Stimulant Medication Shortages

The DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) are both involved in the regulation of stimulant medication for ADHD. However, they are currently working at cross-purposes. The DEA, whose only concern is the mis-use or abuse of stimulant medication, has recently set very strictly enforced limits on the amount of stimulant medication that can be produced by each pharmaceutical company. These limits have been prompted by the rapidly increasing number of prescriptions for stimulant medication written in the US. While many professionals believe that this increase is simply due to greater recognition of ADHD in both children and adults, others within the DEA suspect that the increase is due to mis-use or abuse of these highly controlled Class II medications.

This tighter control comes at a time when a very popular ADHD medication, Adderall, has just become available in generic form, greatly reducing the profitability of this medication.  The conjunction of stricter limits combined with the availability of generic, much less expensive forms of the medication, has led pharmaceutical companies to focus production on the more expensive, more profitable medications, while neglecting the production of more affordable generic forms of Ritalin and Adderall.

An increasing number of parents of children with ADHD and adults with ADHD report that it has become difficult and sometimes impossible to fill their prescriptions. Those that can’t afford to purchase the far more expensive brand-name stimulant medications are being forced to go without, creating a dangerous situation.

For more information, see the following article published in the New York Times on January 1, 2012 – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/health/policy/fda-is-finding-attention-drugs-in-short-supply.html?_r=1