Nation IN BRIEF : MICHIGAN : Youths Found Using Ritalin to Get High

Some teen-agers are getting a cheap high off Ritalin, a drug widely used to treat hyperactivity in children. They buy or steal Ritalin from classmates who have been prescribed the drug, said Muskegon Detective John Workman, who arrested a high school student last week on charges of selling the medication. Several tablets, costing 25 cents each, are crushed and then either inhaled or injected, he said. The problem is growing as more and more youngsters are being prescribed drugs to treat attention deficit disorder, Workman and others said. The U.S. Education Department estimates that 1.5 million to 2.5 million children under 18 nationwide have attention deficit disorder.