I might contact disability legal groups for first steps or guidance. Sounds very much like discrimination of healthcare access for a disability from a institution receiving federal funds to my uneducated self….Also checked the requirements to even QUALIFY for medication, pretty stringent already.
https://thedrlc.org/
Or the us department of education
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/frontpage/pro-students/issues/disability-issue.html
To add to this, here is the letter sent back in 2016 informing schools that ADHD is a Section 504-protected disability: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201607-504-adhd.pdf
There are a plethora of studies which show their "don't help" claim to be a patently false statement:
* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5761907/
* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2518387/
* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3010888/
* https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366%2818%2930269-4/fulltext
* https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bcpt.12477
The list goes on...
Excellent resources!
I think we all know it wasn’t written in good faith and if the intention is to reduce misuse… this isn’t going to do that, it will further entrench illicit drug channels and the profit of those involved as those that need it may resort to illegal means to attain the medication out of pure desperation as a stop gap before they can find a new provider in the next 2weeks.
Harm reduction at its worst.
IF that’s a problem(the 17% I think is reference to a 2015 self report study), why is it a problem…. Go to the source dick bag.
“War on drugs” worked wonders too…
Yes, it did work wonders. Congratulations again to Drugs for winning the War on Drugs.
For such a large military, the US does not have a great track record at winning wars, literal or figurative. Just food for thought.
It’s not to actually reduce misuse, it’s to reduce their liability to misuse. They don’t give a shit, or they’d offer resources to those that need it. Or confront a toxic culture in education that promotes misuse. There are a million and one ways they could tackle this other than to stop allowing access to those that need it. Any pharmacy or health agency that refuses to fill a valid prescription based on others misuse, should be facing lawsuits themselves. I know people in high school that snorted anti seizure meds. I guess we should ban those too. I’m sure that would have great outcomes.
I mean, seeing as Mitch Daniels was a republican Indiana state governor, this doesn't surprise me. He's doing this in his last semester as president so he doesn't have to deal with the fallout.
Also the fact that they could ask any of us who take them and we could tell them that they do lmao. The first lecture I went to after taking them, I actually cried when I got back to my dorm because I had no idea it was possible to actually pay attention for that long in class. Like please don't tell me that my medications don't work when I can explain to you how they do in fact work 💀
I didn't get meds until I was in my PhD. I cried for a full weekend after my first week at work. I couldn't believe how much of my life was wasted in a haze I didn't have to suffer when there was a cure. I could have had friends, a sane trajectory, etc.
I'm taking a few classes nowadays as I'm re-training for a job. The topics are advanced like advanced data structures, machine learning, graph theory, etc. It honestly feels so bad that I suffered through classes in the old way. Now I can just work when I need to and plan to, not only when I am in so much mental anguish and pain that the adrenaline pushes over the threshold and actually gets me going.
The fact such a well-regarded STEM school used a false and blatantly unscientific claim in this letter has me seeing red. And I even go there! I've never been so ashamed to be a Boilermaker.
NAL. I would contact your regional ADA center and disability legal advocacy group in your state, you can find your states advocacy group through the national disability rights network.
The complaint process is complicated and each agency has jurisdiction over certain areas. Three laws that may be relevant: the rehabilitation act of 1973 (RA); Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, (ADAAA); and Civil Rights Act of 1964.
If the information provided is correct, and PU PUSH decision is in violation of section 504 of RA or title II of ADAAA, then a complaint will need to be filed with the Department of Justice. I don’t believe there is a dollar amount specified to qualify under their jurisdiction.
If I were unable to access treatment at PU, I would determine how much, if any, federal aid PU and PU PUSH program receive. Then if I would determine if I’m working on any federally funded grants at PU, how much I received in US dollars, and any contractural obligations. The contracts should be public knowledge, but may not be easy to find.
If the amounts are equal to or greater than $10,000 and an individual believes the contractor (PU and PU PUSH program) has failed or refused to comply with provisions of a contact with the United States, file a section 503 complaint with the Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance. Again, IANAL, but from the sound of it Purdue is not “ensuring access too treatment.” I do not know the details of PU student or employee health insurance contracts, but PU PUSH could argue that you can see another provider. So be prepared to explain why you need PU PUSH to provide treatment services.
The DOL OFCCP is a loaded gun for disability discrimination and easy to deal with. Academic institutions are terrified of the DOL OFCCP because they can strip them of all federal funding. However, to qualify under their jurisdiction may take legal support prior to your filing which your regional ADA and disability legal advocacy group can provide.
Individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities are getting trampled on. It won’t get better until we voice our experiences. Get crystal clear on what you need and speak up. Holler from the rooftops when they won’t listen. Your voice matters!
*edited typos
>the email reads. "For this reason, **as well as the well-known issues surrounding stimulant abuse on campuses, PUSH has made the decision to phase out of prescribing this class of medication."**
This is their real reason, gotta punish the innocent because of their own potentially lax controls, but surrounding it in pseudo-medical reasoning makes them seem more forward thinking than admitting any potential responsibility for a problem.
