Beyond Paper Rights and Ritalin: Taking Our ADHD Policy Proposal to the Senate

In advocacy work, you kind of have to push open whatever doors you can find.

I just sent over our position paper to Senator Chiz Escudero and Senator Bong Go—not because they chair the main health or drug committees, but because I’m fortunate to have friends on their staff who can make sure this lands on the right desk. I know that personal connections get you in the room, but real change takes broader reach. That’s why I’m also firing this policy package off to the leadership of the Senate committees on Health, Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, Economic Affairs, Justice, and Finance.

Before I hear back (or don’t—which is always a possibility in politics!), I wanted to share the main points with you directly. Living as an undiagnosed ADHDer in the Philippines means dealing with a system that ignores you when you need a diagnosis and punishes you when you look for treatment.

Over 90% of neurodivergent Filipinos are left completely stranded because diagnostic tests cost anywhere from ₱15,000 to ₱40,000, and there are literally fewer than 80 developmental pediatricians in the whole country. With no legal support, millions end up self-medicating—chugging energy drinks every single day or being pushed toward street stimulants just to get enough dopamine to function.

I actually know of people who had become dependent on legal and illegal substances as they blindly sought to remedy things that they were experiencing that all together is typical of people with ADHD. Invariably, they ended with with criminal records and health problems — which could have been avoided if they had access to proper diagnosis and care.

Our proposal directly tackles these systemic failures with straightforward solutions:

• Universal Insurance Coverage: Making PhilHealth cover specialized assessments, OT, speech therapy, and maintenance meds under the Mental Health Act (R.A. 11036).
• Fixing the “Two-Molecule” Bottleneck: Fast-tracking FDA approval for globally recognized first-line amphetamines (like Vyvanse and Adderall), modern non-stimulants (like Guanfacine ER), and executive function aids (like Modafinil) for the 40% of us who don’t respond to Methylphenidate.
• Prescription & Supply Chain Fixes: Ditching the physical paper “Yellow Pads” for an electronic S2 prescription verification system, and requiring major pharmacy chains to actually keep these meds in stock.
• Researching New Therapies: Giving DOH and FDA the green light to run clinical trials on entheogens (like Psilocybin and MDMA) for treatment-resistant conditions.

Expanding the list of approved ADHD meds isn’t a luxury—it’s basic biology.

Brains are different, and up to 40% of people with ADHD either don’t respond to methylphenidate or get hit with awful side effects like racing hearts, severe anxiety, or emotional blunting. Forcing an entire population onto a single type of medication leaves thousands stranded. Adding prodrugs like Vyvanse or non-stimulants like Guanfacine raises the treatment success rate from 70% to nearly 90%, helping people stay on treatment safely without dangerous self-medication.

If neurotypical people with hypertension have a range of different medications that target different pathways, why can’t people with ADHD similarly have a range of options?

We also need a legal, sensible way to research the therapeutic value of things like magic mushrooms, LSD, and MDMA. It is not to get high, but to help out brains function better.

Top global research institutes are showing that these compounds, when used in controlled medical settings, can help rewire the brain and give real relief for severe trauma, treatment-resistant depression, and cognitive paralysis—stuff that often goes hand-in-hand with neurodivergence.

Keeping them completely banned without even allowing research blocks patients from potential life-saving care. By authorizing monitored clinical trials, the Philippines can shift from outdated stigma to evidence-based medicine.

All of this fits right into recent legislative efforts, like Senator Tito Sotto’s Senate Bill No. 194 (The Neurodivergent People’s Rights Act). S.B. 194 is a huge step forward for civil rights—it lets psychologists diagnose ND conditions and mandates workplace accommodations.

But S.B. 194 treats neurodivergence mostly as a social and educational issue, leaving a massive pharmaceutical gap: it doesn’t touch PDEA rules, expand available meds, fix pharmacy stockouts, or authorize clinical drug research.

Think of our position paper as the essential medical companion to S.B. 194—making sure that rights on paper actually translate to real, accessible treatment on pharmacy shelves.