Actually Ritalin (methylphenidate) is a legal form of speed.. Its virtually identical to Dexedrine another drug sometimes prescribed to ppl with ADD but was also used in the late 60's early 70's as a stimulant drug.. Dexedrine is a drug commonly abused by college and high school aged students either to get high or act as a study aid.. I had a kid in my class who did not suffer from ADD or ADHD but was prescribed Ritalin and he sold it to his friends and took it himself as well because it gave a speed like high
i am prescribed and i ummm know someone who used to sell it and i can tell you for a fact that it turns you into a zombie. so its portrayal in the film is very unrealistic.
I used to take it for studying, occasionally. And, though I thought it was very exaggerated in the movie, I saw what they were getting at. I remember getting a body buzz whenever I took it, which for a while became the reason for taking it. It turns you into a zombie when you come down, but while you're under the drugs full potency it can lead to wackiness. It's honestly almost like coke.
The only thing I just couldn't accept was that the pills were 10 dollars. I (when I did such shameful things) would pay two for 5 dollars, or at most 3 dollars for a quick release pill. XR (entended release) pills might be a little more, but if some assh*le with a prescription tried to charge me that much for his medication, I'd crap on his face.
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i did find the wackiness to be over the top, but c'mon, this whole movie was over the top. i thought it was funny. and as far as we know, charlie had a monopoly on the ritalin / rx drug biz at the school, ten bucks a pop doesn't sound like much to me. if you want a drug bad enough and have no place to get it, i doubt a few extra bucks is gonna deter you. and who is to say that the prices didn't go down?
while we are on the subject of ridiculous, even if charlie saw many, many psychiatrists, he'd still have a hard time getting all the drugs without different pharmacies. it just isn't realistic by any means how he got all the drugs. ,
Analyzing the movie as realistic is impossible because it is a satire albeit not a very good one. I don't think many current film audiences can appreciate this genre, primarily because it isn't done often and when it is, not very well. The last good movie satire I can think of is "Dr. Strangelove." Anyone else?
then you must live in a place ritalin is cheap because the actual police street value of ritalin is indeed 10 dollars a pill at the cheapest it is valued at 5 dollars a pill if someone was giving you it 2.50 a pill like you claim then you were ripping them off
The thing with Ritalin is that if you take it and you don't need it then it can definitely have effects like giving you energy, though of course not as much as in the movie. If you choose to party with that energy, then it is possible, especially if you crushed up the tablet to make it react quicker.
$10 may be a bit above average but I could imagine in a HS, when there is only 1 dealer, that the price could really be anything and would still have a sufficient market, especially when sold at an event like a dance when people are looking to do some drugs (alcohol, marijuana etc.) anyway.
I think $10 probably wouldn't fly per pill at college. The going rate for Ritalin, which is weaker than Adderral is probably around $3-5 per pill with Adderall going for $5 to as much as $20 around finals.
Also, lest we forget, most of these kids are not poor or anything. If the neighborhood that CB lives in designates him to go to that school, I'm sure the surrounding areas aren't that bad (although, with no racism intended, they did have some "hood" African-American kids so who knows...).