ADHD drug shortage stressing families during back-to-school season

As summer winds down, there’s a looming fear for many students heading back to school because of an ongoing shortage of ADHD medications.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 6 million children between the ages of 3 and 17 have been diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

The condition can cause behavioral problems in addition to leading to poor performance in the classroom.

For Clara Pitts, who is headed off to her dream school, Brigham Young University, there’s an added level of anxiety because the medicine she takes for ADHD is part of a nationwide shortage.

“It’s just really scary not knowing if I’ll have consistency in my medication,” Pitts said.

It started last fall when one drug maker had a manufacturing delay, but it hasn’t let up.

Pitts has had to switch from Adderall to another medication called Vyvanse. But some dosages of that drug have been hard to come by as well.

All of this has made back-to-school season even more stressful for students like Pitts and their families.

“These young people often have difficulty paying attention, sitting still,” said Columbia University’s Dr. Warren Ng.

Ng said treatment can have dramatic results.

“It can really change a young person’s life overnight so they suddenly are able to do the work that they want to do but are having difficulty focusing their attention,” Ng said.

But relief from the shortage may not be coming soon.

Prescription rates for the medicines are at record highs -- up more than 45% in the U.S. over the last decade.

A CDC study this year found an especially large jump in prescriptions for adults in the first year of the pandemic.

Also complicating the picture, drugs like Adderall are stimulants, controlled substances the government says have a high potential for abuse. So the Drug Enforcement Administration sets limits on how much can be produced.

But in a joint letter with the FDA last month, the DEA said manufacturers aren’t producing as much as they’re allowed to.

Last year they said there were about 1 billion more doses that they could have produced but did not and said data for 2023 so far show a similar trend.

For some, the shortage could mean dashed dreams.

“A lot of young people that I’ve seen have just given up that they’ve either just felt that, you know, it’s too difficult, maybe I shouldn’t go to college or maybe I shouldn’t have this job,” Ng said.

Despite those worries, Pitts is looking forward to school, planning on majoring in electrical engineering, but she worries not just for herself but also others starting school with ADHD and struggling to find their medicines.

“This is the first time that me and other people with ADHD are starting a new school year without our medication in some cases,” Pitts said. “And I think time is going to tell whether or not we sink or swim as a collective ADHD community.”

CNN reached out to each of the 11 manufacturers of Adderall and its generics listed by the FDA. Only two, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Novartis’s Sandoz unit, responded.

Both said they are making as much of the medication as they are allowed.