With pharmacies unable to fill prescriptions, many ADHD patients are turning to Craigslist to buy illicit pills online
Peruse an online marketplace like Craigslist, and you’ll find coded classified ads for “Study Help” and “Study Hall”, or calls looking for a “Study Buddy”. Despite the scholarly language, these aren’t people looking for pre-final cram session. They’re plugs for Adderall: the trade name for a combination of amphetamine salts long prescribed as a first-choice treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s a drug that is, of late, in perilously short supply.
The US National Institute for Mental Health estimates that ADHD affects 4.4% of adults between the ages of 18 and 44. The number of adults treated for ADHD has increased in recent decades, attributable to the wider destigmatization of diagnosing the disorder in adults as well as the Covid-19 pandemic and its knockback effects on adult mental health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that adult prescriptions for ADHD medication increased by 7.9% between 2020 and 2021, compared with a 1.4% average annual increase between 2016 and 2020. In 2021, doctors authorized in excess of 30m prescriptions for Adderall, serving nearly 4 million patients.
But over the past two years, many of patients have been unable to procure their prescription, due to manufacturing shortfalls. With the delta between demand and supply widening, some adults with diagnosed ADHD are forced to forsake CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens and other drug retailers, and turn elsewhere.
It’s not meth. At all. The methyl group on the molecule makes it have massively different pharmacokinetics.
Maybe for meth heads. For people with ADHD the difference between adderall and desoxyn is massive as is it for people who actually study the pharmacological effects. Desoxyn is a huge burst with lots of jitters as opposed to a calm but firm focus
Adderall and Ritalin is in no way the same as meth. I used to say the same thing and then I tried meth. That shit is crazy. One bump half the size of a pea and you are up for 24 hours straight. Coming off it was terrible. I just cried for a few days straight I did it for a month and never again. Shit kinda fucked my life up at that time.
Your personal anecdote has no bearing on my decades of experience with dozens upon dozens of addicts. All I can say to that is congratulations on not becoming one of them.
Ritalin and meth are not the same, don’t be silly. I’ve be prescribed the former and taken it a while, and tried the latter a few times. Meth is bonkers, not even close.
I’m not trying to predict the future but, if the problem about fentanyl and opioids in general comes from the misuse of Oxycodone, I don’t want to tell “I said it” when a bunch of people be hooked to crystal meth.
Stimulant medications have been around for a long time. ADHD patients that are untreated have a higher risk of developing a substance abuse problem. ADHD patients taking stimulants have a risk of substance abuse that is on par with the rest of the population. Prescription stimulants generally have low risk of abuse. I’m an addiction researcher.
If anyone needs help procuring their medications shoot me a DM and I’ll help you get hooked up with my friend the dead pirate Robert.
My ass would probably see one of these “study help” posts and reach out to the person, thinking I’m going to do a good deed by helping someone with their college assignments
If you do have ADHD and feel you need help, there are non-scheduled pharmaceuticals available as well. My daughter is on Qelbree which isn’t perfect, but it works pretty well. And you don’t have to worry about people abusing it making the supply run out.
Thanks! My husband has been talking about getting back on Adderall for his ADHD, but he doesn’t really want to go through all the hassle. I’ll tell him about this.
I don’t know if the same thing is happening with the XR but if the IR worked for your husband it might be a good alternative. I recommend Vyvance, it was recently approved for generic. Still a bit pricy but it’s longer acting with less of the unbearable side effects.
I’ll mention this to him as well.
Now to convince him to go to the doctor…
Vyvanse is also having a shortage, caused in part by people not being able to get Adderall switching over. It’s not as bad as it was a few months ago (we called around and couldn’t find a pharmacy with a 30 day supply within a 2 hour radius) but they’re still having trouble getting enough, especially at the higher doses. Source: I literally talked to a pharmacist about this today when I went to pick up my other random-ass stimulant. My doctor told me to just keep asking them about it every month haha.
