At the dosages he was taking, it's quite similar to a recreational meth dose (assuming said meth was not smoked). The difference between the two chemicals isnt

At the dosages he was taking, it's quite similar to a recreational meth dose (assuming said meth was not smoked). The difference between the two chemicals isnt that big, but the culture and dosing surrounding how therapeutic amphetamine is taken is what makes it generally safer than meth, not the difference in chemical structure. Going the other way, you can safely take desoxyn orally at a therapeutic dose and mostly it is like adderall, and you will avoid for the most part the bad effects that occur at recreational doses of smoked street meth. That's why desoxyn isn't schedule 1. So I dont think it's particularly misleading to say that this guy was basically taking meth and experiencing a lot of the side effects that would be experienced had he been taking street meth. The two chemicals have similar enough effects, and when taken at recreational dosages they can both have the bad effects we would typically associate with meth abuse. It's good to make this clear to people getting treatment for ADHD (or college students popping pills illegally for a cram session) so that they don't get the erroneous impression that because it isn't meth, they don't have to treat dosage and dependence as seriously as they would have to if it were actually scary street meth with all the scary imagery that comes along with it. It's good that we draw parallels and are clear with people that it's a very serious drug with potentially meth-level side effects if abused. I sympathize with you in the sense that I don't want to make it harder for people to get their prescriptions, but on the other hand I think it's just false to say they are totally different due to the addition of the methyl group. TLDR: it is absolutely possible to abuse oral pharmaceutical grade (not meth)amphetamine to the extent that you have stereotypical meth head type side effects. And it is absolutely possible to take pharmaceutical grade methamphetamine at a therapeutic dose and have it be a lot like typical therapeutic (non meth) amphetamine use. There isn't that big of a difference.