JANE PAULEY: Good evening. Tonight we go undercover to show you a frightening new trend among young people you may not know about. It’s a new way some are getting high using a drug that’s perfectly legal. In fact, millions of children take it by prescription everyday, and that’s part of the problem. Its very familiarity may lead your child and maybe even you to think its harmless. But you’d both be very wrong, dangerously wrong. Here’s Rob Stafford with a DATELINE Hidden Camera exclusive.

ROB STAFFORD reportin2: (Voiceover) From the high school classroom to the college campus...

Unidentified Woman: Most people snort it for the faster effect.

STAFFORD (Voiceover) ...a drug that is considered safe is being illegally used and abused

STAFFORD Did he say that this can be a dangerous drug if its not taken correctly⁹

Ms. COURTNEY BRANDYBERRY: Nope.

Undercover Dateline Producer #1: (Hidden camera) Do you know where we can find any Ritalin

STAFFORD (Voiceover) As you’ll later, our hidden cameras show a disturbing pattern of abuse and authorities warn abuse of’ this drug is serious. (Woman seen on hidden camera tape, Ritalin being misused)

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Can Ritalin be deadly? (Ritalin bottle)

Ms. GRETCHEN FEUSSNER: Certainly.

STAFFORD: We found college and high school students who illegally use Ritalin to party and to stay awake and stay focused when they study. To them it is also a wonder drug, known as Vitamin R, or R-Ball. Tonight we’ll show you how easy Ritalin is to find, how often it’s being abused and how dangerous and even deadly its abuse can be. And perhaps most disturbing, very little is being done to stop it.

(Voiceover) ‘Ritalin is good. The lyrics of a popular song played on the radio. Part of a culture Lee Lawson knows well. He doesn’t need Ritalin but starting in high school he began using the drug with his cousin, Lucas. (Ritalin; Lee Lawson; Lee with dog)

Mr. LEE LAWSON: It was a regular thing at parties going around.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) So on the night of April 13th it was no surprise that Lucas went to a party where Ritalin was brought out.

Mr. LAWSON: People were snorting Ritalin. They said, ‘Man, makes you be able to party all night and you can stay up and just have fun and hang out,’ and that’s pretty much why everybody did it.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Thai night, Lee went home early and was sound asleep when the phone rang.

Mr. LAWSON: The hospital happened to be just about three blocks away from my house, so I—I ran down there real quick. I was actually the first family member there.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) His cousin Lucas had collapsed at the party. By the time his friends got him to the emergency room, his heart had stopped. (Lucas; hospital equipment)

Mr. MICHAEL DONATO: There was some brain wave activity.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Michael Donato was the doctor at the Roanoke Memorial Hospital emergency room that night.

Mr. DONATO: We did manage to get his heart rate and blood pressure back. He was experiencing a heart attack, you know, which is very unusual in someone his age.

Mr. LAWSON: It was sad to just see somebody you care about so much just sitting there, you know, unconscious and not knowing what’s going on.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Lucas Lawson would never regain consciousness. He died later that night. He was 19 years old. (Photo of Lucas)

Mr. LAWSON: I broke down right there. I was allowed to go in and see him, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to see him like that.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) When the autopsy came back, one drug was in his system, Ritalin. Lee was shocked. He had always thought it was safe. After all, it was a drug thousands of kids across America take legally every day.

Mr. LAWSON: Most people I know would not snort cocaine, would not take any form of cocaine. But they’ll do Ritalin without even thinking twice about it

STAFFORD. Why would you and your friends never think of snorting cocaine, but it was OK to snort Ritalin⁹

Mr. LAWSON: I thought it was harmless. I mean, I don’t know why I thought putting something up my nose would be harmless, but I did. You know, five and six and seven-year-old kids are on it. How can it be bad for you any other way?

STAFFORD (Voiceover) What Lee and his cousin did not know is that Ritalin is like any other stimulant. When crushed and snorted, the drug mimics the effects of cocaine,more energy, heightened pulse and blood pressure. In high doses, it can even cause hallucinations.

