The NYT has an excellent piece on how drug companies have hyped “attention deficit disorder” so that millions of children and a rapidly growing number of adults are now taking drugs to treat the disease. The piece presents the views of several doctors, including one who first identified the syndrome, who complain that the vast majority of these people are not benefiting from taking drugs.

This is yet another example of drug companies pursuing harmful practices in pursuit of patent rents. This is a predictable result of government monopolies that allow drug companies to charge prices that can be over a thousand percent above the free market price.