Opinions - Why isn't there a bigger (black) market for ADD medications?

[sknkv2]

SWIM was wondering why there isn't a bigger market for ADD pills such as Adderall and Ritalin considering the low quality of speed these days. SWIM struggles to find any sources for pills but finds speed extremely easy to get and meth even easier. Since you know what's in the ADD pills SWIM thought there would be more demand for them on the illicit market but apparently not as they're that hard to find (for him at least).

Anyone got any ideas as to why this is?

[ThirdEyeFloond]

Originally Posted by insert_username_here

SWIM was wondering why there isn't a bigger market for ADD pills such as Adderall and Ritalin considering the low quality of speed these days. SWIM struggles to find any sources for pills but finds speed extremely easy to get and meth even easier. Since you know what's in the ADD pills SWIM thought there would be more demand for them on the illicit market but apparently not as they're that hard to find (for him at least).

Anyone got any ideas as to why this is?

My levitating giraffe stumbles upon Ritalin every now and then on the black market but he'd agree that it's a relatively rare sight. One possibility is that people with ADD actually ingest their prescribed meds so not much excess Rx hits the streets. I could imagine the dosing schedule of ADD drugs would be harder to fiddle with than ya average opioid or benzo presciption. As in not much room for the surprise pain or anxiety attack that requires a refilling of the script before due time.
Another possibility could be, for atleast the ritalin, that the recreational value of the drug is limited (in the giraffes experience) so it wouldn't have much value on said market.
This couldn't be the case with Adderal though.
A 3rd possibility could be that they are exchanged in different drug communities than the ones SWIY frequent. Like if my giraffe needs pain meds he won't find any outside the heroin crowd. LSD not outside the hippie/psytrance crowd and so on. The speedfreaks outa know where the ADD meds are found tho.

[old hippie 56]

college age kids is a good place to check.

[chillinwill]

around colleges, high schools is a excellent market due to lots of kids having pressure to make good grades so they use they ADD meds in order to study and cram for tests and get all their work done

[staples]

Originally Posted by ThirdEyeFloond

A 3rd possibility could be that they are exchanged in different drug communities than the ones SWIY frequent. Like if my giraffe needs pain meds he won't find any outside the heroin crowd. LSD not outside the hippie/psytrance crowd and so on. The speedfreaks outa know where the ADD meds are found tho.

Exactly my thoughts, but on top of that, there's also not even necessarily a black market around designer drugs, I suspect this is especially true around ADHD medication, since it's a relatively new disorder (as compared to chronic pain, for example). Where I come from, prescription bottles are usually like cookie jars, essentially open to friends, but such friends are expected to hold the same policy.

[fnord]

Originally Posted by old hippie 56

college age kids is a good place to check.

Yes just abou any highschooler or college kid will know where to get ADHD meds, I live in a college town and i see a good sized demand for it.

[ThirdEyeFloond]

Originally Posted by fnord

Yes just abou any highschooler or college kid will know where to get ADHD meds, I live in a college town and i see a good sized demand for it.

Haden't thought of college kids, although that seems like a obvious suggestion when thinking about it. Unfortunately college kids don't have the same access to drugs here like they do in US, and if in SWIMs country I wouldn't get me hopes up to more than perhaps a few beta-blockers here and there.

[Dexyfiend]

SWIM agrees with the above posts but would like too add (ha ha ADD) that people are idiots.
SWIM has had people say to him "dexys are dirty" and then watched them snort the most impure discoloured street amphet and go "yeah!".

Makes him laugh... also most ppl on add meds either use them properly or (like SWIM) abuse them leaving none left hence not that many around.

It's very rare these days where swim's from to find someone with a dexy script that dosent go thru them in one way or the other.

[Bajeda]

There seems to be more ADHD meds going around the college drug scene than there are illicitly prepared speed or meth. Demand is quite high around exam time, and supply never seems to keep up.

