Youths who misuse stimulants prescribed for ADHD or other behavioral disorders usually do so in the context of other drug abuse, while those who received these drugs for conditions other than ADHD were more likely to sell their drugs to others, Medical News Today reported April 3.

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital said that their interviews with 98 young men -- 55 with ADHD and 48 who did not have ADHD -- showed that 11 percent of those without ADHD admitted to selling their drugs to others, while none of the ADHD patients did. The non-ADHD patients also were more likely to say that they took too much of their medication, took their drugs to get high, or used their prescribed stimulants in combination with other drugs.

Every participant who admitted selling their drugs met the criteria for either substance abuse or conduct disorder, as did 83 percent of those who reported misusing their drugs.

"Now that we know who misuses those drugs and which are most likely to be misused, we can pursue efforts to make sure they are appropriately prescribed and monitored," said lead researcher Timothy Wilens, M.D. of Harvard Medical School.

The study appears in the April 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.