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A new ADHD medication called Adzenys that has been approved by the USFDA for use in children is a chewable tablet that has an extended release amphetamine, and it is flavored and designed to disintegrate with oral use. There are so many things wrong with this, and some experts have voiced concern about the drug and the trend towards over medicating children today. Physicians stopped prescribing amphetamines to most adults because of the risks involved and the likelihood of dependence and addiction, yet this same drug is being provided to children. Some also believe that ADHD is over diagnosed, and that many children labeled with this condition are just emotionally immature or have a lot of youthful energy. Some are even calling this and similar drugs a gateway drug, and that it could lead to future substance abuse.

Not all Child specialists are alarmed about the new Adzenys product approved for children with ADHD. According to University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital assistant professor of psychiatry Dr. Ben Biermann “There’s nothing revolutionary about this drug. It’s simply another delivery mechanism for a medication that already exists and has widespread use.”Private practice child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Mukund Gnanadesikan disagrees, saying that a once a day chewable ADHD drug is “a recipe for people to request it and then sell it. I’m not a big fan of controlled substances that come in forms that can be easily abused — and certainly a chewable drug falls into that category.”