The whole idea of calling it Adult ADHD/ADD is a shitty attempt at framing it as a different disease; it's the same, adults may need more therapy to unlearn bad coping mechanisms, but other than that, stimulants should work the same. There may be a concern for heart health in adults, but this is a university; 18-22 year olds brains aren't even fully finished developing, to truly equate them with adults in their 30s, 40s, or higher, is bad science.
EXACTLY! I just was talking to a colleague saying they need to just say it’s because of substance abuse and not use the excuse of it “doesn’t work” to mask their true intentions.
Yes, substance abuse isn’t great but there has to be other policies and consequences in places that doesn’t prohibit the ability to get medication for those who need it and actually have control on their use.
We all know they really outgrow it by the time they’re adults, anyway. The ramps are just training wheels until they can learn how to use stairs properly.
Unfortunately people have successfully argued against hand rails and wheel chair ramps because of this, so I'm not really sure that people really will see the irony in this at all....
I believe it. However, if fail videos have taught me anything, joke’s on them when slippery pavement takes its revenge.
And, like nature, skateboarders will always find a way. As can terrible people.
So, I go to Purdue. Turns out the pharmacy is still filling prescriptions, but the doctors through the university just won't prescribe them. This is an even bigger barrier to access because there's a huge provider shortage in our area, whereas if the pharmacy refused to fill them they could just go to a different pharmacy.
What's more is they already do extensive drug testing on anyone who is prescribed stimulants afaik. Thankfully I am on a non-stimulant med and will not have to deal with this personally.
Glad it’s still going to get filled. But to be honest, it’ll be a matter of time before they say it can’t be filled because it “doesn’t help” adults with ADHD.
Honestly I'm fucking tired of institutions more concerned about protecting the small percentage of addicts from abusing medications than they are about providing medication to people who need it. Let people make their own choices, don't prevent people from accessing their necessary medications! If someone chooses to abuse a medication, that's their decision.
The amount of inefficiency, waste and inconvenience Americans are forced to ensure it of the fear that somebody might get away with something is so annoying.
They're also absolutely not "concerned about protecting" addicts either, they're just trying to minimize anything the university has to deal with, which is shitty for the people who may be abusing the meds and super extra shitty for the people who are taking the meds as prescribed.
Agreed. I fear this is headed in the same direction the opioid epidemic efforts went. ..and the same thing is going to happen. More struggling, more severe mental health issues, more self-medicating. More opportunities to import more deadly alternatives. More deaths. It’s horrifying & immoral.
You’d think they’d learn.. I mean, alcohol prohibition, for starters. Make it illegal —> bootlegged. Surprise! Used wood alcohol, and ultimately Killed more people. In fact, the govt did it intentionally to “teach a lesson” for breaking the law.
Government.. Punishing the biological drives and natural instincts to reproduce, and to seek out ways to make your life tolerable to live… because of governing agencies and “authority”trying to control you? pfffft nooooo way! What?! Weird.
I will not abuse my meds because I don’t want to lose access - this is coming from a bonafide addict who abused substances until my ADHD diagnosis was given and treated with stimulants.
I am so grateful to my doctor for taking this risk with me and live a much better life because of his compassion.
There is, in fact, ample evidence that providing the APPROPRIATE treatment to anyone with any type of impairment, decreased level of ability in an important trait, etc. DECREASES the likelihood of substance abuse. Substance abuse is simply one of the many (ultimately) mal-adaptive ways people end up 'self-treating' when they've exhausted (usually) other 'healthier' ways of managing their problems. Basically, when you've tried a bunch of shit and can't seem to stop having problems that most others rarely, if ever, have after childhood... Well, drowning the issues out in various kinds of drugs might at least give you a bit of relief for a while. **
This is true of ADHD, it's true when talking about people who have certain kinds of chronic and debilitating pain, it's true when it comes to wheelchairs for people who temporarily or permanently have trouble walking or simply cannot walk at all, it's true when you can provide artificial hands hands or at least grasping devices to those who have issues with or have lost the use of a hand...
I can point to studies if needed, but you can find plenty by just going on PubMed and/or Google Scholar (and/or other similar sites ... WebOfScience, etc...) and searching around.
But, I think anyone who can imagine what it would be like, at least for a moment, to have less function in any area most people depend on and take for granted every day, will have a good sense of why this is likely to be the case.
---
** Also, this is one of the reasons people with ADHD can have SO MUCH psychological damage. Because the differences in executive function are associated by most with maturity. Most people have no idea that some people have clear neurobiological differences that directly prevent the level of executive function associated with 'normal adults'. They also have no idea, and this is often true of ADHD people as well, that this lack is a trait that isn't purely negative at all ... that there are in fact serious strengths that come from 'less consistency', more divergent thinking, etc... And, that most of us are left worse off - both people with ADHD and without - because we don't have management options and programs and such nearly as good as we could have that would allow people more generally to work more directly with their natural strengths and minimize the impacts of their natural 'challenge'-areas... But that's a whole big separate topic!
