tonight on "nightline," mommy's little helper. they are overstressed and overworked. and they are taking their children's prescription drugs to help them do it all. the dangerous rise of adderall addicted women, trying to be super moms and super wives. fighting back. a batlion of rebels, fighting for their lives, families and freedom. in one of the most dangerous countries on earth, an incredible story from the front lines of the vie leapt conflict raging in syria. and charlie's comeback? after his career imploding breakdown, charlie sheen is back and he's telling all about smoking, drinking, and his next big protect. >> announcer: from the global

resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," june 27th, 2012. >> good evening, i'm bill weir. well, there was valium in the '60s, prozac in the '90s, and now the growing mother's little helper of choice is adderall, normally used to help kids with attention deficit disorder. desperate to find more energy and focus under the content comma demands, they raid their kid's prescription bottles. with the details of what comes next, here's abc's dan harris. >> reporter: this is the story of how one day, a mother of four on a quiet block in minneapolis made an impulsive decision, one that took this mom to darker places than she ever imagined possible. >> i grew up in a house where my mom was very neat and everything was really clean and beautiful

dinners every night and that didn't come naturally for me. >> reporter: drowning in the daily drudgery of dinner, dishes and laundry, betsy degree was thrown was seemed like a lifeline. one of her children was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and prescribed the drug adderall. you were sitting here one day, thinking, this place is a mess, i have to clean it -- >> those bottles, like, almost, like, blinked at me all the time, like, they were calling me. >> reporter: one day, betsy took one. stole one, really, from her own children. >> it was immediate. i was able to get the stuff done around the house. i cooked the dinner and had everything perfect. and iliked the way it made me feel. >> reporter: did it make you feel like super mom? >> it did. >> reporter: you said you would go from undoable loads of laundry to -- >> staying up until 3:00 a.m. getting it dope. >> reporter: they sought she would only take it once, but she started taking it all dale every

day. could not stop. i would be like, okay, just one more time. >> reporter: while adderall has been shown to work for people who really need it for adhd, when it is abused, it can be incredibly addictive. its active ingredient is amphetamine. >> the crash after that, you are so xused and it was never a good day for me to be exhausted. so, i just would continue to do it. >> reporter: how bad is the crash? >> it is terrible. you just want to sleep all the time. super crabby, just rageful crabby, horrible. >> reporter: when betsy ran out, she had to convince the family doctor to write more prescriptions. >> i would call and say, we lost them, i would call and say that dose isn't right, can we try a different dose. >> reporter: every trick in the book. she is not alone. over the last decade, an astonishing 750% increase in adderall prescriptions for women between 26 and 39.

critics say clearly not all of these women need the drug. >> women are expected to play multiple roles. mother, housewife, working. and so with the energy that can be gained from these medications initially, they are very attractive. >> reporter: we were stunned to find there is a whole hidden ecosystems of websites dedicated to teaching people how to trick their doctors. check this out. if you go to yahoo and type in the worlds "how do i get my doctor to prescribe adderall," will you get tens of millions of results. you will find scripted lines you can memorize and use with your doctor. according to one study, nearly a quarter of all adults who go to doctors seeking help for adhd may be faking their symptoms. >> your life becomes a squirrel, just looking for that nut. looking for that adderall. >> reporter: joani, a registered nurse, started taking adderall after she read a book that told

her what to say to her doctor. she got an extra benefit 0 on top of the energy boost. weight loss. >> it's just like speed was. women have been using amphetamines for years to lose weight. >> people have a naive acceptance of these drugs. we have an increase of women endening up in our treatment programs. >> reporter: adderall can drive people to extremes. one day joani took ten adderall pills and went to the hospital with an overdose. >> i had a sharp pain in my chest, southwe chest, sweating, pain down my arm. >> reporter: and when betsy, who admits she has struggled with addiction issues all of her life, decided she could no longer fool her doctor, listen to what she did next. >> i switched to myeth. >> reporter: you are smoking meth -- >> in my bedroom, with the doors locked. all day, all night. every day.

