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It's a dark irony that the medication is for treating the very symptoms that all of the difficulty in obtaining the medication amplifies. It's a restricted sub

by qwery 3y ago

It's a dark irony that the medication is for treating the very symptoms that all of the difficulty in obtaining the medication amplifies. It's a restricted substance, so getting it comes with a bunch of traps that make it so much more likely something will go wrong (compared to a "normal" prescription). Added difficulty that is predominately going to effect people who need the medication. If you need the medication, not being able to get it is a real problem. The barriers to getting it disproportionately target those who actually need it, rather than the purported criminals that are apparently who we're trying to stop. Never mind the fact that different people metabolise these drugs differently (some extremely so -- effective dosage can vary orders of magnitude) but (in many jurisdictions) all have the same limits on quantity. Weird twist that the ultra-metabolisers want the large quantities and hit the limits but people who require smaller doses are the ones with the spare pills...

PaulHoule 3y ago
It's not hypothetical that some people get an ADHD script and sell most of the pills, I've known more than one. For somebody poor the $600 or month they can make this way is life changing. Also, diagnosis is often made on the basis of self-reported symptoms instead of a neuropsychiatric evaluation. I've seen people get an ADHD diagnosis who probably really had schizoaffective disorder or some other serious psychosis which could possibly be exacerbated by dopamine-boosting drugs.
- Spivak 3y ago
  Honestly, I just don't care if people sell it. The infrastructure that treats everyone like a criminal is so much worse than some people getting high on a drug that is broadly speaking safe for everyone. Like there's no complex physical eval to see if you can take stimulants, if you're a healthy adult with no known complications on your chart they just write the Rx. I'm not saying make it legal to sell, hell no. But until it becomes a real problem who cares? If you must, kill the secondhand market by letting people take it for fun if they want. Has to be medically supervised just like for ADHD patients, and you pay for it all out of pocket. No one would bother going to a dealer if there was legal, safer, and cheaper way to acquire it. From what I know of coke heads it would basically kill that market overnight too because it seems like given the choice adderall >>> coke. I will never understand why people want to take this stuff voluntarily, it's miserable. It's just my untreated ADHD is worse.
  - LorenPechtel 3y ago
    Yup--the drug war causes far more harm than the drugs. I'd make all the recreational stuff legal, prescription required for the stuff that's too addictive but addiction would explicitly be specified as a valid reason for a prescription. And none of this every-month garbage for stable situations.
- qwery 3y ago
  OK. I'm not sure if you think I'm claiming that nobody sells or has ever sold prescription pills on the black market, but I'm not (and I didn't). To put it simply, what I'm saying is that the barriers deliberately put in place to stop your poor friend (not exactly the image of the War on Drugs evil pusher) from making their meagre living didn't stop them but definitely do cause a lot of grief for legitimate users. > Also, diagnosis is often made on the basis of self-reported symptoms instead of a neuropsychiatric evaluation. This is nonsense. Diagnosis of ADHD is always based on the symptoms meeting criteria (and ruling out other causes). > I've seen people get an ADHD diagnosis who probably really had schizoaffective disorder or some other serious psychosis which could possibly be exacerbated by dopamine-boosting drugs. OK.
- hksadhkads 3y ago
  What's the upside and downside risk here? Is it a drug that scales high in the harm and addiction level dimensions? Is it a public health issue? If these drugs are mostly used recreationally and don't constitute a public health issue, why should we give a fuck about this "downside"? I agree on the wrong diagnosis risk you mention.

by qwery 3y ago

PaulHoule 3y ago

It's not hypothetical that some people get an ADHD script and sell most of the pills, I've known more than one. For somebody poor the $600 or month they can make this way is life changing. Also, diagnosis is often made on the basis of self-reported symptoms instead of a neuropsychiatric evaluation. I've seen people get an ADHD diagnosis who probably really had schizoaffective disorder or some other serious psychosis which could possibly be exacerbated by dopamine-boosting drugs.

Spivak 3y ago
Honestly, I just don't care if people sell it. The infrastructure that treats everyone like a criminal is so much worse than some people getting high on a drug that is broadly speaking safe for everyone. Like there's no complex physical eval to see if you can take stimulants, if you're a healthy adult with no known complications on your chart they just write the Rx. I'm not saying make it legal to sell, hell no. But until it becomes a real problem who cares? If you must, kill the secondhand market by letting people take it for fun if they want. Has to be medically supervised just like for ADHD patients, and you pay for it all out of pocket. No one would bother going to a dealer if there was legal, safer, and cheaper way to acquire it. From what I know of coke heads it would basically kill that market overnight too because it seems like given the choice adderall >>> coke. I will never understand why people want to take this stuff voluntarily, it's miserable. It's just my untreated ADHD is worse.
- LorenPechtel 3y ago
  Yup--the drug war causes far more harm than the drugs. I'd make all the recreational stuff legal, prescription required for the stuff that's too addictive but addiction would explicitly be specified as a valid reason for a prescription. And none of this every-month garbage for stable situations.
qwery 3y ago
OK. I'm not sure if you think I'm claiming that nobody sells or has ever sold prescription pills on the black market, but I'm not (and I didn't). To put it simply, what I'm saying is that the barriers deliberately put in place to stop your poor friend (not exactly the image of the War on Drugs evil pusher) from making their meagre living didn't stop them but definitely do cause a lot of grief for legitimate users. > Also, diagnosis is often made on the basis of self-reported symptoms instead of a neuropsychiatric evaluation. This is nonsense. Diagnosis of ADHD is always based on the symptoms meeting criteria (and ruling out other causes). > I've seen people get an ADHD diagnosis who probably really had schizoaffective disorder or some other serious psychosis which could possibly be exacerbated by dopamine-boosting drugs. OK.
hksadhkads 3y ago
What's the upside and downside risk here? Is it a drug that scales high in the harm and addiction level dimensions? Is it a public health issue? If these drugs are mostly used recreationally and don't constitute a public health issue, why should we give a fuck about this "downside"? I agree on the wrong diagnosis risk you mention.