Mr. DONATO. Increases your blood pressure, increases your heart rate, If you happen to have a heart that is particularly sensitive, you can immediately go into arrhythmia. Even a first-time dose can do this. It doesn’t have to be a long-time user. It doesn’t have to be an overtly high dose.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Although deaths caused by Ritalin are rare, that night in 1995 was a wake-up call for Lee and his friends.

Mr. LAWSON: There hadn’t been one case that we had heard of, of anybody even passing oul, going to the emergency room, nothing like that. It was just a shock.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Lee was 19 when he buried his cousin Lucas. They had both been out of high school for a year. They were adults. But we found Ritalin abuse often starts much earlier, in elementary school, middle school and high school, at a time when parents and teachers are supposed to be watching out for these kids.

STONE PHILLIPS Returning to our story. When Ritalin caused the death of 19-year-old Lucas Lawson, his family was stunned. They didn’t know Ritalin could be dangerous. Doctors say it is safe when taken as prescribed by children who need it. But like many drugs, when Ritalin is abused its a different story. How widespread is the abuse? How early does it begin? Once again, Rob Stafford.

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: I couldn’t pay attention. No matter like how hard I tried, I just couldn’t do it.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Like millions of kids across America, at 16, Courtney Brandyberry was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder.

STAFFORD: When you were told that you had ADD, how did you feel about that?

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: I was glad that there was it wasn’t just me not being able to, like, concentrate at all.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) A doctor prescribed Ritalin, and Courtney began taking the pills four times a day, swallowing one in the morning, one at lunch, one in the afternoon and one before bed.

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: It was kind of like a push to concentrate and, like, settle down. It makes you feel like you can actually, like, achieve something.

STAFFORD: It helps you?

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: Yes.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) But Courtney says she soon heard some of her friends, who were not prescribed Ritalin, were abusing the drug. Courtney showed us how they crushed the pills and told us they snorted them, using Ritalin to party and to study. And it wasn’t long before Courtney joined in. (Crushed Ritalin; teenagers using Ritalin improperly)

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: I would take it by mouth for a while, and then people kind of, like, started telling me about abusing it and things like that. And then I started doing that.

STAFFORD: What were the other kids saying about Ritalin?

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: That if you crush it and you snort it, like it’s like a homework drug.

STAFFORD: Helps you study?

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: Yup.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) And she says the best way to feel the instant effects of the drugs was to chop it up and snort it.

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: If you’re trying to be quick about it, like in school, you would put it in a dollar bill and crush it and then use a card or something to make it like powder. And then they would just snort it with a dollar bill.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) In fact, Courtney says the drug was so popular, many of her friends had special containers to bring it to school.

STAFFORD: That’s a Ritalin container?

Ms. BRAND YBERRY Yes. It’s an old compact.

STAFFORD: So Ritalin now has it’s own paraphernalia?

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: Yep. Same paraphernalia as coke.

STAFFORD: How often did you see kids snorting Ritalin?

Ms. BRANDYBERRY Truthfully. I would see probably five or six people

during a school day doing it. If it was in the bathroom or they would sit in the corner table in the cafeteria and which is surprising enough, they would do it right there.

STAFFORD: Weren’t there teachers around, or didn’t anybody see it?

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: There were I mean, it was really risky. But they would either, like, put a book in front of them or have people sit so they’d block them.

STAFFORD. Why were so many kids snorting Ritalin?

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: Most people I know did it, like, before they had a test or if they had to make a speech. It was for school.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) She said no one ever heard of a downside to Ritalin, just that it helped them focus.

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: It does help you. Like, I’ve seen people get better grades on things because they had done it before class.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) So how do you get it? Courtney says most often from kids who have prescriptions. And if those kids won’t give it to you, some kids simply take it.

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: People steal it. They’ll do pretty much whatever they can to get it.

