Students looking to get their Adderall prescriptions filled may need to wait, as Teva pharmaceuticals, which supplies the drug to local pharmacies, is not meeting its production quota.
"About the last two months, the manufacturer has had it on backorder," Charlie Rorig, a pharmacist at the CVS in Oxford, said. "This usually means that one of the ingredients they use to make it is temporarily out of order or batches don't reach FDA standards."
Rorig said that most of the time bad batches are sent back and are temporarily unavailable.
"Now they're not even giving us a date," Rorig said. "Every now and then some trickles through, and as soon as it comes in it goes right back out. Now it's a long-term backorder, with no date."
Rorig said that because Oxford is a college town, the ratio of Adderall prescriptions between students and residents is staggering.
"Probably by seven or eight to one or more," Rorig said.
Adderall, according to Rorig, is a prescription drug primarily used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder. However, it has been known to be used for other issues, such as being able to stay awake and alert, as well.
"It's an amphetamine," Rorig said. "It causes stimulation. Whether all the students who get it have ADD, or the doctors who are getting it for them to study… sometimes the doctors write ‘ADD' on the prescription and some write [Adderall] and that's it."
Miami Student Health Services also confirmed that there has been a recent shortage of Adderall.
Sgt. Jon Varley of the Oxford Police Department said the police have not had any recent problems with students illegally possessing Adderall.
"On occasion we'll find students that have Adderall that has not been prescribed to them," Varley said, noting that overall there have been no issues.
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In response to the shortages, one student said that perhaps this would be a time to re-evaluate if someone needs a prescription or not.
"I [sometimes] think it is over-prescribed. You really shouldn't give out a drug unless someone's life is being interrupted," first-year Lisa Tomlinson said.
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