A few months back, when Sheila McLear called up her pharmacy to refill her Adderall prescription,

the people on the other end of the line were not exactly happy to hear from her.

They said we don't have a single pill left to give anyone in the pharmacy.

This is how Sheila learned there's an Adderall shortage at the moment.

And when I say shortage, I mean, Sheila's got a friend who actually bought some

Adderall on the street rather than calling up pharmacies one by one. Just for

context, Adderall's common drug is used to treat ADHD and kids and adults

nearly 20 million of them each year. Sheila is a writer, she lives in New York

City without this drug, the basics of her life, stuff like hitting deadlines.

It gets that much harder, which is why she spent weeks looking for her

supply. And in the meantime, tried to use other drugs to help her focus. She

experimented with five-hour energy drinks. She hates five-hour energy drinks.

And finally, just was like, I'm just gonna have to drink a lot of coffee and

there's just nothing better on the marketing coffee right now.

How many pharmacies do you think you and your provider called altogether to try to

track down the Adderall you have now? Oh, is she proudly called? I don't know. 10. I

proudly called. Eight. Eventually, Sheila found a place that would refill her

prescription. Now she keeps her remaining Adderall in a little glass vial next to

her stove. She's been watching it, dwindle day by day. And she's worried about

what's gonna happen when she starts calling pharmacies again. You know, people

don't really take Adderall seriously always, but you know, try telling someone,

you know, you're not, you can't have your blood pressure medication for eight days.

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