STAFFORD: This drug is in that much in demand?

Ms. BRANDYBERRY- Yes.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Courtney says even some of her own friends became so dependent and so desperate, they stole her medication from her purse.

Ms. BRANDYBERRY It’s sad. It would be people I am friends with. And they would need it so bad that they would take it from me.

STAFFORD: Your own friends were stealing your Ritalin?

Ms. BRANDYBERRY Yeah.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Her own friends turned on her to get Ritalin. And kids she didn’t even know were suddenly talking to her. (Courtney)

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: People, like, you barely talk to will come up and ask you if you have any pills that you will want to give them or sell

them. And the younger kids, like the freshmen who are prescribed to it, they are kind of pressured to give it to them because they’re older.

Unidentified Child #1: (Riding bicycle) No hands going downhill.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) That’s exactly what happened to Paul and Chris Ross. These 14-year-old twins from suburban Chicago were prescribed Ritalin at age five. And from the moment they started high school, they were pressured for their pills. Every Monday, the twins brought their weekly supply of Ritalin to the school nurse. Other kids knew they were prescribed Ritalin because the boys lined up at the nurse’s office to get their daily dose. Paul and Chris say several times students offered to buy their pills before they turned them over to the nurse.

Child #1: Twenty bucks for one pill.

STAFFORD: Twenty dollars for a pill⁹

Child #1: Yeah.

STAFFORD: For Ritalin?

Child #1: Yeah, that was my highest one.

STAFFORD: How often were you offered money for your pills?

Child #1: Like once a week, twice a week.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Sometimes, the twins say, they weren’t just asked for the pills, they were harassed, threatened and worse.

Unidentified Child #2: They would beat me up in the back of the bus when nobody’s looking.

Child #1: Punching me, kicking me.

STAFFORD: Because they wanted...

Child #1: My Ritalin.

STAFFORD: Why didn’t you give it to them?

Child #1: Because I can’t. Because I won’t.

STAFFORD: Were you scared?

Child #1: Yeah.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover.) [t wasn’t the first time their high school had encountered problems with Ritalin abuse. Three years ago, police arrested a student for stealing the medication. Paul and Chris eventually changed schools.

But it’s not just their school that’s had problems. Our DATELINE investigation found students across the country who’ve been suspended or expelled for buying, selling and using Ritalin. At this middle school in Durham, North Carolina, 10 kids were caught snorting the drug. At a middle school outside Chicago, 15 students accused of selling or abusing Ritalin. And at an elementary school in Florida, an eight-year-old boy was

caught handing out Ritalin on a school bus. Two children were taken to the hospital after swallowing the pills.

STAFFORD. Is Ritalin addictive?

Ms. FEUSSNER: Absolutely.

STAFFORD: How addictive is it compared to, say, cocaine?

Ms. FEUSSNER: Pretty much the same.

STAFFORD (Voiceover) Gretchen Feussner is a pharmacologist with the Drug Enforcement Agency, where Ritalin is now on the DEA’s top 10 list of the most stolen medications. She says kids as young as grade school and as old as college are using Ritalin as a recreational drug.

Ms. FEUSSNER What they don’t know is that it’s a potent stimulant and that it produces all of the effects that cocaine does and has many of the risks cocaine does. This is a serious drug.

STAFFORD (Voiceover) But, Feussner says, taken by mouth, as prescribed, Ritalin is not dangerous. In fact, manufacturers say that’s the only way Ritalin should be taken.

Here’s how it’s supposed to work. The drug absorbs slowly into the blood stream, stimulating the brain and helping it focus on specific tasks more clearly. But when it’s abused, Ritalin is often crushed and snorted and, much like other stimulants, the drug rushes to the brain, giving a faster and more instant high and the dependency that follows. According to experts, when taken illegally, Ritalin can actually be more dangerous than cocaine, because it contains additives that should never be inhaled or injected.