>> reporter: it got that bad? >> it did. >> reporter: she lost her business and she says, she nearly lost her kids. both betsy and joani are now clean. so, what would you say to a mom out there right now who is thinking, maybe i'll take one of my kid's pills. >> i would say -- i would say don't. it can happen to anybody, i guess. >> reporter: for "nightline," this is dan harris in white bear lake, minnesota. >> our thanks to dan for that. coming up next, the most stagger, video from inside a place nearly impossible to cover these days. what is really happening inside syria. are you crazy? i would never go out without my covergirl. i want to look natural, not naked! but look! with covergirl, all you need is 3 little things to make beauty powerful for you. lashblast for voluptuous volume,

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continues from new york city with bill weir. >> it is among the most dangerous places in the world tonight. syria. a country rocked by rebellion against a president determined to stop the sort of movement that changed egypt and libya. 10,000 lives have been lost so far. many of them women and kids. u.n. inspectors have fled from the violence and a media blackout makes it nearly impossible to understand the scope of the horror there. but our colleagues at the bbc braved the gun fire to imbed with one group of rebels. here's ian panel. >> reporter: forged in the fires of war, a new kind of rebel is emerging. bigger, battle hardened and more organized than weevil ever seen before. for two weeks, we were given exclusive access to the idlib martyrs brigade. 12 battalions and hundreds of

men strong. now working together for the first time. armed with a few more weapons and a lot more ammunition, seeping through the borders to where they live, fight and pray. and if these are desperate times, then these are also desperate measures. because the deadly package being delivered on the bike is an ied. the men creep onto land controlled by the military, just down the road from an army base. the bomb carefully, slowly primed. and the device is planted and hidden. this tactic is now being used across syria. >> translator: we're still weak. we make the bombs because we lack weapons. our people are being slaughtered and no one else cares.

>> reporter: well, this is a pretty youaudacious operation. essentially, that checkpoint down the hill is acting as bait to try and lure government troops out of their compound, into their tanks and armored vehicles, down the road, and that's when they are going to detonate their ied. who you are witnessing is the rebel army going on the offensive. the tanks advance, opening fire. and for awhile, we're pinned down. the rebels didn't expect the army to come from behind, and with the ied now in the wrong place, they've had to run away. they were outgunned and o outflanked. and the operation is a failure. the fightings happen daily now. and it's the innocent who suffer the most. in the vilis village, mohamed m

the death of one of his six sons, after artillery shells blasted through the bedroom where they slept. we were taken to see the boys. the family says they can't take them to the hospital for treatment, afraid they'll be arrested if they do. 8-year-old rihan struggled to tell his story. "the syrian army did this to me," he said. the rebels vow revenge, as they plan to attack an army checkpoint and base. this is by far the largest group we've ever seen. each unit is given its orders. the fighters are tense. as they go through their final checks. they hope the world will help. but armed with guns and bullets, grenades and homemade pipe bombs, they are no longer waiting for anyone else.

driven by anger and adrenaline, the fighters advance. the group ahead has opened fire too early, alerting the army. the fighters throw all their fire power at the military base. both sides now locked into this conflict. neither giving way -- no turning back. once again, it looks like the rebels plan has failed because they broke early, the base responded, heavy weapons, as you heard, heavy fire. and the rebels, at the moment, are cornered in the back ally, with some others fighting in the front. this is a rare insight into what's happening across the north now. as both sides slug it out to control northern syria. vehicle coming. let's go. the government calls these men

terrorists and armed gangs. they say they're freedom fighters. either way, many fear a future of even more bloodshed. more than 10,000 people have already been killed, and parts of syria are descending into civil war. ian panel, bbc news for "nightline" in idlib, syria. >> powerful as the explosions, the tears of that little boy. our thanks to ian panel and darren conway for their brave and vital reporting tonight. and just ahead, what he has learned and the vices he'll be keeping. we check in with charlie sheen. my bad. tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ normal voice ] nope, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. [ normal voice ] same agent and everything. it's like we're connected.

