How many people do you know taking amphetamines? The odds are many of your friends, family and colleagues are taking amphetamines, legally. The question then becomes, especially in today’s climate where the problem has gotten especially bad, how many people are abusing this prescription medication?
This is another entry in our blog series on addictive drugs. Amphetamines are commonly prescribed for people with attention deficit disorder (ADD), people with trouble focusing and for chronic fatigue.
Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat, Desoxyn, ProCentra, and Vyvanse, as well as Benzedrine in the past.
The drug is also used recreationally and as a performance enhancer. Recreational users of amphetamine have coined numerous street names for amphetamine, such as "speed".
How Addictive are Amphetamines?
Tolerance is developed rapidly in amphetamine abuse; therefore, periods of extended use require increasing amounts of the drug in order to achieve the same effect. An amphetamine overdose is rarely fatal but can lead to a number of different symptoms, including psychosis, chest pain, and hypertension.
An article in The Lancet compared the harm and addiction of 20 drugs, using a scale from 0 to 3 (3 being the most highly addictive substances like heroin) for physical addiction, psychological addiction, and pleasure to create a mean score for addiction. Ranking just above cannabis (0.8) in terms of physical addictiveness at 1.9, amphetamines are very psychologically addictive scoring a 1.9 (tied with alcohol).
These are dangerous medications that prescribed every day. It has been estimated that for every patient taking it under the guidance of a true medical provider, there are five that buy them off the streets or go to one of the “pill mill” doctors who just write prescriptions.
