Is it just me, or do they look a lot like Percocet Aspirin?
  • Novartis
  • Is it just me, or do they look a lot like Percocet Aspirin?

This past Saturday, a 15-year-old New Zealand boy was rushed to the hospital by his father. Local news reports claim the boy was "was having a panic attack, hyperventilating and had turned white." He survived and was eventually released, but hospital staff say he was still "on edge" and fatigued.

The cause? Snorting Ritalin. According to the boy's father, he had been routinely getting high to complement marathon videogame sessions. When questioned about his drug abuse, the boy (unnamed for fear of reprisals) justified his actions by claiming the drug is non-addictive.

"Being such a traumatic, emotional experience of thinking my boy was dying, to `he is snorting drugs', put me in shock. I had a hundred questions but was too shocked and drained to address them," the father said, before warning other parents to lock up their prescription drugs lest their children develop a taste for the high life.

I'm doing my best to sound uncharacteristically sincere here, but admittedly, this piece was inspired by a pressing question I have for you all: Is this really a thing now?

I mean, I know Ritalin abuse is nothing new, and maybe I'm just not of that subculture, but is this a widespread issue? Do any of you spend your nights huffing faux amphetamines and writing thesis papers, or stuffing little baggies of ADHD pills in your pockets before heading out to a show?