Taking a stimulant or stimulant-like drug early in life helps prevent, not promote, addiction later on. Since 80 percent of addictions get started between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three, and since people with ADHD are far more prone to develop an addiction than the general population, and since taking stimulant medication reduces the risk of addiction later on, it makes a lot of sense to start a child on stimulant medication before age thirteen.
