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There's been a scare about the cardiac risks of stimulant medications for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). There's s a theoretical risk from these medications - used only as needed. There's been a scare about the cardiac risks of stimulant medications for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). There've been concerns in Canada about one medication not available in Australia. And earlier this year, an advisory committee to the US Food and Drug Administration (the FDA), on the basis of about 25 reports to FDA, recommended a major warning about the risks of problems like sudden cardiac death. In Australia the Church of Scientology, which is ideologically opposed to medications for mental illness, has been whipping up concern with stories of hundreds of complications. It's not easy for consumers. There is a theoretical risk from ADHD medications and they should only be used when they're needed. Nothing you swallow for therapeutic purposes is absolutely safe whether it's a herb or a pill. We also have an appalling system for monitoring medication side effects - so it's hard from random reporting to ascribe cause and effect. Governments need to insist that post marketing surveillance - watching drugs once they're on the market - is the rule rather than the exception.
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