With pharmacies unable to fill prescriptions, many ADHD patients are turning to Craigslist to buy illicit pills online

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.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    141·
    11 months ago

    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.

    • Mario_Dies.wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      92·
      11 months ago

      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.

      • Awesomematter@lemmy.world
        5·
        11 months ago

        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.

        • half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          3·
          11 months ago

          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.