As any anyone with ADHD can tell you, the drugs for ADD are classified as controlled substances. You can’t get refills of ADHD prescriptions, you have to get a new prescription for every time you get your monthly supply of Adderall or Ritalin. Likewise, the pharmacy cannot call your doctor to get an approval for your ADD prescription for you like they can for other drugs like antibiotics or insulin. Of course, this also means that you cannot take advantage of the discounts or convenience for getting your prescriptions in a 90-day supply via mail order from your insurance company, either.
Too bad, because it would be a great ADHD advice tip to have people who aren’t good at organization and remembering to-do lists to have their medication automatically mailed each month.
All drugs (not supplements – there is a difference) are controlled substances by virtue of being “controlled” by the DEA and the FDA. What people with attention deficit disorder may not realize is how ADHD drugs are classified.
Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, Vyvanse, and all the generic equivalents are classified as “Schedule II” controlled substances.
That may not sound absurd at first, but believe me, it is asinine and yet another example of why the so-called war on drugs is so messed up.
Adderall Is As Bad As Morphine or Cocaine
There are technically five schedules used for classifying drugs. Schedule I drugs are the “bad” drugs, the ones that get smuggled in by villains using super speedboats and hollowed out dolls, depending upon the movie. These are the narcotic drugs and they include Heroin, Ecstasy, Marijuana, and LSD. Ironically, cocaine is not on this list which is going to make your Adderall meds being on the next list all the more pathetic.
Schedule II drugs are the very next set of medications. This is where ADD medicines are classified, just one step below Heroin and meth. It is also where cocaine is classified, as well as all of those pain killers that you hear about people getting addicted to.
How are ADHD medicines like Adderall and Ritalin grouped with pain killers and cocaine?
The law states that in order to be classified as a Schedule II controlled substance three factors must be met:
- There is a high potential for abuse
- There are valid medical reasons for using the drug (this is the difference between Schedule I and II)
- Abuse of the drug may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence
Wow!
Number 3 is a newsflash to me. No one every told me that taking mixed amphetamine salts could lead to severe dependence!
Of course, the reason no one ever told me that, is because it is not true.
There have been no medical studies that suggest that taking ADD medication like Adderall leads to any kind of dependence at all, except for having to get used to its affects going away. Certainly there is no medical data that these medications cause severe dependence.
As for abuse, the only thing I have ever heard of is students using ADHD medicines to study and concentrate. That’s hardly shooting up in the back of an alley. It is not safe, but neither is taking someone’s antibiotics because you feel sick; that’s no reason to lock them all up under tighter rules.
The law requires that all three conditions be met to be listed as a Schedule II medication, so even if you go with the whole “abuse” thing, ADD drugs should not legally be classified as Schedule II substances.
Even worse, the law specifically says that the “salts of,” among other things, amphetamine, are to be listed as Schedule III drugs.
So, the next time you have to jump through hoops in order to get the same medicine that you have gotten every month for years, remember that it isn’t even legitimate. You are just being screwed over by a Federal Agency who put your medication on there for political reasons.
Listen I only have my child and myself the meds when needed . I took him off of it in the summer and so.e weekends and week vacations. I took when learning new kills or school or certain jobs. My insurance kept Messi g up do we savored them when needed we are
both add not ADHD . Is this bad ihis is this bad if this is all u could do
Well, you have obviously not had a spouse addicted to adderall. Destroyed our marriage, our family, and I believe it permanently fried his brain and changed his personality. Adderall should really be given on a daily basis if it’s needed that badly, and belongs on the “bad” drug list. Maybe you shouldn’t make the assumptions you make when you don’t have all the information to make those assumptions.
I’m sorry to hear about your marriage. While I have not had a spouse taking Adderall, I take it myself and have for a long time. Marriage to a spouse with ADD can be difficult. There are numerous books about it, and therapists are quick to ask about marriage when diagnosing ADD. I don’t know what issues your husband had, or how they were affected by his medication, but Adderall is not addictive in the traditional sense. There can be headaches and other issues if you suddenly stop taking it, but that’s it. It also does not “fry your brain.” Adderall is not a mood altering drug or psychotropic drug. There is extensive data about Adderall’s side-effects both from regulatory agencies and independent research. None of it suggests any sort of brain altering damage. Instead, Adderall can affect sleep, blood pressure, heart rate, and other things.
People are complicated, and while I won’t presume to know what happened with your husband, Adderall is a legitimate medication for a legitimate medical condition. It’s regulation as a Schedule II medicine does not make it “bad.” It simply means it has the possibility for abuse. Ironically, other than college students using it to help them study (the horror), I’ve never heard of any other means of abuse.
I agree, it is ridiculous, makes doing the job of parenting multiple children with ADHD even harder. My dr only refills on Thursdays. I did not know that so had to endure three days of kid unable to focus or speak intelligibly without the meds.
It is absolutely pathetic that anyone with a diagnosis who needs medicine should have to go through hurdles to get their meds because an agency thinks the drug is overused. Go after those doctors then or whoever is giving out the pills. Stop punishing families and innocent people by making it hard for them to keep their child medicated as necessary. Dear god, what if the kid ran out during standardized gov’t required testing….an ADHD kid has no chance in a timed test without the meds.
I am sick and tired of over regulation.
Ten years until I leave this country…counting down