Again. Incorrect. Kids with ACTUAL ADD do have a physical difference. Yes it is an extremely misdiagnosed disorder, but it is real. If you would like any evidence, look up studies that measure striatal dopamine release on subjects that use amphetamines. Yes you will find contrasting results, but if you have half a brain you will see there is at least some form of neuronal correlate to this disorder. I got prescribed my junior year of college. Was it because I couldn't study? No. I was the only kid who would sit at the library or chemistry building for 8 hours at a time in order to get my damn work done. Even then shit that would click and I understood, just didn't stick for very long. I got decent grades, so never thought I was ADD, but at an appointment with my physician where I casually mentioned my study habits, he said it didn't sound right. He referenced me to be tested with a psychologist, and I was still very skeptical and thought there was no way I had ADD. Well the testing showed I actually had some pretty severe issues with it. I love people that simply argue, "well there are doctors that agree it doesn't exist. So it's not real." Yes, some doctors say ADD doesn't exist as a disorder in and of itself. However, they all went through medical school, and they all know the biochemistry of brain function. They know issues in neurotransmitter functioning can lead to attention span issues. They think these issues should be labelled something else, or are accompanied by other symptoms. What I'd argue is, over time we have transformed the neurological disorder known as "ADD" to be a societal, rather than biological disorder.
I take 40 mg daily, and cant even tell I've taken any medication, besides the fact that I see the results. I was told by 2 physicians, a psychiatrist, and a psychologist, that if you ACTUALLY need the medication, this is how it should be. You shouldn't see it change you into a robot, you shouldn't get hyper focused, you should just see the results. Typical dosing according to my family physician is approximately .5-1mg per kilo bodyweight. I'm 77kg, so honestly towards the lower end of typical dosing. So when people take 10mg and flip shit saying they have never been so focused in their life, no they probably don't need anything. Granted, I know it can differ depending on how fast a plasma concentration is accumulated based on varied physiological factors, but 99% of people feeling like this are simply abusing the drug.
Also, I find people that take the medication so they can feel "focused" are a tad stupid. They think it makes them smarter, able to get so much shit done, and if they just had a script they'd be doing so much better. First, the people that say it makes you smarter are flat out idiots. You will have the same intelligence level regardless. You may, over time, have a higher intelligence level on average as having a greater level of focus will allow you to learn more, but it will have no instantaneous effect. Amphetamines do not magically make you smarter. Also, there have been studies that when you abuse amphetamines for the focusing effect and you don't actually have attention deficit issues, that it negatively effects the quality of studying and the amount retained. Sure you may be going through the textbook at 90mph and getting so much shit done because you feel focused, but that means absolutely nothing if you can't actually learn the information at the same rate.
It will never be legal to use, and there are reasons for it. Caffeine may achieve a "similar" focusing effect, but the effects of Caffeine and Amphetamines are VERY different. FAR more severe side effects can arise from amphetamine overdoses. Also, the rate of dependency/addiction to amphetamines such as Adderall is VERY high, hence the reason it is a controlled substance.
TL;DR - I hate ignorant shitwads that don't actually take it upon themselves to research some of the physiology associated with ADD/ADHD before they start spewing their diarrheal thoughts on how it's "non-existant" to everybody else.
