Adderall+Shortage+and+Regulations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRQtOSaLH-8

Jimmy Svoboda Current Event Flynn Economics set 1

Amphetamine Salt shortage and the effect on the economy and consumers Amphetamine Salts, more commonly known as Adderall, is a widely prescribed pharmaceutical stimulant. Along with most psychoactive medications Adderall is controlled and regulated by the government as a scheduled drug. This means that every year the FDA gets together to decide how much Adderall should be produced in that given year. Last year the FDA took a bit of a misstep. The FDA did not give the pharmaceutical companies the right to make enough Adderall this year and so the prescriptions ran out rather quickly, leaving patients at the mercy of stimulant withdraw. Because of the withdraw patients have been going from pharmacy to pharmacy trying to find their prescription. In some cases patients try to find alternative, less legal solutions to finding their prescription, which should not be necessary. To battle this shortage many psychiatrists switched their patients from Adderall to Methylphenidate, known commonly by its brand name Ritalin. This is really just an intermediate solution since so many people are prescribed Adderall. With all of the patients switching to Ritalin, patients who are prescribed Ritalin are now having their own shortage problems, going from pharmacy to pharmacy. In general this is a pretty sucky situation, people who need Adderall cannot get it and people who need Ritalin cannot get that either. Pharmaceutical companies are suffering economically along with consumers that rely on these medications for school and work.

Essential Question: How could the government help this situation, or end it completely?