It seems like very few people with a script for ADHD medications sell a majority of their pills. Most will toss a few out to friends or some will take a certain amount of their script (some docs are overly generous with dose) and sell the remainder to cover co-pay expenses. It varies, but you tend to find that most people with scripts take their meds consistently enough that there isn't much overflow, and there isn't much in the way of distribution, just friends hooking up friends or occasionally someone selling their entire script (which is reduced to nothing quite fast, particularly near exams).

I'd imagine the situation varies depending on the proliferation of ADHD diagnoses and prescriptions in the area, and the overall drug scene in general.

[MotherSuperior]

SWIM would never sell his legit Dexe script, maybe has been known to give some to friends or trade for other drugs but sell does'nt think it is worth the hassle for a few quid.

[TAKB]

SWIM is a college-aged kid and still has difficulty finding Adderall... She has convinced friends with ADHD to part with a few pills here and there, and once SWIM's friends had another friend who would sell us the majority of his prescriptions but unfortunately was taken off the medication and thus the supply ended... SWIM finds it much easier to get ahold of just about anything else, LSD, shrooms, MDMA, but ADD meds are evasive

[raven3davis]

The black market for add pills is alive and well. SWIM can't walk around a college campus without hearing people talk about how they were up all night on adderall.

It's crazy. The price fluctuates a lot during finals too. Some of these kids would never in their lives dream of taking meth or powdered speed or any other hard drugs for that matter, but they will eat adderall like candy. Kinda stupid if you ask swim.

[cra$h]

in the schools, its a lot easier to get aderall than it is meth, being there's more of a market, and aderall is a little more discrete. But it seems like instead of giving lollypops to patients, they just perscribe them aderall. Plus it's real fuckin cheap.

[staples]

Originally Posted by raven3davis

Some of these kids would never in their lives dream of taking meth or powdered speed or any other hard drugs for that matter, but they will eat adderall like candy. Kinda stupid if you ask swim.

To be fair, adderall is made by a pharmaceutical company and thus must meet certain quality standards... I think many of the same kids would take Desoxyn even if they were told it was methamphetamine. In fact, the subject of "taking Adderall for studying while unprescribed" came up in a psychology discussion; one girl who didn't seem very knowledgeable blurted out something along the lines of "I mean, it's essentially speed! there's no difference."

I've heard similar things from other kids as well, I think most of them know that Adderall is very chemically close to other drugs that are considered "hard", but there's an implied safety when it comes from a prescription bottle and the pill is stamped/marked with authoritative identification numbers.

However, I don't think most kids understand that the "harder drugs" that Adderall is similar to, are used to get high at quite different doses than the equivalent dose to however much Adderall they are taking to study.

[kylej608]

last year when swim was still in highschool there was a very big market for adderall pills. but they seemed to be a huge supply so the pills were like $x for a 30xr which was bullshit for swim trying to sell them, so instead he found other groups of kids outside of the speed kids that would pay more

[Boca Bitch]

It depends on the area you're in. I'm a college student in Miami, so in order of availability it would probably go like this: prescription amphetamines (Adderall, Vyvanse, Dexedrine, etc.), marijuana, benzodiazepines (Xanax), cocaine, prescription opiates (Oxycontin, Roxycodone, etc.), LSD, shrooms. Crystal meth is almost non-existant in my area, it's actually easier for me to get its prescription form, Desoxyn.

[Raz]

Are ADD medications easily obtainable through online pharmacies ? What about in Europe ? No sources of course

[RaverHippie]

Since they're so abuseable I'd doubt they're available but wouldn't be surprised. I'd never risk an online pharmacy for any substance anyways.

[100mg Methylphenidate]

Swim is the only person he know of his group of friends who actually has connections to prescription stimulants. Ever since the day he stole a bottle of ritalin(his mom left a bottle laying around from when his brother took it), he hasn't quit doing uppers for more than a few months before he started again(he only quit 'cause of an OD).

Most people here tend to be close minded about prescription stimulants, yet they're completely okay with cocaine and think it's safer. So everybody here just does coke instead. But there aren't a ton of meth users.

