Amphetamine drugs are experiencing a comeback, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Among US adults between the ages of 19 and 64 years, about 3% are using amphetamines or methylphenidate, a new study finds. Thomas Moore, in the Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness at Johns Hopkins and one of the study’s authors, says most often their use is in addition to other drugs.

Moore: We discovered basically a new use which was they were being combined with other potent psychiatric drugs in combination therapy. This therapy has been very poorly studied and we don't know enough about either their risks or benefits of this. This is off label use it hasn't been independently tested and verified by the FDA what we found was that it was being used very frequently with antidepressant drugs, with sleep medications or drugs called benzodiazepines.  :30

Moore says anyone who is prescribed several medicines together should ask their physician why this is necessary, and to consider alternatives or a very defined duration of use. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.