Angeline
Wed, Feb-16-05, 13:23
This article kinda made me laugh. Maybe I should put it in the humour section
By MARC K. SIEGEL
February 16, 2005 -- THIS week the Food and Drug Administration responded to being on the hot seat by setting up a board to monitor drug safety. We can only hope that the new board spends its time examining drugs far less safe than Adderall.
Last week, Health Canada decided in a panic to yank long-acting Adderall after determining that it and the short-acting version were linked to 12 strokes and 20 sudden deaths in the United States since 1994. Thankfully, our own FDA didn't follow suit.
Adderall, a form of amphetamine or speed, is a very useful drug. It has been prescribed 37 million times over the past 10 years here, and is usually well tolerated. Physicians should be cautious when prescribing it to patients with high blood pressure, risk of heart disease or stroke and it can be overprescribed. But many children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are unable to function without this drug. In fact, the improved ability to focus can often help to calm affected kids.
Adults suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder can also benefit from the medicine's proven abililty to improve concentration.
Prescribing any medication involves a risk/benefit analysis, and all drugs should be carefully prescribed for the correct condition. But just as panic can make us so afraid of a condition that we rush to treatments prematurely, at the same time, we can be so afraid of a worthy drug that an illness is left untreated.
In Canada, Adderall is being removed from the market because of a rare complication in the U.S. where it is much more heavily prescribed (700,000 prescriptions a month).
If this trend continues, Canada won't have any prescription drugs at all, and re-importation will no longer be hotly debated.
By MARC K. SIEGEL
February 16, 2005 -- THIS week the Food and Drug Administration responded to being on the hot seat by setting up a board to monitor drug safety. We can only hope that the new board spends its time examining drugs far less safe than Adderall.
Last week, Health Canada decided in a panic to yank long-acting Adderall after determining that it and the short-acting version were linked to 12 strokes and 20 sudden deaths in the United States since 1994. Thankfully, our own FDA didn't follow suit.
Adderall, a form of amphetamine or speed, is a very useful drug. It has been prescribed 37 million times over the past 10 years here, and is usually well tolerated. Physicians should be cautious when prescribing it to patients with high blood pressure, risk of heart disease or stroke and it can be overprescribed. But many children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are unable to function without this drug. In fact, the improved ability to focus can often help to calm affected kids.
Adults suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder can also benefit from the medicine's proven abililty to improve concentration.
Prescribing any medication involves a risk/benefit analysis, and all drugs should be carefully prescribed for the correct condition. But just as panic can make us so afraid of a condition that we rush to treatments prematurely, at the same time, we can be so afraid of a worthy drug that an illness is left untreated.
In Canada, Adderall is being removed from the market because of a rare complication in the U.S. where it is much more heavily prescribed (700,000 prescriptions a month).
If this trend continues, Canada won't have any prescription drugs at all, and re-importation will no longer be hotly debated.