Ms. FEUSSNER: When that is crushed and put in a liquid and injected, all of those fillers go into your bloodstream. They get caught in capillaries, and they cause stroke, they cause breathing problems, they cause cardiac failure. STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Courtney Brandyberry never thought anything like that could happen. In fact, she says, she had never heard of Ritalin hurting anyone, but she began to worry she was becoming addicted.

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: You kind of lose control, because all you think about is getting Ritalin. You think, ‘I can’t go to school. I can’t do this test or make this project if I don’t have that.’

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Finally, Courtney says, she quit. But many of her friends did not. And, she says, Ritalin abuse led some of her friends to harder drugs.

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: You take a person who never wanted to put anything up their nose, and you get them into Ritalin. And they see that it’s not that bad, or that’s what they think, and then someone offers them coke and they think, ‘Oh, it’s another thing I stick up my nose It’s probably not, like, that harmful.’ And they do that.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) And, she says, many parents don’t know what their children are really doing with these pills. In fact, she says, she fooled her own parents for a long time.

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: I didn’t have the nerve to tell my mom that I was abusing it, you know—to take me off of it. I didn’t want to disappoint her.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover,) Courtney is now 18 and has graduated from high school. She says, for a long time she felt like there was nowhere to turn for help.

Ms. BRANDYBERRY: Drinking and other drugs, there’s rehab, and—like AA and things. But for this, it’s such a minor drug that there’s nothing to help you. And kids are probably embarrassed to tell their parents that they’re addicted to such a common drug.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) The young people we talked to said even in high school, where kids are living at home and under the watchful eye of teachers and parents, Ritalin abuse is widespread. But when they leave home and head to college, finding the drug illegally is commonplace.

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) You guys wouldn’t happen to know where we can buy any Ritalin would you.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) So we decided to see for ourselves how accessible Ritalin really was. We went to college campuses across the country looking for the newest drug of choice.

Undercover Producer #2: (Hidden camera) You guys wouldn’t happen to know where we can buy any Ritalin, would you?

Unidentified Student #1: Ritalin? Ummm...

JANE PAULEY: Returning to our story. Our DATELINE Investigation has uncovered a dangerous, but largely hidden, trend kids abusing Ritalin, using it like cocaine or speed. How easy is it to score? We took our hidden cameras to college campuses to find out. Here again, Rob Stafford.

STAFFORD. Ritalin is classified by the government as a class-2 drug, the same level as cocaine. Did you know Ihat?

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) These college students say Ritalin use and abuse is everywhere and seems to cut across social lines.

STAFFORD: Why are they doing it?

Unidentified Student #3. Because it’s so easy to get. Because it’s so cheap.

STAFFORD (Voiceover) According to these seven students from four East Coast schools, to many using Ritalin to study and to party is an everyday part of college life.

STAFFORD. How many of you know someone or have seen someone using Ritalin⁹ Every single one of you?

(Voiceover) These students told us they don’t use Ritalin, but all say they know people who abuse the drug. Many call it the socially acceptable version of cocaine.

Student #3 You couldn’t look at someone and tell that they were on Ritalin.

STAFFORD: Is there any fear that, ‘I’m going to get caught with this drug’?

Student #3: I don’t think so.

Unidentified Student #4: Not as much as others.

Student #3 I don’t think so.

Student #3: Because it is legal. It’s not cocaine. It’s not marijuana. If a teacher questioned you and said, ‘What is that in your hand?’ ‘It’s Ritalin.’ Well, it’s not illegal to have Ritalin,

Student #2 1 have lots and lots of friends who have prescriptions to Ritalin. I wouldn’t say that they’re drug dealers or anything like that, but they will freely give away Ritalin to their friends to help them study. STAFFORD A survey at the University of Wisconsin found one in five students on that campus had taken Ritalin without a prescription. So we wanted to find out if Ritalin was really that widespread on college campuses. If that many students are abusing Ritalin, then surely our DATELINE

producers would not have a hard time finding students willing to get us the drug.

