Gummy Amphetamines now on the Market for Adults and Kids
This year, the FDA approved a new drug for kids ages 6 and up. It’s called Adzenys: an amphetamine that comes in convenient candy form! That’s right. Gummy amphetamines are now on the market. Remember all those lame chicks who soak gummy bears in vodka? Well, they might be upping their party-game soon.
”The FDA came under criticism for this move, as it kind of sets kids up for drug abuse.
Adzenys is a time-release gummy amphetamine used to treat ADD; it comes in 6 dose strengths. It’s mostly marketed towards treating kids, but can be prescribed to adults as well. If you think making medication with a high potential for abuse in candy form sounds like a bad idea, you’re not alone. But the company CEO, Vipin Garg, says the gummy form is an easier way for kids to take their medication. He also suggests that Adzenys is great for adults on-the-go! “If they forget to take their pill with breakfast, they could just pop a tablet on the way to work,” Garg said. Yeah because adults never have bottles of water or anything.
I get that gummy amphetamines can make taking the drug more convenient; but Ritalin already comes in a chewable tablet. I also understand that taking a medication shouldn’t be an inconvenience, but it shouldn’t be enjoyable either. Maybe it isn’t the best idea to associate positive tastes and colors with taking an addictive substance. Especially in children, whose brains are still developing. But then again everyone’s gonna want to be friends with the kid who has the gummy amphetamine prescription– especially once alcohol starts becoming involved. Unless opiates are more you’re thing. In which case…
Last year the FDA approved Oxycodone for kids 11 and up. Once again, I understand this can serve a purpose in certain cases. But Oxycodone could already be prescribed to kids off-label before for cases like this. Ya know, if they have cancer or chronic pain or something. But approving the drug for kids 11 and up gives doctors the ability to prescribe it at their discretion. Which can become a problem because doctors kind of work on a drug-commission-type system with drug companies. The more a doctor prescribes a drug, the more money they make. The FDA came under criticism for this move, as it kind of sets kids up for drug abuse.
Neos Theraputics is the pharmaceutical company behind the gummy amphetamine with 125 sales reps around the country. The reps say they have had “no problem” catching interest from doctors who are interested in prescribing the new drug. But like the CEO says, marketing is everything. As Garg was excited to get “ahead of back-to-school season” claiming in May that his company is “launching now at full speed.” Full “speed” indeed.
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Randi Nord lives in Pontiac, Michigan. She is a journalist for the The Fifth Column, co-founder of Geopolitics Alert, and co-hosts a podcast about geopolitics.