Have you ever wondered about how serious amphetamine addiction is here in the USA? Or, to use a street name, speed addiction?
A writer for the Huffington Post, Lawrence Diller, M.D., wrote an entire 5-part series called “United States of Adderall.” In the last installment, he gave a horrible overview. Talking about the previous four articles, Diller said:
… I've detailed that in 2010, almost 84,000 tons of legal speed were approved for production in the U.S. In 2009 America, representing 4 percent of the world's population, produced 88 percent of the world's legal amphetamine. The drugs are used ostensibly in this country primarily for the treatment of ADHD in children and adults. While ADHD exists throughout the world, the U.S. by far and away leads in ADHD diagnosis rates and treatment of this condition with medication.
Then he focused on Adderall and other legal prescription stimulants like Ritalin and Concerta. Note that the reason for these drugs is to help relieve attention disorder, not enhance normal attention. The pervasive use of these drugs in America for studying or getting high has practically made the clinical terms, ADD and ADHD, meaningless. More from Diller:
Jim Swanson is a professor of pediatrics at the University of California - Irvine's Child Development Center. Jim is a long time researcher in ADHD and its treatment.
. . .
Dr. Swanson also knows of many young adults who have required hospitalization for Adderall abuse. He thinks the questions of appropriate ADHD diagnosis are complicated by amphetamine's universal improvement on concentration. Dr. Smith feels many college students have gone online to learn the symptoms of ADHD and then repeat them to doctors in order to obtain the drug. There is no biological or psychometric test for ADHD. Someone can act perfectly normal in the doctor's office and still qualify for the diagnosis by history or report. Therefore, the opportunity to obtain the medication legally from a doctor is relatively easy. A local drug representative for the company that makes Adderall told me there were doctors offices close to the UC Berkeley campus that were well-known among the students for obtaining the shorter acting (and preferred) form of Adderall.
All of these reports are "anecdotal," and researchers and concerned clinicians continue to seek the "smoking gun" evidence needed to confirm this seeming-historic inevitability. Swanson says, "Our evidence is insufficient and not precise. Nobody has asked the question in a way that we can definitely determine there's a problem. But I think there's something definitely there."
To be or not to be--are amphetamines addictive? Well, that’s not the question. Everybody knows you can get addicted to amphetamines. But how about an Adderall addiction? Is this drug the dastardly speed that has ruined the lives of so many people or it is just a benign pill for improving mental clarity?
It’s anecdotal so far, but there are an awful lot of folks seeking drug addiction treatment for Adderall. (Just Google Adderall and addiction and look at all the results.)
Meanwhile the pharmaceutical companies get richer. Do they really expect us to believe that their astronomical sales are to people with some form of mental illness? And are all those folks who seek Adderall addiction treatment merely suffering from an odd form of ADD or ADHD that makes them pretend to be hooked?
What do you think? Do you have any stories to share?
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