The horizon is not so far as we can see, but as far as we can imagine

Tag: the long decline

The Adderall Shortage Is Just the First Major Shortage

People who have read me for a while know that for years I’ve been warning of prescription drug shortages or even stoppages. Well, now we have one that’s large enough to have made headlines:

A national shortage of Adderall has left patients who rely on the pills for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder scrambling to find alternative treatments and uncertain whether they will be able to refill their medication.

The Food and Drug Administration announced the shortage last week, saying that one of the largest producers is experiencing “intermittent manufacturing delays” and that other makers cannot keep up with demand.

Some patients say the announcement was a belated acknowledgment of a reality they have faced for months — pharmacies unable to fill their orders and anxiety about whether they will run out of a medication needed to manage their daily lives.

Experts say it is often difficult for patients to access Adderall, a stimulant that is tightly regulated as a controlled substance because of high potential for abuse. Medication management generally requires monthly doctor visits. There have been other shortages in recent years.

“This one is more sustained,” said Timothy Wilens,

Now, it may be possible to move to generics, and a lot of the reason for this is how regulated amphetamines are as part of the war on some drugs. Back in the 60s it was possible to buy pure amphetamines over the counter just as at one time one could buy cocaine, morphine and codeine OTC.

That said, supply lines are under pressure and those pressures, though they will fluctuate, are going to get worse over the next years and decades.

Going off Adderall can be nasty, but there are other drugs where it’s downright hell, including SSRIs and Benzos. I know one guy whose careful titration of Xanax took a year, and when another friend’s was without for two days because of a prescription problem his body started just moving and speaking on its own. (GABA is what allows you to not do things, and benzos crush your bodies natural production.)

Then, of course, there are drugs people need because without them they will die or become seriously ill.

As we go forward, all of these things will be subject to the possibility of supply shocks and shortages. I would say, indeed, that more drug and medicine shortages and supply shocks are inevitable.

It’s hard to say what to do about this, because you can’t build up a supply of your own: doctors can’t let you have a 6 months buffer, say, of benzos (which if you take them every day, is about what I’d guess you’d need to have enough to safely take yourself off them with small reductions over time.)

But be aware of this issue and see if you can figure out a way to protect yourself. And remember, even without shortages, there will be future “insulin situations” — where those who have a drug people must have jack the price up so high many people can’t afford it.

Plan ahead if you can, and be well.

Update: Someone who wants to remain anonymous offers the following suggestions:

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