[sixtofour]

"Since, in essence, this life was impossible, Alex began taking Adderall to make it possible."

If you're doing this, or thinking about it, consider that it's a prescription drug and if it's not prescribed for you then you're getting a) illegally, and b) reducing the supply for people who need it.

There is a shortage of Adderall and similar drugs. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=npr%20adderall

By using these drugs casually you're not only improving your all nighters, you're possibly ruining someone's quality of life.

[mquander]

This is a lame argument, akin to complaining that people using computers for fun are reducing the supply for people using computers for work. We can just make computers for everyone. That is what the free market is designed to do.

You should direct your ire at the people who are actually reducing the supply directly, namely the DEA, who are the ones preventing the production of sufficient Adderall. If there were not arbitrary restrictions on manufacture, then both the people who need it and the people who want it would be able to obtain it, and more cheaply at that.

[sixtofour]

"This is a lame argument, akin to complaining that people using computers for fun are reducing the supply for people using computers for work."

The DEA limits how much of these drugs are allowed to be made. Companies have to petition to make more. The DEA says there's enough, yet people with prescriptions sometimes have to get the drugs illegally themselves.

"CONAN: Well, I was interested in your piece to hear the DEA say there is no shortage.

KNOX: Yes, I was - I was surprised, too, because the FDA says there is. And, you know, they have a website on the FDA that lists all the drugs in shortage, and there are a lot of them these days. And I've - one thing that caused me to do the story is I found that methylphenidate, the Ritalin-type drugs, popped up on that list a week or two ago."

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/22/142661880/adhd-sufferers-fear-...

If you think that's lame, maybe you could tell the DEA that we need more, so casual users won't cut into legitimate users' supply.

[eli]

The DEA is only one factor. I don't think it's a conspiracy theory to suggest that Shire is giving less than 100% towards the production of Adderall since they have a new brand-name drug Vynase that is still protected by patent.

I'm still not exactly sure how Shire managed to set it up so that they are the only ones making the ingredients for generic Adderall.

[mquander]

I agree completely.

[altrego99]

> reducing the supply for people who need it

That holds for many other things in life, even basic necessities such as food, money, shelter. What's interesting though is that the drug doesn't seem to have too many bad side effects based on the article - reduced appetite & sleeplessness are what many people can live with. What would be interesting to know is if there is any other more dangerous side effects of prolonged intake of this chemical, eg. addiction(?), or inability to concentrate without it?

[barry-cotter]

Re:side effects of prolonged use. Adderall is safe if used responsibly, even over the long term. We even understand how it works, which is more than you can say about eugeroics, like modafinil. Not surprising, given that it's an amphetamine and the US military handed them out like caffeine pills in WW2 and last I heard still used them sometimes. Erdos also used speed the majority of his life. I believe there's a guide to safe long-term amphetamine use on the last psychiatrist, I'd link but I'm on my phone.

[rdl]

Presumably you could just take street methamphetamine (or illegally imported pharmaceutical amphetamine), saving money and preserving the nation's critical legal amphetamine supplies for authorized users.

There's some pharmacological difference between methamphetamine and methamphetamine, but IMO the much bigger difference is perception and the context in which they're used, vs. the chemical itself.