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.

  • LanternEverywhere@kbin.social
    303·
    11 months ago

    It’s not meth. At all. The methyl group on the molecule makes it have massively different pharmacokinetics.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
        191·
        11 months ago

        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

        • gregorum@lemm.eeEnglish
          230·
          11 months ago

          I never mentioned desoxyn. But thanks for the strawman.

              • ABCDE@lemmy.world
                151·
                11 months ago

                The person, like everyone else here, is trying to engage properly in a conversation. You throwing out “strawman” this and “strawman” that doesn’t add anything. The person gave an example of what they have experience of, and the difference between two ‘methyl’ meds. The only person splitting hairs here is you, who sees any attempt at a discussion as a personal slight.

                • gregorum@lemm.eeEnglish
                  15·
                  11 months ago

                  Sorry you don’t like the truth, but you’re wrong. And none of your little friends here crying about it will change that fact. So you can argue with me futilely forever. But it won’t change the fact. And I’ll keep telling all of you that for as long as you wanna argue. And you can all keep getting very angry about not liking the truth I’m telling you, but I’ll keep telling you for as long as you wanna waste time responding to me.forever, if necessary.

                  • ABCDE@lemmy.world
                    42·
                    11 months ago

                    I’m not angry, but you take everything as a slight instead of engaging properly. Your responses are inadequate.

        • gregorum@lemm.eeEnglish
          124·
          11 months ago

          “My single individual anecdote outweighs your decades of experience with dozens of people because I think I’m more important!”

          Check your ego, lol

          • ABCDE@lemmy.world
            131·
            11 months ago

            Check your ego, lol

            Ironic.

            The methyl group (which is what you responded to, before you cry “strawman” again) includes Ritalin, which is not addictive if you are taking it as prescribed. Meth, even in small amounts, is highly addictive.

            Your “experience” isn’t personal use, so what?

            You said:

            But for anyone who’s actually taken or abused it, and especially to anyone who’s taken or abused both, they’re remarkably similar

            I am someone who has taken both, they aren’t similar. Weird how you can say that but my experience doesn’t count because it doesn’t agree with what you’re saying.

            • gregorum@lemm.eeEnglish
              14·
              11 months ago

              More splitting hairs because you can’t face the reality. The denial here is so strong.

              • ABCDE@lemmy.world
                1·
                11 months ago

                You don’t understand the words and phrases you use. You also cannot engage in discussions properly. I now doubt you have the experience you tout, it’s more likely someone in your family has been dependent for decades, not that you’re a grown person working to help those with dependence. See how easy I can dismiss you with silly comments too?