get him classified as ADD and he won't drag down your overall test scores.
What public education is doing in regards to ADD/ADHD is an outrage. There are some kids, to be sure, who truly do have a neurological imbalance that no amount of spanking or other punishment is going to cure. But those kids sure don't make up the five percent of school-age kids who are being classified as ADD.
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I've seen a few kids who were being treated with it , and only one of them actually seemed to benefit from it . This kid used to bounce off the walls before they got the 'scrip , and he was still kinda hyper while on it . The others still had behavioral problems and limited attention spans .
I don't favor drugging anyone unless it's absolutely confirmed to be medically necessary , and for the briefest time frame that will acheive the desired result . It often seems strange to me that up until around the 40s folks didn't go to a hospital unless they thought they were dying since "wonder drugs" didn't exist at the time ,and they apparently treated most ailments at home with commonly available remedies with good success . Now folks rush their kid to the emergency room or family physician's office for the slightest cough. I dislike taking prescription drugs personally , although I'm currently being treated for acid reflux , I don't even take aspirin for a hangover if it can be avoided . My doctor is currently trying to convince me to take a statin drug for my triglycerides , but I told her that I'm very uncomfortable with what I've read and heard about them so that just ain't gonna happen. I'd rather just simply eat less fat than take those . Whatta they getting kickbacks off the prescriptions or something ? I'd really hate to think that was true .
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Kevin Haendiges
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Now folks rush their kid to the emergency room or family physician's office for the slightest cough.
In my home county, a LOT of people are on welfare and SSI and they REALLY take advantage of their insurance that the rest of us pay for. It'd be comical if it weren't so sad; our EMS director tells me that they have certain patients that they have to go pick up at least once or twice a week. When EMT picks up someone, as they get close to the E.R., they radio ahead to let the hospital know the situation. "Patient's chief complaint is naseau and vomiting," or "patient's chief complaint is a broken bone." Etc. Yesterday the radio that sits on my desk crackled to life and the paramedic's voice came over the air, "We're en route to your facility with a 45-year-old female. Her chief complaint is that she's feeling nervous."
You're right, Kevin. . . folks are crazy overboard with this stuff. My mother-in-law is one of them.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world -- Ghandi
http://www.rightminded.net
Ritilin is a safe and effective drug that has helped many children avoid academic and social failure. When Tom Cruise shows us his medical degree I might start to take him seriously. In the abscence of a medical degree any thing that Tom Cruise or anyone else has to say about the safety and efficacy of different medications is, in my opinion, uninformed and irrelevant.
As a teacher, I see ritalin used as a cure-all, which it's not. I also know of kids who grind it up and snort it. But, I have seen it be very successful with some kids. So, I'd have to say, it can be a good thing, but there are some problems.
About Tom... He's just sealed it... he's a nut job!
Ritalin .......... and Tom Cruise ?
