In a new study that was released on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, up to 25% of teenagers are taking prescription stimulants like Adderall amid a widespread shortage of ADHD medication.
Researchers from the University of Michigan examined survey responses from schools all around the nation to evaluate the use of prescription stimulants among kids with ADHD and those who use the medication recreationally.
ADHD Medication Wide Range of Abuse
The study, which was published on Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open, examined data from Monitoring the Future, a federal survey that has tracked drug and alcohol use among secondary school students countrywide annually since 1975.
Data from this survey were collected between 2005 and 2020.
The study indicated that students misusing prescription stimulants during the previous year were roughly 36% more likely to attend schools where kids were most likely to be prescribed ADHD drugs.
According to senior author Sean Esteban McCabe, director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking, and Health at the University of Michigan, schools with few to no students now utilizing such treatments had significantly less of a problem, but it didn’t go away.
More than 230,000 teenagers in eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades in a nationally representative sample of 3,284 secondary schools participated in the data set used for this study.
In addition, compared to peers who had never used stimulants, adolescents who reported using ADHD drugs either currently or in the past were 2.5% more likely to have abused the stimulants.
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Risks of Abuse
The risks are great: Over time, incorrect use of stimulant drugs can cause stimulant use disorder, which can cause anxiety, depression, psychosis, and seizures, according to doctors.
There could be immediate health repercussions if used excessively or in conjunction with alcohol or other drugs. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, side effects might include paranoia, dangerously high body temperatures, and an irregular heartbeat, especially if stimulants are taken in large doses or in ways other than swallowing a pill.
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