“On October 12, 2022, FDA posted a shortage of the immediate release formulation of amphetamine mixed salts, commonly referred to by the brand name Adderall or Adderall IR, on our drug shortage website. FDA is in frequent communication with all manufacturers of amphetamine mixed salts, and one of those companies, Teva, is experiencing ongoing intermittent manufacturing delays. Other manufacturers continue to produce amphetamine mixed salts, but there is not sufficient supply to continue to meet U.S. market demand through those producers.”

“Until supply is restored, there are alternative therapies including the extended-release version of amphetamine mixed salts available to health care professionals and their patients for amphetamine mixed salts’ approved indications. Patients should work with their health care professionals to determine their best treatment option,” said the FDA in a statement as millions of productive go-getters turn into depressed slobs who can’t even focus enough to play checkers.

The spice must flow. The shortage is ruining people. Part of it is the stigma attached to ADHD and the chemical dependency that results from the drugs that treat it, a stigma stemming from the widespread abuse of Adderall and similar medications, even among those properly diagnosed and prescribed. The lack of sympathy others hold toward Adderall users experiencing the crushing physical and emotional pains of withdrawal is in some ways understandable as a reflex.

Most folks were trained at a young age to look down on junkies and crackheads as if they were zombies and ghouls because that was thought to be the surest way to make sure they don’t become homeless drug addicts themselves. Probably the right idea from a utilitarian standpoint, cruel as it may be. But you wouldn’t say “just get over it” to an asthma sufferer who needs her inhaler to be able to walk up the stairs or a destitute AIDS patient condemned to death by that Martin Shkreli piece of shit. ADHD patients’ brains require meds to fully function, even if they sometimes overclock from Adderall. The Biden Administration needs to step in and fix this shit.