The reference to the 1967 movie based upon the book by Jacqueline Susann is quite appropriate here. According to the Internet Movie Database:
“In the Valley of the Dolls, it’s instant turn-on… dolls to put you to sleep at night, kick you awake in the morning, make life seem great – instant love, instant excitement, ultimate hell!”
The story is about three young women just getting started in careers in show business. The “dolls” are pills. Sadly, we’re seeing more and more of Hollywood self-medicating these days. Take, for example, the sad case of Heath Ledger who received prescriptions from several doctors and not one pharmacist seems to have warned him about the risks of those prescription drugs interacting with each other. The major risk being death.
Well, now the fuss is about starlets using a popular drug for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, brand named Adderall, as a weight loss drug. The fuss is about this “new” drug being used. Here is a news flash for those of you who weren’t around or didn’t pay attention to the 1960’s in the United States. Adderall wasn’t always known as such. In the 1960’s, Adderall – formerly known as amphetamine-dextroamphetamine was marketed as a diet pill. It went by many names: speed, uppers, dexies, dolls and others.
It wasn’t until recently that speed was used to treat ADHD. Apparently the drug re-establishes the chemical balance in the brain that is needed for focus and concentration. Don’t ask me to explain how treating a hyperactive person with speed will slow them down. I couldn’t tell you!
Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan are all members of the Generation Rx that uses Adderall to stay thin, and awake. The sad thing about it all is that this drug is addictive and eventually the body will grow accustomed to it so that more and more will be needed to get the same effect.
This isn’t new. It isn’t safe. It isn’t recommended.
If you have Adderall in your house, please make sure that neither you nor any of your children take it for the wrong reason. Prescription drugs are nothing to toy with and losing a few pounds isn’t worth your life.