Adderall Addiction
September 15th, 2009. By janem
The website collegeTips.com advertises Adderall for sale without a prescription, and Online-Pharmacy sells “Adderall No Prescription Needed Buy Cheap”, just to name a few online sites. Turns out that Adderall, a stimulant medication used in the treatment of attention deficit disorder (ADD) in both children and adults, is also wildly popular among college students.
One dose of Adderall is “good to go” for a child with ADD; one pill can last for about six hours per dose, so it can cover the entire school day. And that’s a great selling point for the drug company.
The drug company has also observed some side effects, such as loss of appetite—but it also says not to worry, just “feed a protein shake twice a day to help keep weight up”. It also notes “some irritability or anger (as when you have had too much caffeine) and possible short term growth inhibition (though long-term this may not be a problem).” Note the “may not be a problem” part. Why on earth would you give your kid this drug and maybe stunt his growth, protein shake aside?
Back to the college kids: Adderall is made from amphetamine, and taking too much can be serious. It’s also addictive. A recent study titled “Adolescent Prescription ADHD Medication Abuse is Rising Along With Prescriptions for These Medications,” published August 24, 2009 in the journal Pediatrics, suggests an increase in the misuse of medications such as Adderall.
The study determined that, while Adderall can be effective for ADHD, the potential for significant side-effects and also now for misuse and abuse is very real.
The authors of the study concluded that “The sharp increase, out of proportion to other poison center calls, suggests a rising problem with teen ADHD stimulant medication abuse. Case severity increased over time. Sales data of ADHD medications suggest that the use and call-volume increase reflects availability, but the increase disproportionately involves amphetamines.”
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