Table 5 Proposed recommendations to prevent non-medical use of methylphenidate (MPH) and challenges associated with prevention.
A. Proposed recommendations to prevent non-medical use of MPH | ||
|---|---|---|
Print media | Bioethics | Public health |
Diagnosing ADHD more carefully [37, 38, 50] Supervising of students with stimulant prescriptions [33, 47] Teaching students effective study skills and stress management [17, 37] Informing students and staff of the dangers of abusing prescription drugs [18, 33, 34, 37] | Criminalizing non-approved uses of medications [3, 48] Prohibiting prescription of drugs for lifestyle purposes by doctors [48] Obliging manufacturers to declare safety data for unapproved uses to the FDA [48] Subsidizing cognition enhancing drugs to allow equal access [40, 48] Establishing a "ceiling" as the maximum cognitive enhancement permissible [48, 53] | Ensuring prescription compliance and responsible prescription practices [49, 52] Prescribing preparations that are less easily abused [41, 51] Identifying persons who are liable to abuse medication [49] Educating healthcare providers dealing with university populations as to the abuse potential of stimulants [51, 52] |
B. Identified challenges in the prevention of non-medical use of MPH | ||
Print media | Bioethics | Public health |
Logistical problems of enforcing a ban [37, 38, 54] Perceived safety of MPH makes convincing students about its dangers more difficult [35, 37] Abundance of MPH in healthcare system [50] Misuse of MPH bypasses traditional sources of information on indications and risks when taking a prescription medication [37] | Difficult to propose a ban on cognitive enhancers because of their routine use in treatment [40, 48, 53] Ban is liable to encourage a black market and be just as coercive as social pressure [40, 48, 53] FDA has little experience in assessing social cost/benefit of a drug and thus is unfit to take charge of such regulation [53] | None identified |