PAY ATTENTION: High Schools' Hidden Drug Problem | Alan Schwarz | TEDxEdgemontSchool

Alcohol and other drugs get the headlines, but high-pressure high schools in the United States are grappling with a relatively hidden problem -- students abusing Adderall and other ADHD drugs to improve their concentration and study harder. (Some even snort it before the SATs.) Pulitzer-nominated journalist Alan Schwarz, author of "ADHD Nation: Children, Doctors, Big Pharma, and the Making of an American Epidemic," describes this growing problem and implores parents and other adults to realize the risks kids take to meet high school demands. ALAN SCHWARZ is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist best known for his reportage of public health issues for The New York Times. His 130-article series on concussions in sports is roundly credited with exposing the seriousness of head injuries in the National Football League and all youth athletics. His work was profiled in several films and was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, journalism's highest honor. A subsequent series on A.D.H.D. and other psychiatric disorders in children led to his writing "A.D.H.D. NATION: Children, Doctors, Big Pharma and the Making of an American Epidemic," published in September 2016. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx