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.
Thanks to an