ADHD in Children Health Center

ADHD Drugs Don't Lead to Drug Abuse

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Fischer's study tracked 147 clinic-referred hyperactive children for more than 13 years. They measured their tendency to use tobacco, alcohol, and drugs such as marijuana and cocaine in adolescence and early adulthood compared with another group not diagnosed with ADHD. All study participants were between ages 4 and 12 when the study began.

"One might expect that the longer a child stayed on the medication, the greater their risk for sensitization and later drug use," she tells WebMD. "But that didn't occur. There was no relationship at all."

Meanwhile, another report published in the same issue of Pediatrics suggests that stimulant treatment in childhood may actually lead to a lower risk of later drugand alcohol use. In that article, another group of researchers examined six previous studies tracking nearly 1,000 youths into adolescence and adulthood, finding that those taking stimulants had a lower rate of later substance abuse compared with kids who weren't treated with medication.