(Voiceover) We decided to put our theory to the test. We went to three different college campuses across the country.

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) Excuse me.

Unidentified Student #5: (Hidden camera) Yeah.

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) Do you know where we can find any Ritalin?

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) First stop: Ohio State University in Columbus. (Ohio State sign)

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) Excuse me, you guys wouldn’t happen to know where we can buy an Ritalin, would you⁹

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Without knowing a single person on campus, our

DATELINE producers, wearing hidden cameras, approached students, asking for Ritalin. Some students said no.

Student #1: (Hidden camera) I don’t.

Unidentified Student #6: (Hidden camera) I don’t know.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) OK.

Student #1: (Hidden camera) Sorry.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) That’s all right.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Some students wanted the drug themselves. (Man in library)

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) Do you know where we can buy any Ritalin?

Unidentified Student #7: (Hidden camera) No.

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) No?

Student #7: (Hidden camera) Wish I did.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Some knew about it but couldn’t help this time. (Campus)

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) It’s OK.

Unidentified Student #8: (Hidden camera) I was thinking I did know someone but they moved away, so...

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) And others said they would try to help us. (Man)

Unidentified Student #9: (Hidden camera) If I was back at my dorm I probably could. I mean, if you guys are gonna be around here for a little while I might go back in there and ask. Are you guys going to be, like, around?

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) Yeah. We will, actually. Late night.

Student #9. (Hidden camera) All right, when I get back out, I’ll see what I can do.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) These two girls told us they could get a few pills

for us later that night.

Student #6: (Hidden camera) We could probably find it for you.

Student #1 (Hidden camera) Yeah.

Student #6: (Hidden camera) Like, later.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) Yeah?

Student #6: (Hidden camera) If you want it for later.

Student #1: (Hidden camera) How many do you want?

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) Four to seven.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) It’s just, like, for tonight. We don’t need that many. We just want enough to get us through tonight.

Student #1: (Hidden camera) OK.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) It’s Karen.

STAFFORD (Voiceover) In fact, they told us finding Ritalin is so easy that

many students they know often use Ritalin to help them stay up late and

study during finals.

But it wasn’t just that campus. Next stop: the University of Texas.

Unidentified Student #10: (Hidden camera) You shouldn’t have any

trouble finding ii. I’ve been through it.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) And that statement proved to be true.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) OK.

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) OK.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) Thanks.

Student #10: (Hidden camera) Have fun. Be careful.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) In no time we met students willing to help us

find Ritalin.

Unidentified Student #11: (Hidden camera) We could probably find some.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) How soon, do you think?

Student #11: (Hidden camera) Probably this afternoon.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Other students said they didn’t have any Ritalin

on them, but readily admitted abusing it.

Unidentifled Student #12: (Hidden camera) Yeah, it’s good. Snort a

couple of pills Yeah, study for hours.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) Really?

Student #12 (Hidden camera) Yeah.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) A few students even suggested we fake attention deficit disorder to try to get a prescription at the school health center. (Campus)

Unidentified Student #13: (Hidden camera) I know how you can get a prescription for it.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) Really? I-low?

Student #13: (Hidden camera) You have to go take a test...

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) You can just tell them that you have ADD and it...

Unidentified Student #14: (Hidden camera) No, they’ll probably check...

Unidentified Student #15: (Hidden camera) You’ll get eight to ten, but...

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) But they don’t really check it⁹

Student #14: (Hidden camera) I mean, it’s kind of a subjective test.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Our last stop: Indiana University in Bloominglon.

Unidentified Student #16: (Hidden camera) And I’ve actually had Ritalin, and it does keep you up and help you focus on what you’re studying. So...

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) Does it really?

Student #16: (Hidden camera) Yeah, it does. It helps a lot.

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) OK.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Within only minutes of arriving on this campus, we found students willing to help us find Ritalin.

Unidentified Student #17: (Hidden camera) I can get it for you. Do you

want me to call you when I get back to the dorms tonight?

