Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 24, 1995 TAG: 9504240071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
At some point early April 14, one of the partiers crushed several of the white pills into a powder on the stove.
Lucas Lawson took a snort.
The rush is described as similar to cocaine's: a burst of energy that can give way to high-speed talking and a feeling of clarity about issues and events. The drug - widely prescribed for individuals with Attention Deficit Disorder and hyperactive children - has a reputation of being a safe and socially acceptable stimulant.
But in Lawson's case it appears it wasn't. The 19-year-old, who had a couple of beers during the party, collapsed after snorting it, according to witnesses who talked to police. By the time Lawson's friends drove him to the emergency room at Roanoke Memorial Hospital, he was in cardiac arrest. There, Lawson was resuscitated and put on life support. Eighteen hours later he died.
The medical examiner says the teen-ager's autopsy appeared consistent with a drug overdose, but he will not officially determine a cause of death until toxicology tests are complete. One of the main things doctors will look at is the effect Ritalin had on Lawson's system.
His friends say Lawson had no idea that the abuse of Ritalin could be fatal. Why would he, they asked? The use of it has become so common that teens have seen their peers snort up during class or in the bathroom. Some refer to it as Vitamin R - the wonder drug that can keep you up, make you study longer and party harder. Others have been known to take it in the belief it will increase their SAT scores.
Last month, police charged two teen-agers at Patrick Henry High School with possession of the drug. On one of them they found 11 Ritalin pills, investigators said. It was the first charge of Ritalin possession in the city.
The Schedule II drug - grouped along with cocaine, PCP and angel dust, all drugs with high potential for abuse - is strictly controlled, prescribed only on a monthly basis. Drug companies, doctors and pharmacists must keep records of how many pills are distributed.
But teen-agers say the tablets are easy to swipe from a sibling's prescription and easy to buy from peers willing to sell their own medication for $3 to $5 a pill.
"It's easier to get than beer," said a 17-year-old Patrick Henry High School student who agreed to speak only if his name were not used. "You've got kids who are sick and tired of taking it and they're handing it out to their friends.
"Out of 10 people I know, maybe one has seen or tried cocaine," said another 18-year-old high school student who also asked to remain anonymous. "But nine of them have done Ritalin."
For more than 40 years Ritalin has been used in the medical profession. According to some doctors, it is one of the most addictive substances available through prescription. But when taken as prescribed it presents virtually no risk, calming hyperactive children and helping those with attention problems to focus.
"It can be a dramatically effective medication and help with all aspects of the [attention] disorder," said Dr. Michael A. Sisk, a child neurologist in Roanoke who prescribes the drug for some of his patients.
"But it's prescribed very carefully, based on a patient's height and weight," he said.
Doctors believe that individuals with the attention disorder often do not have enough of the neurochemical dopamine, which affects a person's ability to process information. Ritalin is used to normalize that process.
But in those without the attention disorder, the drug acts more as a pure stimulant. Snorting the drug intensifies the reaction because it is absorbed directly into the blood. Taken in conjunction with other substances such as alcohol, the effects can be serious.
"It's like getting a double whammy" on the central nervous system, Sisk said.
The result: Hyperactivity. Talkativeness. It speeds up the heart rate, increases blood pressure and can produce seizures. In high doses it can cause hallucinations and ultimately cardiac arrest.
With the increased diagnosis of ADD, the drug has become widely used and accessible. In Roanoke Valley schools, it has become the most common prescription drug distributed by school nurses at the direction of parents, says Molly Rutledge, director of the Health Department's Roanoke and Alleghany districts.
The abuse of Ritalin is not new. During the 1960s and 1970s, it was misused by those looking for an easy way to lose weight and for a quick high. Cocaine moved in as the preferred drug during the 1980s, say drug experts.
Now Ritalin is slowly re-emerging as the drug of choice among teen-agers because of its accessibility, its low cost and its high, which can last up to two hours.
Nationally, the abuse of Ritalin has only recently moved to the forefront. Mississippi authorities believe Ritalin figured in the death last month of a college student who snorted some of the crushed drug, left his dorm room, disrobed and ran naked through downtown Jackson. Police found him bleeding from the head. He died minutes later from his head injury.
Also in March, police in Muskegon, Mich., charged a high school student with selling his Ritalin to another student.
In Roanoke, a group of teen-agers interviewed said snorting Ritalin has become common within the past three to four years. Some see the drug as a way to get better grades and a way to experience the thrill of an illicit drug without the side effects.
"Kids who were on the prescription were doing better and they handed it out to their friends to study better," said the 17-year-old PH student, who is also a friend of Lawson's. "It became a copycat drug and used the same as you would cocaine. You chop it up and snort it. And the kids are doing it because by doing it, it seemed like you're doing cocaine."
"No one knew" about its side affects, he added. "My 10-year-old brother took it and he's under 100 pounds and it didn't hurt him."
Lawson's college-bound friends say school officials and parents had warned them about drugs but never about Ritalin. They all grew up during the "Just Say No" era, but no one told them how to say no or when, they say.
"The only thing I remember from DARE class was the officer walking around with an incense stick that smelled like marijuana," said the 17-year-old PH student. DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), taught in the schools by police, is aimed at deterring drug use.
Lucas Lawson did not have a prescription for Ritalin. His family believes it was the first time he ever tried to snort it. They say he eschewed drugs. They believe that with a family history of allergies, he might have had a severe reaction to the stimulant.
"He wasn't some drug-crazed kid," said a family member who did not want his name used.
A soccer fullback, Lawson was finishing high school this year and taking classes at Virginia Western Community College. He was looking forward to transferring to a four-year school.
Hundreds of people attended the teen-ager's funeral. If anything is to be learned from his death, said a family member, it is to "make parents and children inquisitive enough to find out what kind of snakes they're handling."
Nobody planned the party the night of April 14. It just sort of happened. The parents were not home, so it seemed like a likely place to gather.
"When kids come to a house uninvited, parents need to talk about that," said Dr. Stephen Kennedy, whose daughter allowed the party at their house. "If parents crack down on what is deemed acceptable by kids in the community there wouldn't be as many opportunities to do the drugs. ... I know how much my family is hurting now by what happened, but it must be a pebble compared to the Lawsons."
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB