Amphetamine use is growing, often in combination with other drugs, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Play

Amphetamines, which are stimulant medications, were commonly used decades ago for things like appetite regulation. Then as their potential for addiction became known they were prescribed much less frequently. Now use of amphetamines is once again on the upswing, a Johns Hopkins study shows. Thomas Moore, one of the study’s authors, explains.

Moore: We studied continuously insured privately insured adults underage 65. Three percent of all adults were taking amphetamine stimulants in 2020 about half of those were doing so in a combination therapy with other potent psychiatric drugs. Amphetamines such as Adderall have been around and on the market for 87 years. Because of their addiction properties their use actually declined what we're seeing now is the same old drugs are now making a comeback. :30

Moore says anyone taking an amphetamine should be aware of the potential for addiction, and notes that the dangers of taking them with other drugs are not known. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.