Max Kennerly: It seems this deputy assistant administrator at the DEA believes that Adderall is basically street meth and, well, someone with that level of ignorance about pharmacology should simply not be employed by the DEA or any other drug-regulating agency.

It seems this deputy assistant administrator at the DEA believes that Adderall is basically street meth and, well, someone with that level of ignorance about pharmacology should simply not be employed by the DEA or any other drug-regulating agency.

The fast rise of prescriptions for Adderall and other stimulants suggest the start of another drug crisis like the opioid epidemic, according to the DEA

Adderall Abuse Risks Becoming Another Opioid Crisis, DEA Sayswww.bloomberg.com The fast rise of prescriptions for Adderall and other stimulants, along with rampant online treatment and advertising, suggest the start of another drug crisis like the opioid epidemic, a senior Drug ...

These similarities apply just as much to GLP-1s. There's certainly more aggressive competition among drugmakers to produce and market GLP-1s, whereas the bulk of ADHD drugs are low-profit generics. So are we going to arbitrarily limit them too, or just ADHD drugs?

People also don't think about the other disorders that are also treated by drugs like Adderall - like narcolepsy. This isn't even just an ADHD problem. The year that I couldn't regularly get stimulants, my performance at work just fell apart because I was constantly having problems around sleep.

As someone who's ADHD and lethargy keeps them dependent on a stimulant, I resonate with this. im sorry you had to go through that.

ummm, maybe more drug manufacturers are making Adderall because there's been a fucking shortage for well over a year!

Given the shortage of ADHD meds that have been going on since 2020, I'm not sure this DEA agent has looked up the definition of epidemic. Couldn't have an opiate epidemic if every pharmacy from Maine to Texas is out of the pills 1 week out of the month.

As someone whose household has struggled to access both of these kind of drugs, it has been a total shit show.

I feel like there’s some irony buried here about an aggressively capitalist society restricting the tools enabling people to effectively participate in capitalist society, but I can’t get my meds so I can’t stay focused enough to find it.

I think about this all the time. If I lived in a hunter-gatherer society, probably no one would give a shit that I got distracted easily and was “time blind.” But in this society, it’s a massive detriment, and I tried for more than 30 years to muddle through on my own. What else can I do?

In fact, if you study HG societies from an anthropological perspective, they tend to view time significantly differently from how we do. The way we do is particularly unhealthy They also work less than we do and spend a lot of time socializing. Our mistake began in the late Neolithic I suppose 🫤

I’m remembering when early capitalists started demanding churches to install mechanical clocks with bells so that entire medieval towns could be lashed to their production schedules and honestly, it’s a crime they weren’t all burned to a man for heresy or witchcraft or something.

Well I wouldn't have wanted anything violent to happen, but it would be nice if we could get beyond hypercapitalism. As for the place of religion as both a tool and a significant benefactor of capitalism, industrialism, and it's extreme forms, that's a more complex topic worthy of consideration

In a hunter-gather society, our people would notice the lion sneaking up on our group while the neurotypicals were focused on eating berries.

They're restricting the tools enabling people to COMPETE. This should not be in any way surprising.

very much giving “no take, only throw”

I read this and remember David Simon point that the drug war made cops dumb and lazy and there is no agency that personifies this more than the DEA

Didn't read the article but I hope there's a mention of the fact that many more people are (correctly) being diagnosed with ADHD and that probably accounts for increase, not that people are just popping more pills for fun.

Bloomberg spoke to one (1) expert on the subject, who said "uhhhhhhh no that's not how it works," but then Bloomberg just ran with the DEA blather anyway.

Not only that but there’s lots of evidence that medication for ADHD reduces the risks of substance abuse.

I look forward to my life becoming more difficult because the government and drug companies can’t get their shit together.

Fantastic

It’s worth remembering that Bloomberg himself is famously Prohibitionist, opposes harm reduction, and has funded programs that reduce the efficacy of stop-smoking programs that use harm reduction methods (like inhalable nicotine replacement or vapes or heat-not burn devices.) So, in character.

Par for the course for big-ticket "journalism" these days.

That’s true, but it’s also pretty popular on college campuses and in the tech world

Yea and a lot of those users probably have - diagnosed or otherwise - ADHD.

You'd think the leadership of the DEA would approve of a treatment that dramatically *reduces* problematic drug use would approve of that treatment (unless you knew anything about the DEA, of course)

good fucking christ the DEA is such a waste of everything (especially tax dollars & systemic resources) and they’re a burden to medication accessibility for us all cops are the fucking worst with accurate information or messaging about pharmacology & need to not have that platform 😫

oh ffs as if they don’t already make it difficult enough

No kidding. I have to call 7 or 8 pharmacies every time I try to refill

There really should be a law to prevent anyone with no medical knowledge to work at the DEA. Or better yet, shut down this fascist office whose real initial goal was to engineer a way to put minorities in prison.

I remember under Obama, the DEA head said weed was just as dangerous as heroine or meth. What a joke of an organization.

it was surprising when my new dose of adderall was simply labeled “amphetamine salts”, but that’s generics for you.

I picked up my kid’s prescription and I was so confused

Were you... not aware that Adderall is an amphetamine? Because your provider should've at least explained that to you! (And yes, it will come up on a drug test.) A friendly FYI!

no, i knew, it’s just one thing to know that and another to see it one the bottle.

Of course! Also, the use of the word 'salts', like they're Victorian smelling-salts for the Vapours or smth 😅

A-freakin-men. It's hard enough to get Adderall for my husband and twins due to shortages and pharmacy fun. And they all NEED it to help them be functioning members of society. Gee wiz, people!

Incompetence at this level becomes indistinguishable from malice

who are these people lol

what do you expect from cops, aka people who regularly have panic attacks about overdosing on "airborne fentanyl" lol

my favorite time of year is drugs-in-halloween candy copaganda journalism.

lol, its all so absurd, like, do these people have any idea how much street drugs cost? who the hell is going to be putting that in candy they give to kids for free? 😂

I give away my drugs for free only to friends, not strangers!

They need to do their homework. Meth has a very different prescription code. www.drugs.com/pro/methamph... So does cocaine. www.drugs.com/cdi/cocaine-...

(The DEA, not Bloomberg)

First and foremost is that I permanently use a stimulant to manage the differences in my executive functioning. It's not a short-term prescription to manage a medical crisis like an opioid is. Also they are not just over regulating amphetamines, it's all of the stimulants.

The chronic pain folk would like a word about that.

Fair point. I'm not super familiar with how opioids are managed in that context because unlike amphetamines, my understanding is that they are still addictive even if you need chronic pain management. Certainly don't mean to imply that chronic pain is not absolutely an ongoing need.

The DEA always tries to justify its continued existence.

My doctors are trying everything they can before giving me adderall. They say it’s due to impacted supply (don’t need that anxiety), but I’m sure there is a healthy dose of CYA because of this sort of nannying.

When you're a hammer everything is a nail

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