ADHD: Prescription Drug Abuse Devastates a Long Island Families Future
Nassau News Staff Writer
Nassau News explores how Adderall, an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medication, changed the life of Brian Helfstein, a former Hofstra University student.
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GREAT NECK, NY -- Adderall XR is a prescription medication used to help those people affected by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The medication is classified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a Class II substance, which puts the medication on a list adjacent to Cocaine. Why you may ask? Adderall creates extreme dependence and side-effects in those not affected by ADHD you could only wish on your worst enemy.
In an e-mail discussion with Dr. Kirk Martin, he explains ADHD as a reduced blood flow to parts of the brain that aid in focus and alertness. That basically means that the brain is under-stimulated and under-performing.
Brian Helfstein, now 23, was a former Hofstra student who was diagnosed with ADHD. He received his prescriptions monthly, but as his parents told Nassau News, he became overly dependent on the medication and allowed it to take control of his life.
Helfstein found himself using the medication more and more for recreational purposes as opposed to its intended medical function for focus and study. Adderall, an amphetamine a.k.a. as ‘speed’, not only helps people focus but creates what Brian’s parents described as a ‘mental-utopia’ providing Brian with the extreme happiness he craved. Brian found himself gambling and spending money hand over fist allowing his thrill to take over the area of his brain that controlled logic and reason his parents said. This loss of control lead to a debt in the amount of $30,000, a permanent withdrawl from Hofstra University, and a trip to a rehabilitation facility located in South Florida. His parents, afraid their son would need to declare bankruptcy, halted renovations to their house in Great Neck, NY to get Brian back on the right track. Now, as Brian recovers looking towards a drug and debt-free future, his parents are stuck with a half-constructed house and debt.
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