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he was the self-proclaimed vatican war lock assassin, not bipolar, but bi-winning, thanks to his tiger blood and haren of goddesses. those charlie sheen-isms are just some of what's left after his epic train wreck last year. but what's become of the man, the actor, the father? abc's amy robach catches up with the remodeled rebel. >> reporter: it is a bit ironic. charlie sheen seeming to poke fun of his own breakdown. >> i love being under house arrest. what do i get for good behavior? >> reporter: just one year ago, you remember those other girls, sheen's goddesses. and the world watched as charlie

ranted and raved, speculation was rampant that drugs triggered his behavior, which he still denies. i know that you said you are -- you don't use drugs but you still use alcohol. are you addicted to anything? >> drama. sometimes. yeah. addicted to anything -- i don't know, maybe i drink too much. maybe sometimes i don't. >> reporter: you like to smoke? >> kwyeah, cigarettes. thanks for reminding me. >> reporter: sheen is certainly not afraid of speaking his mind, makes no excuses and givens no apologies. do you feel like you did anything wrong last year? >> i still own the whole experience and good, bad or indifferent, win, lose or draw, in. >> reporter: sowere moments to have lived inside. >> reporter: tell me the difference between the charlie sheen today and who you were a year ago. >> sanity. opportunity. nobility. integrity. sanity. >> reporter: sheen was fired for

that verbal insanity and controversial conduct, the former "two and a half men" star had been the highest paid tv actor, making a reported $2 million per episode. but now, he says, he's back on track. >> why waste time on b.s., right? >>. >> good point. want to go back to my place? >> reporter: he is now starring in "anger management," a title now void of irony, either. >> i didn't want to have anything that really resembled the other show. i just wanted to play a guy that was smarter, more capable. >> a therapist, no less. >> yeah. i spent a lot of time on the couch. so, it's -- i guess i was doing all my research then. >> reporter: what are you bringing to that? >> physical aspect, the guy i was in therapy with for a very long time. it's an homage to hill. >> reporter: and now an attempt to take back some of that stinging commentary, sheen seemingly winning his war of words with chuck lorre.

what would you say to him? >> i would say sorry, i was way out of line. i don't agree with how you handled things but let's at least not be enemies. >> reporter: while sheen says he smokes about 30 cigarettes a day, can go weeks drinking alcohol and weeks without, there is one vice he can't give up. young women throw themselves at you. >> i don't note about throw. that's -- >> reporter: how would you describe it? >> drift? i don't know. but at the end of the day i'm pretty shy. i know it doesn't look like it. i love women. i think i'm, what's the term, polyamorous, you know? >> reporter: you don't believe in monogamy? >> it's not a color that i wear well, you know? i'm 0 for 3 marriages. i never cheated in any of those marriages. >> reporter: sheen's family life has listen complicated. married three times with five children, he's had very public battles with exes denise richards and brooke mueller.

but says he has been working on improving both relationships. would you get married again if you found the right person? >> i don't want to wear the golden sombrero of marriage. if i can find the right person that is okay with not having a document to say that, yeah, we really love each other, that would be okay. >> reporter: and okay with being polyamorous? >> yeah, there's that conversation. but that will have to happen on night one. like, here it is. lay it out. >> reporter: if charlie sheen is anything, he is breathtakingly honest, his father recently told "rolling stone magazine." and maybe that's what keeps his fans coming back for more. if you could choose three words that you'd be remembered by, what would they be? >> social media god. no, i'm joking. >> reporter: it's true, though. >> this is corny, but true. best dad ever. that's pretty good, right? >> reporter: maybe charlie sheen will win, after all. for "nightline," i'm amy robach in new york. >> thanks, amy.