HealthDay (8/29, Reinberg) reports, “Labor shortages at Teva Pharmaceuticals have made Adderall [amphetamine/dextroamphetamine],” a treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), “hard to find in some drugstores,” even though the FDA has “noted that there’s no overall shortage of” medications to treat AD/HD. Just “Teva is reporting supply problems, FDA spokeswoman Cherie Duvall-Jones told NBC News.”

Related Links:

— “ADHD Drug Adderall in Short Supply “Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, August 29, 2022

CNN (8/29, Marples) reports “people in US states that legalized recreational cannabis use it 20% more frequently than those in states that didn’t legalize it,” according to a survey study comprising 3,421 participants, including “111 pairs of identical twins…with one twin living in a state that legalized recreational cannabis and the other in a state that did not legalize it.” The findings were published in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “Legalizing recreational cannabis increases its use, research shows “Megan Marples, CNN, August 29, 2022

Psychiatric News (8/29) reports research published online Aug. 27 in Schizophrenia Bulletin indicates that “people with schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder may remain at elevated risk of death from the” COVID-19 “virus compared with people without mental illness regardless of the availability of COVID-19 vaccines.” Included in the study were “48,912 people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, 13,932 with bipolar disorder, 152,489 with major depressive disorder, and 773,734 without a history of mental illness.”

Related Links:

— “Risk of Death From COVID-19 Remains Higher Among People With Serious Mental Illness, Psychiatric News, August 29, 2022

MedPage Today (8/26, Firth) reported, “‘Addressing mental health concerns among young people, in particular Black youth, is urgently needed,’…said” Michael Lindsey, PhD, MSW, MPH, dean and professor at the NYU Silver School of Social Work in New York City, during an online panel discussion that occurred Aug. 24 “hosted by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and sponsored by the Kristy Hammam Fund for Health Journalism.” What’s more, “suicide is now the second leading cause of death among young people, said” Lindsey, who also pointed out that “from 2019 to 2020, hospitals saw a 31% increase in youth emergency department visits related to self-harm behaviors.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (8/27, A1, Richtel, Flanagan) reported on the common medical practice of “the simultaneous use of multiple heavy-duty psychiatric” medications among adolescents. While “psychiatrists and other clinicians emphasize that psychiatric” medicines, “properly prescribed, can be vital in stabilizing adolescents and saving the lives of” teens with suicidal ideation, experts caution, however, that “such medications are too readily doled out, often as an easy alternative to therapy that families cannot afford or find, or aren’t interested in.” The medicines, “generally intended for short-term use, are sometimes prescribed for years, even though they can have severe side effects,” and a number of psychiatric medications “commonly prescribed to adolescents are not approved for people under 18.”

Related Links:

— “This Teen Was Prescribed 10 Psychiatric Drugs. She’s Not Alone. “Matt Richtel, The New York Times, August 27, 2022