The current ongoing Adderall shortage is causing people with ADHD to do without meds that help them focus, make decisions, study and function well in their daily lives. Both those patients who have been prescribed this vital ADHD medication for years and those newly diagnosed patients who are finding their lives manageable for the first time are suffering.  Clinicians are frustrated when a therapy that works so well is intentionally being denied to these patients.  Pharmacies are overwhelmed with patients seeking to simply have their Adderall prescriptions filled, either name brand or generic.

The DEA is legally required to set production quotas each year for ingredients in Schedule II drugs.  In December, the DEA announced that it would not permit any increase in the production of pharmaceutical ingredients used to make Adderall and other stimulants for ADHD treatment in 2023, despite an increase of more than 10% in prescriptions since these quotas were set for 2022.

While the DEA claims that it is responding to the "aggressive marketing" tactics of online telehealth companies and is limiting production in order to address the "over-prescribing" of Adderall, their policies are directly affecting and harming the very people who need this medication the most.

The DEA needs to target the over-prescribing issue by cracking down on prescription "pill mills," as they have with telehealth companies, not by deliberately causing medication shortages.  It doesn't make sense to penalize everyone.  

There is so much new data available to prescribers and patients now that has allowed a very large number of people - mostly females over the age of 18 - to finally be diagnosed with ADHD and receive the help that they need in the form of new Adderall prescriptions.  That does not necessarily mean it is being over-prescribed.  

Of course there are people who are using and abusing Adderall recreationally, but the fact is that it is sorely needed by a majority of those for whom it is being prescribed.

The DEA needs to act immediately to increase production quotas, in coordination with the FDA and the medical community, to prevent further supply shortages which are negatively impacting folks who are already struggling to maintain their mental well-being.