Compared to other killers from a public health standpoint, ADHD is bad. Smoking, for example, reduces life expectancy by 2.4 years, and if you smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day you’re down about 6.5 years. For diabetes and obesity it’s a couple of years. For elevated blood cholesterol, it’s 9 months. ADHD is worse than the top 5 killers in the U.S. combined.
Having ADHD costs a person nearly thirteen years of life, on average. Barkley adds, And that’s on top of all the findings of a greater risk for accidental injury and suicide…About two-thirds of people with ADHD have a life expectancy reduced by up to 21 years.
This is from Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey in their book ADHD 2.0
This is an unpopular opinion, but I can understand why you would develop such a viewpoint. You just have to realize that some people cannot function effectively in life and a strong stimulant can be a powerful tool to regain control over a doomed situation. If there were better, safer alternatives, they would be used. But there are not, so we have this situation. It’s not like these meds are prescribed by your local drug dealer. There has been a lot of research done by intelligent people.