Pay Attention: Ritalin Acts Much Like Cocaine
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Washington—Advanced imaging research has answered a 40-year-old question about methylphenidate (Ritalin), which is taken daily by 4 million to 6 million children in the United States: how does it work? The answer may unsettle many parents, because the drug acts much like cocaine, albeit cocaine dripped through molasses (J Neurosci. 2001;21:RC121).
Taken orally in pill form, methylphenidate rarely produces a high and has not been reported to be addictive. However, injected as a liquid it sends a jolt that "addicts like very much," said Nora Volkow, MD, psychiatrist and imaging expert at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY. "They say it's like cocaine."
Representative distribution volume PET images of the radiotracer [11C]raclopride from one of the study participants show that radiotracer binding is reduced at the level of the striatum (bottom left) after oral administration of 60 mg of methylphenidate. Reduced radiotracer binding indicates decreased availability of …
