The drugging of schoolchildren has become a worldwide epidemic, with an estimated 17 million on powerful psychiatric drugs to handle so-called “learning disorders”.

No longer just an American phenomenon, today millions of youths in Europe are diagnosed with the same “disorders”. And they receive the same treatment: addictive, mind-altering and potentially dangerous drugs. Ritalin, for instance, is a powerful amphetamine-like substance that has become a popular street drug, favoured by heroin addicts. Liberally prescribed for so-called hyperactive children of all ages, studies show Ritalin, and its sister drugs, can turn normal, healthy children into depressed, listless and sometimes violent or suicidal addicts.

And yet the trend is growing. According to a 2001 study from the University of Groningen, “Prevalence rates of stimulants (for children aged 1–19 years old) increased from 1.5 per 1000 (children) in 1995 to 7.4 per 1000 in 1999”. In 2002, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe confirmed the rising levels of psychiatric drug use: the highest rates of methylphenidate (Ritalin) consumption are reported in Switzerland, Iceland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg.