Music producer will.i.am has slammed ‘pill-pushing’ parents of kids with ADHD who give kids ‘potential destroying’ drugs.
The Black Eyed Peas star has criticised parents who give the drugs to kids, saying his ADHD has helped him become a success.
In a new interview, will.i.am revealed his mother couldn’t afford Ritalin, but he was also not afraid to say no.
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The Voice star suffered from the disorder as a child, according to Event magazine, and has said that he’s relieved his mother never made him take Ritalin.
He said:
It’s not the kids who are the problem, it’s the lazy parents and lazy teachers who want kids to take Ritalin.
You don’t need medication, you need patience with kids who have ADHD. It’s destroying so much potential and no one gives a damn.
I was fine because I had a patient mother and some patient teachers but it makes me furious that you get a kid who has this creative energy, who is powering off the walls and people can’t be bothered to deal with energy.
ADHD was never my problem. I thought of it as a gift because it gave me an ability to join dots.
He continued:
What’s wrong with our society is that we want to pull everything back, stop people thinking out of the box and make everyone the same. I’ve never wanted to be the same as anyone else.
My mum couldn’t have afforded Ritalin because we had no money, but she also wasn’t afraid to say: ‘No. Leave my kid be.’
We need to deal with this issue because it is getting out of hand. It’s destroying so much potential and no one gives a damn.
Will.i.am has no formal qualifications, but spends a lot of time at education conferences across the world, and speaks with alarm about the imbalance of spending between artificial intelligence compared with that of human intelligence.
He was never looked upon particularly favourably by schools, but he was never given medication to dampen his ADHD, which he said gave him the skills, drive, and creativity to carve his own path.
He said he never doubted that he was going to be successful, and has since invested millions of his fortune into a scholarship programme in the projects where he grew up.
He has helped fund the education of scores of kids, and has crafted a business empire for himself, investing in social media, smartwatch technology, and even has a number of acting credits to his name.
The ADHD treatment drug Ritalin has been linked to an increased risk of heart problems in kids, according to researchers.
According to a 2016 study, the risk of an abnormal heart rhythm rose by a huge 61 per cent in the first two months of use.
This revelation has sparked long-running debate on the safety of the drug, though it is still widely prescribed for the treatment of ADHD in children.
