@changed my name: I was about to go looking for this... I remember it from many a Saturday AM in my youth.

Riff
www.anon-tools.tk

Kids follow what their parents do. If parents keep popping in pills, drink alcohol, smoke, etc, it's not a surprise that their kids will follow suit.

@Julia789: I completely agree. I teach in Korea, and I don't know whether Ritalin is common here, but I'm in a rather poor area, so I doubt it would be. I have one boy in one of my classes who simply could not sit still. He was constantly squirming in his seat, distracting his deskmate, talking in class... just disrupting the class all around. The homeroom teacher must have figured out what the problem was, because he was moved to the front of the class, then shortly after he showed up with a new set of glasses. The only problem I've had with him since is that he keeps getting ahead in his workbook and completing the exercises before they are assigned. If the teacher had just recommended medication he would probably still be spending half the class standing at the back of the room being punished.

@Rectilinear Propagation: Opera FTW! It dutifully displays the right-click nastygram, then lets you go ahead and do whatever you started to do in the first place. This might be a side effect of its less-than-ideal handling of javascript, but I'll take it.

I share your annoyance. My right-clicking is usually an attempt to open a page in a separate tab/window for later viewing. I only wish to view your image in context, thankyouverymuch paranoid webmasters! (Anyhow, aren't images better protected by a clear GIF overlay?)

Seriously, though, I HATE that we can't edit our comments. I've made enough typos on these pages to hang my head in shame.

Maybe you're right, and she meant a series of tests, and I took it the wrong way. I realize she did not mean it maliciously, she was trying to help.

Regardless, I took her advice that "something" was wrong, and called my pediatrician. She said that sometimes kids with mild to moderate vision problems are mistaken as having ADD or mild Autism. She recommended a pediatric opthamologist, before spending hundreds on psychiatric tests possibly not covered by insurance.

We made the eye doctor appointment and sure enough he was near sighted. We picked out some cute frames and sent him into school the next day, and the difference was amazing. The teacher said. "I knew something was wrong, I just didn't know what." Now he can focus, and everyone is happy.

But it makes me wonder, how many kids are misdiagnosed as having a disorder when they really need glasses? As some other people have attested to, they were prescribed medication as children without ever having spoken to a doctor or having any medical test. The drugs appear to have been prescribed on the parent's word.

Luckily it does appear the "medicating" trend has changed, and children are more likely to get extensive testing these days than they were say, 10 years ago. Medication is really helpful for those who need it. But they should be properly tested prior, and behavioral therapy tried first.

@thebluepill:

My first thoughts on reading about this were 'Poison Center'.

I wonder how man ever made it to the moon without Ritalin.

Just kidding, I love TX.

I had the same problem, but there was no gifted program. :P

@thebluepill: MR. YUCK! I remember Mr. Yuck from when I was a kid. I'm 34 now! Wow time goes by, but Mr. Yuck remains!

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): My child's teacher suggested he had ADD or mild Autism because he was easily distracted and did not make a lot of eye contact. She suggested he be taken to a particular psychiatrist for medication.

I declined. Turns out...He needed EYEGLASSES!

Problem 100% solved now.

He was distracted because he couldn't see the chalkboard easily. He didn't make much eye contact because everything was blurry. He was just really nearsighted.

Is that...Viagra?

Nothing is better than a gallon of nerds, and I'd would never turn down a free vicodin... Guess that's just me. :D

@synimatik: They are not lacking creativity. This is creative. Lacking intelligence? I'm with you.

we spend years reminding ppl not to put bleach or pesticides in soda bottles so the kids don't get poisoned thinking it's safe to drink.....

common sense is so very rare these days...

Wow. Next they'll be dropping turkeys from helicopters.

Then please stop holding them near your cleavage.

Agreed. The fact that I'm proud of how we do things in this district is probably what caused me to bristle a little at the original blanket statement. There are bad school districts and good ones.

@enthreeoh: Exactly what I was thinking. A Dots box full of Vicodin, where can I buy a bag of those?

@Rectilinear Propagation & @Underpants Gnome:

Both Firefox and Internet Explorer have a view source option in the view and page menus, respectivally.

The problem with her 5-year-old? Reading at a second grade level and BORED OUT OF HIS MIND so acting up. As bored children do. They said it was a learning disability combined with ADHD and he had to be medicated or could not attend school.

Her boys are homeschooled now.

What could possibly go wrong?

@TinkishDelight: Ok, that was kind of mean. Edit button??

Hah. Salisbury. Why am I not surprised?

I don't know if it's because so many below average people go to school out there and wreck havoc or if there is something in the water, but it is becoming more and more apparent that Salisbury is the idiot capital of Maryland.

Customers' hands. If you have a lot of customers, that is, which I'm hoping this one won't in the future.

@takes_so_little: Yes, that is a small sample, but encouraging nonetheless. Thanks for the follow-up.