Swim generally gets prescrption stimulants from people who had been prescribed it since a young age and don't bother taking it anymore anwyay 'cause they don't feel it. Then somewhere along the lines they learn they can sell it, and swim buys them out. He's only got one source now though...but he's reliable and sells his entire script to swim.

[Zilker_Park]

Originally Posted by insert_username_here

SWIM was wondering why there isn't a bigger market for ADD pills such as Adderall and Ritalin considering the low quality of speed these days. SWIM struggles to find any sources for pills but finds speed extremely easy to get and meth even easier. Since you know what's in the ADD pills SWIM thought there would be more demand for them on the illicit market but apparently not as they're that hard to find (for him at least).

Anyone got any ideas as to why this is?

SWIM is from a huge college town and there is a big demand for meds that help study time. Since lot's of people are (over)diagnosed with ADD/ADHD these days there is some availability of Adderall and to a lesser extent Dexedrine for these kids who have friends with "extras". SWIM has a legitimate use for these due to both ADD and Multiple Sclerosis. SWIM is currently using the 5mg Dex and feels they have a slightly less harsh feel as well as being far less expensive. SWIM always uses the least amount of the Dex as possible to avoid nasty side effects like headaches and depression. SWIM lives in a cloud of depression and seems to manage it quite well but with the help of correct meds and a positive attitude. The dex does not help create an overly positive attitude or make a speedy fun day like SWIM would have had in high school
... with all that said SWIM that used to hammer down MDMA in '85-'86 and have more fun than a human should be allowed now "needs" that same MDMA for legitimate therapeutic use and cannot find any to save their live. How poetic. It doesn't help that SWIM is now middle age and out of the loop.

[Mutil]

Swim knows a guy with ADD or sommat, he actually parts with his prescriptions quite often. Swim hasn't tried to get the guy to hook him up, but yeah. Adderall probably would be one of Swim's most accessible drug right now. Swim's from a small town, so there aren't many "hard" drugs available (heroin, crack, meth, etc), but there are a LOT of stoners, hippies, and partygoers.

[JaWill88]

swim would disagree there isn't a big black market for these pills. in fact swims friend had like a 100 of the orange 30mg xr and gave him a bunch. another friend had the same. this is in the us of a though. swims not sure about other countries. as said above it could be where you are. any college is going to have them. if swim is going to get amphetamines he at least wants just dextramphetamine and not a mix like adderall. but what he really wants is desoxyn. he has never even seen one so he is not sure if his doc will prescribe. swim shoots heroin and smokes crack, never too big on the amps. but swim really can't focus for shit. opioids make him up and can do anything, but when he takes a crack hit he does nothing but sit there. swims doc in california faxed over 300mg phenobarbital (barbiturate) once daily but it's like alcohol in a pill. so swim went to a new doc in a walk in clinic over here and told him it was too strong and prescribed 120 2mg clonazepam (Klonopin) ((2 tabs 2x daily and works much better. by the way swim is on the methadone program. anyways swim likes librium (chlordiazepoxide) better, the first benzo ever made. its like a cross between barbiturates and clonazepam cause clonazepam is not sedating at all. anyways sorry for the rambling swim is just trying to figure out what to do. he is thinking of swithing his benzodiazepine. but he needs and ADHD medication. adderall is a definate possibility but dexedrine is better. but.... dexoxyn. thats gold. pharmaceutical grade methamphetamine. once again sorry for all this rambling but swim has had a VERY hard time focusing on anthing for more than 2 seconds. what do you think? sorry if this was off topic. as far as the topic goes. there is a BIG market for therse drugs.

[doggy_hat]

Adderalls are extremely desirable pills. So desirable that anyone that has a script would rather keep them for themselves and maybe sell a couple to a close friend. But almost always keep the majority for themselves. Every now and then a month supply will pop up on the market and they always go quick, because the supply is so much smaller than the demand. It seems like that for every script out there, there's one hundred people that want some.

[fazerfaze]

Swim has a scrip for XR addys and though he meant to sell some swim never gets around to it do the fact that they are great for recreation and work. There are very few bad times to take an adderall