Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Thursday lamented the bygone days when parents would beat their children who have ADHD with a belt to get them to behave, and implied that kids are overmedicated when it comes to combating the chronic condition.
“Attention deficit [ADHD], when you and I were growing up, our parents didn’t use a drug; they used a belt and whipped our butt, you know, and told us, ‘sit down,’” the Alabama Republican said to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
“Nowadays, we give them Adderall and Ritalin like candy across college campuses and high school campuses,” Tuberville continued before he asked Kennedy about his plans to address the use of such medications.
Senators had been questioning Kennedy, who President Donald Trump nominated to be Health and Human Services secretary and lead the nation’s public health agencies. Kennedy has long advocated for an overhaul of children’s health, and has railed against Adderall, which is used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