@Ann O'Dyne: As bad as their "promotion" is, what else in a pharmacy can you stick candy in that they have large numbers of? Unlabeled medication vials are about the only container they have.

While I think this was a bad idea, I can completely see how it came about. It would have been smarter to tape a flyer advertising the pharmacy to the standard "fun size" candy package though.

@HiPwr: I wish my doc would prescribe me some MD 20/20. that would be the tits man.

@Rectilinear Propagation: I was going to completely disregard your comment until you acknowledged your missed apostrophe.

Apparently you did not learn anything from the schools in this area either. Your usage of the English language (grammar) is atrocious. I'm from Salisbury, received an advanced degree, and still live in the area. I'm sure I can match or beat your "reading" skills any day of the week.

What, may I ask, does your comment have to do with the content of this article?

@BenderRodriguez: I wouldn't clasify caffeine or alcohol as medication in this context. No doctor writes a prescription for grape Mad Dog 20/20 or a vanilla Frapaccino.

Additionally, adults have a choice about what you may call self-medication. Children are dependent on the choices of adults. And while I would never accuse parents of intentionally putting their children at risk by medicating them unnecessarily, I believe it is a distinct possibility that they may be making the wrong decisions based on the information provided to them by the medical community and the pharmacutical industry.

I wonder how man ever made it to the moon without Ritalin.

"No, no, noo, Nooooo!"

Thanks.

Similar Story:

I was a Nissan owner in the Fall of 2001. At the height of 9/11 and the Anthrax mail scares, Nissan launched its 'Prescription for the Common Car' mailing campaign complete with an prescription bottle stuffed with literature inside. About a week later, a very red-faced apology letter also arrived, begging for forgiveness.

"Holy Mother of bad ideas!"

My thought exactly. Wow.

@HiPwr: Children aren't the only ones who are over-medicated. Throw alcohol and caffeine into the mix and I bet almost 99% of America is on one kind of drug or another.

It's really going to cut down on my candy consumption if I have to get a doctor's prescription for it.

@takes_so_little: Is it safe to say that this generation of children are way more medicated than their predecessors? Possibly even the most medicated ever?

WOW, teaching kids that drugs from the pharmacy are "candy".

I betcha Wal-Mart (who owns Sams) sees this and gets to that store PRONTO before this ends up in national news. A store manager is about to be fired. STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!

To request a free sheet of
Mr. Yuk stickers, please send a self-addressed, stamped business size envelope to:

Mr. Yuk
Pittsburgh Poison Center
UPMC
200 Lothrop Street
BIR 010701
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

[www.upmc.com]

What if they hid the candy in full bottles of actual prescription medication?

I would like to have been a fly on the wall when they were having the conversation about this promotion. Who was there, and at what point did those individuals decide that sending a confusing message to impressionable children about the dangers of medicine was a good idea?

It doesn't matter how disciplined your kids are. IF they know what candy is, and they get candy, and then you take that candy away - they are going to not be happy.

oh this is where I grew up, it does not surprise me. The people in this town don't...what's the word....read a lot.

Sam's Club was stupid to give the candy out in pill bottles, but why would you let your kids eat the candy when this result is foreseeable?

This is incredibly stupid. And 'incredibly' is the right word. I don't understand how someone could be so stupid.

I agree with the anonymous comment on the Salisbury News page that said this: "Whoever thought of this promotion should be made to do volunteer work at Poison Control and see how many kids take pills thinking they are candy."

I can't think of a worse idea for a kid-related giveaway. The idea that those pretty pills are candy will be reinforced. So now if they want more candy, where do they go? If they had to put something into a prescription container, there are any number of smaller - age-appropriate toys they could have used.

Sam's Club has just taken three giant steps backwards in the medication safety arena. I'd be willing to bet they didn't consult the pharmacists about the promotion.
As a pharmacist, I'm totally appalled.

@thebluepill: Haha! Mr Yuck stickers? Where do I get those for my toddler? :)

The place I grocery shop at has free cookies for kids. I'm not saying I do whatever my son begs me to do, but he will definitely voice his opinion if I consider going to a different store. Luckily, the cookies don't come packaged in skoal tins.

btw, your username is somewhat ironic in the context of this article :)

...an employee was handing my two daughters actual prescription pill bottles with candy packed in them.

Oh, and OT: I hate web sites that accuse you of trying to steal from them just because you want to right click.

I wondered why the flavor seemed a little flat.

I suppose their next promotion might be to coat all of their cutlery in honey?

Idiots.

Kids arent the only people who eat candy

When I was a toddler, mom and dad were putting "Mr. Yuck" Stickers on the stuff that wasn't kid-safe for consumption!

There is no logical reason that a pharmacy desk should market to children in any way. Children cant even fill perscriptions, correct?

This probably won't go over well.

I mean, why advertise a pharmacy to kids? That's just inane. How many of these tykes are trying to decide where to fill their Xanax prescriptions?