To Medicate or Not

picture taken from http://www.harvarddapa.org/drug-ipedia/study-prescription/ritalin/

The other night in my Epsy class we were discussing ADHD and voicing our opinions on whether or not we were for or against giving students medication for it. I feel like I am on the fence about this but could be leaning towards the side of against it. 

In my preinternship there were a couple boys in our class that had been on medication for ADHD. A lot of the time the students seemed like they had no energy and were like zombies in the classroom. I felt like it would have been more beneficial for the students to not be on the medication and maybe be more engaged in the lessons and more active. I felt like it was stopping them from fully learning. I believe that in the class students should be engaged and should be active in their learning. I want students to have hands-on experiences in the class and if they are on medication the experience may not always be as good as it could be. As well, I feel like the long term side effects of medication can be extremely harmful to the students in the future. I feel like these days it is over prescribed and could be harmful to the children who it is prescribed to.

On the other hand, I understand that some kids may need the medication and could benefit from it. Some students are so hyper or don't have any attention span and may need the medication to fully focus on the class and lessons. 

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this they would like to share?