ADHD – tackling the child drugging epidemic

As highlighted in the recent articles on the Huffington Post1 and in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry2, Perth is the world’s only ADHD drug hotpot to see a massive (50%) decline in child ADHD prescribing rates, along with a 51% fall in the number of high school students reporting to have abused amphetamines.  I am very proud of my role in driving that change.

I am also proud that I have uncovered dodgy ADHD drug-company sponsored research3 and embarrassed the Commonwealth Government into redeveloping its corrupted national ADHD treatment guidelines.4

I also drove the establishment of a multidisciplinary clinic5 to help reduce ADHD prescribing rates and set up a not for profit group called Drug Free Attention Deficit Support.6

My advocacy on ADHD has attracted plenty of criticism. However I make no apology for the time and energy I have put into fighting so that kids’ real needs are supported rather than simply masking behaviours with amphetamines.


To see more on Martin’s work in the area of Mental Health and ADHD, see his blog

Speed Up and Sit Still
(speedupsitstill.com).
  1. Martin WhitelyTaming the ADD Epidemic, Huffington Post, 03/09/2012 ↩
  2. Martin Whitely The rise and fall of ADHD child prescribing in Western Australia: Lessons and implications, Australia and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, May 2012. pp 400-403 ↩
  3. Julie-Anne Davies Curtin University misled about ADHD, The Australian, 10/01/2009 ↩
  4. Open book approach a good start for the new National ADHD Guidelines Committee, Speed Up and Sit Still, 13/06/2011. ↩
  5. Stateline, Treating ADHA without drugs ABC, 24/08/2007 ↩
  6. Drug Free Attention Difficulties Support (DFADS) – www.dfads.org ↩