ARKANSAS, USA — Pharmacies in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley continue to feel the effects of a nationwide shortage of the drugs used to treat ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
The shortage has been ongoing since 2022.
The need for the medications is top of mind for some families with kids going back to school, as many children with ADHD rely on medication to help them focus in class.
According to local pharmacists, the impact of that shortage is not easing up, and it's not just students who are feeling the effects.
Chrissy Stallings-Julian, a pharmacist at Medisav Homecare Pharmacy in Fort Smith, said the shortage is a significant issue for pharmacies and patients across the area.
When Medisav can’t give a patient their prescription due to the shortage, she said they discuss other options, but some of the alternative medicines are also in short supply.
Especially with school starting, she said pharmacies do their best to keep these medicines in stock, but in the past two years, prescriptions have also skyrocketed in adults.
“We have a lot of children on these prescriptions, and we do our best to keep it in stock for them, but we've had a dramatic increase in these prescriptions for adults as well because they're not just treating ADD and ADHD in the adults; sometimes they use it for depression and other disorders as well,” Julian said.
She said the spike in adult prescriptions for these drugs started during COVID, around the same time many people started working from home.
“The theory is that people working from home needed more help to stay focused for their jobs,” Julian said.
That increase, combined with manufacturing issues, made the problem worse.
“There are supply chain issues,” Julian said. “Some of the manufacturers have had a hard time getting some of the raw ingredients, but also the DEA has very strict regulations on these manufacturers, and they only let them produce so much a year, so they kind of get maxed-out early on, and then it’s very hard to get your hands on them.”
Julian said Medisav’s staff will continue to do what they can to help with finding alternatives for patients, but she thinks supply will have to catch up to demand for things to improve.
“From what I’ve heard, the DEA needs to allow these manufacturers to make more of these stimulant medications,” Julian said. “They do regulate them for a reason, though, because they are very addictive and can be abused, so they try to keep that down, but the demand has just gone up so much.”
In the meantime, she encourages patients having trouble finding their prescriptions in stock to contact their doctors about alternative treatment options.
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