The FDA is not an ethics organization that evaluates drugs based on the total effect of public health. That simply isn't contained in the bevy of Bills that together form the Code that FDA mandate is derived from. I understand how frustrating watching these public health issues is, but the FDA isn't tasked with that, and only Congress can change that.

The FDA does something else: Drug company says they have a drug that does X. Does the drug do X?

That's it (okay, the FDA regulates a lot, but in the context of pharmaceuticals, this is their mandate -- "efficacy"). They require inordinate amounts of proof of efficacy.

Not the morality or ethics behind the application of the drug, but rather: does this molecule, in this concentration, in this delivery route, in this population, have the exact pharmacological effect that they claim it does.

From there, it is up to each person and their doctor to decide what treatments are needed!

Blame the doctors, then, or blame Congress, but the FDA follows it's mandate quite wonderfully.

> Funny how there are so many SSRI's on the market.

Why? What's wrong with SSRIs?

> Funny how this model results in the conclusion that it's a good idea to give kids amphetamines when they are known neurotoxins.

Giving amphetamines to children is certainly debatable but amphetamines are not neurotoxic. Methamphetamines are neurotoxic, especially in recreational doses, but non-methylated amphetamines are not.

> Funny how medical marijuana is taking such a long time to break through into the mainstream.

Entirely different issue.

Funny thing about meth is that it's not that dangerous -- it's almost identical to adderral. The methyl group (meth-amphetamine vs amphetamine) really only improves the ability of the drug to cross the blood-brain barrier. It's basically a form of adderal with a slightly stronger bioavailability curve.

The reason why meth is a public health issue while addy arguably is not is mainly because requiring a Doctor rx, using an exact dosage with no refills, combined with the purity and safety of GMP-produced drugs, eliminates most of the issues behind meth.

I was shocked when I found how just how similar meth and adderall truly are.

As an Adderall user, I can back this up. The symptoms of use are very similar to meth. Ever seen that "meth jingle" ad? The whole "pulling hairs out of your face, cleaning everything, etc" pitch is spot on to Adderall side effects. The difference is that Adderall side effects are dramatically more mild due to (as betterth said) a properly calibrated and reliable dose.

Also, with Adderall, you can't afford to just take more to offset withdrawal symptoms, because you only have so much. The temptation to take another as it wears off is pretty substantial, especially for long-time users.

Uh, having taken adderall nearly every day for 20 years, I can say that I have absolutely no temptation to take another when the first wears off. In fact, I tend to forget without an alarm and then wonder why I can't focus.

Nor have I ever had any compulsion to clean everything in sight or pluck every hair from my face. It certainly makes cleaning easier, but I certainly don't feel the need to do it anymore on or off of it.

You appear to have become addicted.

So you forget to take it for a couple of days? The biological half-life of dextroamphetamine is 10 hours and levoamphetamine 13 hours. That's 10 to 13 hours (since Adderall is a mix of both isomers) until just half of the dose you took is eliminated from your bloodstream. If you take something with a long half-life like that every day, it's constantly in your system. It takes roughly three days to completely eliminate a dose.

Yes indeed I often forget to take it during the weekends. I have no compulsion to take it when my prescription runs out (I often delay going to the doctor to get a refill and go a week without, especially if focus is not absolutely necessary).

I didn't realize this was unusual.

Fair enough, that doesn't sound like an addiction at all. If you're just taking it to improve concentration, you might have luck with a combination of a Vitamin B complex, Piracetam and L-Tyrosine. All are cheap and have no side effects.

Adding a methyl group does more than improve bioavailability (and it's much more bioavailable, not "slightly stronger"). While both have nearly the same effects the long term side effects are much more significant for meth. Meth is neurotoxic, even when not abused as a recreational drug.

>Funny thing about meth is that it's not that dangerous

Are you completely fucking stupid? Read these and stop spreading dangerously wrong information - http://www.amphetamines.com/neurotoxicity/index.html - http://www.aapsj.org/view.asp?art=aapsj080248

>Giving amphetamines to children is certainly debatable but amphetamines are not neurotoxic. Methamphetamines are neurotoxic, especially in recreational doses, but non-methylated amphetamines are not.

At least do your research if you're going to act so certain about something. This post has links to a few studies demonstrating said neurotoxicity - http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/47231-amphetamine-neuro...

>Why? What's wrong with SSRIs?

Gee, I don't know. Maybe the horrible withdrawal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSRI_discontinuation_syndrome) combined with the fact that their effectiveness is statistically insignificant (http://www.science20.com/natural_medicine_101_jeffrey_dach_m...).

SSRIs don't help people?