Treating children’s attention-deficit disorder with stimulant drugs is not effective in the long term, according to a study uncovered by the BBC programme Panorama. It found that, after three years of treatment, stimulants are no more effective than therapy. The research also suggests use of such drugs could stunt children’s growth. The US multimodal treatment study of children with ADHD has been monitoring treatment of 600 children since the 1990s.