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) That’s OK.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) In the main library, many students knew exactly where to go to find the drug.

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) You guys wouldn’t happen to know where we can find...

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) This person thought they knew someone who might be able to help us.

Unidentified Student #18: (Hidden camera) But he’s kind of out of town right now.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) Oh, he is?

Student #18: (Hidden camera) He’ll be back later, but...

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) Really?

Student #18: (Hidden camera) Mm-hmm.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) Will he give it to people?

Student #18: (Hidden camera) Oh, yeah.

Producer #1: (Hidden camera) Later? Like tomorrow, or...?

Student #18: (Hidden camera) Probably later tonight.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) Really?

Student #18: (Hidden camera) I’m not quite sure, yeah.

Producer 1t2: (Hidden camera) How much do you think Ritalin goes for?

Student #18: (Hidden camera) I have no idea. Probably not much.

Producer #2: (Hidden camera) Yeah.

Student #18: (Hidden camera) He’s got a prescription, so...

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Another student said he hoped we found the Ritalin.

Unidentified Student #19: (Hidden camera) Let me know if you find some, throw some my way.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) On every campus, students told us stories about illegally using Ritalin.

Unidentified Student #20: (Hidden camera)] like Adderall.

Student #1: (Hidden camera) Adderall is good.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Oftentimes, students suggested we try other medications, like Adderall, a similar drug also used to treat attention deficit disorder.

STAFFORD: Now we don’t really know if any of these students really take Ritalin. And we didn’t try to buy the drug, because we didn’t want to put them in that situation. But we do know that almost every student we spoke with was very familiar with Ritalin abuse, and many were willing to help total strangers try to buy the drug.

(Voiceover) We contacted the University of Texas, Ohio State University and Indiana University.

STAFFORD: And in each case spokespeople told us they were very concerned by our findings and would do everything possible to stop the illegal use and abuse of Ritalin.

Ms. LOUISE DOUSE: It seems clear that Ritalin is now one of those major drugs that students are using and abusing.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Louise Douse is a counselor at Ohio State University.

STAFFORD: I’ve talked to kids all over the place, not just at Ohio State, and virtually every student I’ve talked to says this is something that is going

on all over campus. Yet counselors aren’t talking about it. Teachers aren’t talking about it.

Ms. DOUSE: Finding out what’s a problem lags a little bit behind where the problem is. But we also do a lot of training at Ohio State. We’ve put extra effort into trying to train everyone who has contact with students to identify when a student is in trouble in some way.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Even students who have taken drug education say they never heard about Ritalin. But those who teach drug education say they are doing their best to get the message across those like Glenn Levant, the president of DARE America.

Mr. GLENN LEVANT: If that community has a Ritalin problem, that DARE instructor talks about Ritalin abuse. If the drug of preference of abuse in a particular community is tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, they focus on that.

STAFFORD: (Voiceove;) Levant says that even if Ritalin is not mentioned by name in a particular community, each class is taught never to snort any drug.

Mr. LEVANT: There is no medicine except nasal spray that is designed to be to be snorted.

Mr. LEE LAWSON: I don’t know why I thought putting something up my nose would be harmless, but I did.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Whatever the drug message was, for many kids it didn’t get through. Lee Lawson, who’s cousin, Lucas, died after snorting Ritalin, says his friends thought it was nothing more than a fast, fun and safe high.

Mr. LAWSON: So when this happened, you know, it woke a lot of people up.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) A wake-up call that came too late for the Lawson family.

Mr. LAWSON: His sister got married, has two adorable kids now, one named after Lucas, a boy named after him. His middle sister’s getting ready to be married.

(Voiceover) He’s missed out on the rest of his life. (Photo of Luke)

PAULEY: What are the warning signs of Ritalin abuse? They may include loss of appetite and weight loss, insomnia, increased agitation or apathy. And bearing in mind that parents can’t watch over their kids when they’re

away at college, Ohio State is including Ritalin in its student drug education program.