Nationwide Adderall Shortage

Submission 7,868

Part of a series on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). [View Related Entries]

Overview

Nationwide Adderall Shortage refers to shortage in the prescription ADHD medication in the United States. According to a report by the FDA, the US had been experiencing a consistent Adderall shortage from September 2019 to May 2022. In 2022, Teva, a dominant supplier, reported challenges in producing a supply of Adderall at a time when demand for the medication was at an all-time high in the USA. Discourse about the nationwide Adderall shortage has revolved around over-prescription of the medication in the US and the measures taken by the DEA to reduce the amount of total permissible supply of ADHD medication.

Background

According to a Bloomberg^[1] article from October 5th, 2022, Adderall has been in short supply for years, with the FDA having reported a shortage from September 2019 through May 2022. Discussions on Twitter from 2019 and 2020 reference an Adderall shortage,^[2]^[3] often in reaction to claims about former President Trump being addicted to Adderall.

On July 14th 2022, Twitter^[4] user @thetomzone posted a tweet discussing the US Drug Enforcement Administration's decision to reduce the total amount of Adderall supply in the US from 50,000 kilograms in 2016 to 41,200 kilograms in 2022.^[5] The tweet gathered over 30,000 likes and 5,000 retweets in two months (seen below).

Online Reactions

Discussions and reactions to the nationwide Adderall shortage continued sporadically^[6]^[7] on Twitter, often overlapping with discussions about the /r/meth vs. Adderall fued.

On October 9th, 2022, Twitter^[11] user @pilltoledo wrote "ADHD doesn't exist, just admit you love a little meth," and gathered over 60,000 likes in three days (seen below).

In a tweet posted on October 10th, @sblahov^[8] writes about the dangerous effects of Adderall withdrawal. The tweet gathered over 7,000 likes before the account went private and can be accessed via Internet Archive (seen below, left). The tweet was quoted by @autogynefiles^[9], who received a comment from @RadishHarmers^[10], gathering over 400 and 700 likes each (seen below, right).