This article is a shocking reminder of our country's increasing reliance on drugs and pills to support our frantic lifestyle. So much Adderall is being abused among students that the amount needed for patients' medical treatment is insufficient. What do you think should be done about the alarming shortage of Adderall and the potential future shortages of other medically prescribed drugs?
Monday, January 2, 2012
Shortage of ADHD drug Adderall
Adderall is a medical drug prescribed in treating ADHD - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - and narcolepsy. Because of its highly addictive nature, the Drug Enforcement Administration regulates the amount of API - the drug's active pharmaceutical ingredient - that may be allocated to Adderall producers per year. This system was implemented to prevent stockpiles that could be consumed for illegal use. However, with the increasing popularity of Adderall among students, who use it not to treat ADHD disorders but as a "study drug" to maintain a high level of energy and focus during tests or term paper cramming, the amount of Adderall consumed by actual ADHD patients is being rapidly depleted. Concerns are now rising among ADHD patients and their doctors regarding the potential shortage of API for Adderall production reserved for their legitimate medical need, and the DEA is looking to up the quota for the 2012 year.
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8 comments:
I think that the biggest thing is to control how people obtain this drug. The doctors who prescribe the drug to patients need to be extremely particular about who they prescribe it to. There needs to be some type of standard so that doctors can't just prescribe it to anyone who claims they need it. That also goes for any prescription drugs. It has become so easy for people to obtain prescription drugs, it only makes sense that more and more people are abusing them. There needs to be more control over how doctors prescribe medicine in general.
I believe that the doctors need to prescribe this drug to people that actually have ADHD before other kids that use it for a study tool. There also should be some conditions for doctors to prescribe any drugs as mentioned by Kirsten.
It seems as though it is not completely the physician's fault's or even the parents, if looked at more closely why are teens even looking to take this drug? the answer is(or said in the article) is for cramming for school. Why do many teens feel that they need to take drugs in order to cram? Why are teens cramming anyways?
Pressure. Today it seems that many teens would rather be severely sleep deprived than not get into that dream college. In addition, it many of the adults in those teens' lives aren't encouraging it, but they sure aren't stopping it.
It is hard to come up with a solution because consequences can only do so much and like the post said kids with ADHD need this drug for health purposes. However, I think what this article really brings up is the issue of the pressure that many teens feel now in order to be successful. It's unhealthy, but it appears that many could care less.
I agree with many with all the posts so far, but I will have to lean more towards just finding a way to better regulate who gets the drug. Unfortunately for teens, alleviating the pressure we are under is much harder to do than just regulate a drug. Colleges are the best example. Sadly for us, college will never be any easier to get into because as time goes on, there is more knowledge floating around, more extracurriculars to be done and many more requirements to get in. I focus on college but this is true for many of the pressures we face today. No, it is much simpler to just regulate the distribution of the drug, though I do not mean to insinuate that it will be easy. Regulation will be hard too, but the key thing is it will be much simpler than alleviating pressures on today's teens. A possible solution to this can be stolen from the new voting laws in the form of ID cards. I know they aren't the most popular, but they might work (without infringing on peoples' rights too badly, but I won't get political here).
I also agree with most of the posts above. SInce the academic competition today is rising rapidly, the demand for Adderall has increased immensely. This explains why some students tend to use it just to increase test scores of get into their "dream school" as mentioned by Reiko and Patrick. I think that one way to possibly regulate the amount of distributed Adderall would be to use a placebo on some patients and see if it is actually a severe issue rather than a fraud and gather data on improvements. The results could then help point out who really needs it and who uses it for an academic advantage.
I also feel like prescribing Adderall is sort of like cheating your way out. Children's intelligence would be considered somewhat "fake" with this drug and they should learn how to use their mind and access their knowledge without medicinal assistance. Rather than prescribing them with medicine, I feel like people should be creating more learning programs for students with ADHD and help them learn "how to learn" if that makes sense... This is just a possible suggestion in order to limit the amount of prescribed Adderall
I completely agree with the posts above. The problem here is determining who to prescribe the drug to. I believe it's more important to give the drugs to those who actually need it for health purposes. Yes, I think school is very important and I take it very seriously but there are other ways to focus during a test or cram for a term paper. Rather than cramming for a term paper, why not spread out the workload so it's not so stressful on the last day? Or sleep early before a test so there's full concentration during a test. There are many ways to work around the students' needs but there really isn't much to help those with ADHD. I think adderall should be given to those with the disorders. It makes more sense. Doctors shouldn't prescribe this drug for study purposes but rather for medical purposes. I mean, isn't that why drugs were created in the first place?
It is surprisingly easy to get a doctor to prescribe you ADHD. Lots of college students use it as a study aid, which is not surprising since studying is hard to do.
Shouldn't patient's who are diagnosed with ADHD already receive a steady supply of Adderall? If not, they should be prioritized first.
It is not only the students that are causing the rise in the use of this drug. ADHD and similar mental problems are now becoming more commonly diagnosed, not necessarily because of a rise in ADHD, but because of parents looking to find any diagnose to help their child get an advantage. Doctors are diagnosing children with the drug much more often now as well.
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