For months now the ADHD medication Adderall has been slim on the shelves of pharmacies nationwide.
Pharmacist Ed Dozier with U-Sav-It pharmacy says that's not uncommon in the pharmaceutical industry.
"That kind of typically happens at the end of the year when pharmaceutical manufacturers have reached their manufacturing quota," he said.
What's also not uncommon, yet more alarming, is the number of people turning to the Internet to purchase pharmaceuticals, some of them being sold without prescription
"If you circumvent the normal distribution chain, the normal supply chain, especially when you're getting it without a prescription from your doctor, that's a red flag there," Dozier said.
That practice prompted to FDA to issue a warning Wednesday about counterfeit Adderall. Typically the legit version is peach or orange and comes in a 100 pill count bottle.
The counterfeit pills are white and in a blister package which contains misspellings.
Lab tests have shown the knock-off pill contained tramadol and acetaminophen as its active ingredients which are used to treat acute pain, not ADHD or narcolepsy for which Adderall is prescribed.
But the Internet is full of websites offering prescription drugs from Adderall to Viagra. No prescription is necessary but buyer beware.
"It's scary because you have no idea where the products are being manufactured and the quality controls that are being used at those manufacturing plants," said Dozier.
For more information on counterfeit Adderall click here for a link to the warning issued by the FDA.
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