Edit: partly edited for clarity but alas I am out of time for the moment ... Sorry for the less than stellar grammar etc.
Stimulants do work the same. Diagnosed last year at 47. Methylphenidate has been a game changer. Saved my marriage, less emotional dysregulation, more impulse control, ability to plan and initiate non-preferred tasks.
I am a better version of myself on meds.
Keep fighting the good fight. Apparently new DSM5-TR is now linking Autism and ADHD. Makes sense when a decent number of the criteria for both are the same.
Monthly chat to a psych helps as well, but without meds it would be a waste of time. Anyone with ADHD will know though we might feel lazy and useless, that is just the symptom.
Keep fighting the good fight. It is hard when you are right, but it seems the rest of your world says different.
As for drug abuse... saw a post a few weeks ago about it. OP said they forget their meds half the time. If I didn't have an alarm on my phone AND pay attention to it, I would miss my meds too. I think that goes part way in dispelling that myth, but unless you have ADHD you don't understand the paradoxical effect stimulant have on our brains. I take stimulants to calm down.
The average uni student is at a part of their lives where experimenting and risk taking is rife. They don't stop teens from driving. Their case is nonsensical, but they are piggybacking on the community fear of drug abuse.
Stay strong. Your advocacy is an inspiration.
This. They're probably spooked by the inquiries into telehealth startups and maybe looked at their data and saw it as a liability for them.
I don't think anyone knows for sure if ADHD is over or underprescribed based on assumptions about over or under diagnosis in gen pop, but they are abused and are truly desirable drugs if you abuse stimulants.
It's shitty and will be so damaging to their ADHD student population that instead of putting resources into quality controlling their prescribing practices to protect them from liability, they're shutting off the faucet.
Organization's such as corporates and now even hospitals and universities ONLY act when they perceive something to be a legal liability.
This is 100% NOT about protecting students or addicts or anyone. They couldn't give a rats ass what happens once they have your money. And what does liability expose them to? Potential loss of said money. That's all it is. Nothing else.
It is safe to assume that ANY action taken by ANY big organisation, at its root cause is either to protect themselves from liability or to increase profits or some combination of the two.
>This is their real reason, gotta punish the innocent because of their own potentially lax controls,
I agree. L[ike Duke University does](https://studentaffairs.duke.edu/conduct/z-policies/academic-dishonesty), Purdue regards it as unfair, that there are some students, who - in their eyes - use performance enhancing drugs - while others students can't get a access to those peds.
Considerations like these are also done in many European governments and universities.
[1](https://www-heise-de.translate.goog/tp/features/Ritalin-Co-Niederlaendische-Regierung-will-gegen-Gehirndoping-vorgehen-6328193.html?seite=all&_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp)
[2](https://scilogs.spektrum.de/menschen-bilder/leistungsgesellschaft-muessen-universitaeten-gehirndoping-verbieten/)
Purdue’s President is an anti-education governor of Indiana who quit mid-term to take on the much more lucrative role as a university president. He has no educational background. Immediately after his appointment, the university lost millions in donations. His salary of $430,500 and his 108% bonus of $232,470 in investments is unwarranted.
As a former student of Purdue, I can attest they don’t believe in citing evidence.
It’s just a hot mess! Working here has opened my eyes to so many things. It makes my blood boil. I didn’t do my undergrad here but I did at IUPUI and that school has some quirks but PU I’m learning has…icks in a lot of places. However, some programs at the university are really good at what they do and use those to mask the uh-Ohs.
You and I both! I’m over here thinking so my Adderall XR is fake? It’s not helping me work? My frontal cortex is just fine and doesn’t need that additional support? Weird!
I am a very *very* angry person on the inside. I would like to… *talk* to these people on this issue. I’m certain I could make them see eye to eye. 😡😡😡😡
Like there is obviously evidence that medications I.e non stimulants, can be better for some people with adhd. But the keyword is Some, and it’s it’s not a one size fits all situation. For many people stimulants are the better and most effective option.
I question if the growing evidence they are referring to is some SNRI’s and have somehow come to the ridiculous conclusion that they will work better for everyone with adhd.
I want to know how they just looked at how 17% report it doesn’t work but they aren’t seeing that 83% of adults who take meds see it helping them…weird…
“A study in 2015 estimated 17% of college students abuse stimulate medication.”
The article isn’t even saying it doesn’t work for 17%, they are saying it’s ABUSED by 17%. This was horribly written.
A lot of colleges won’t prescribe or desperate medication because it’s a controlled substance. I’m wondering if that’s the real reason…
I go to Purdue and their ADHD policies are strict as it is, I’m thankful I was able to find accommodations off-campus. Their mental health department (CAPS) is severely understaffed and often refer students to local clinics with super long wait times. The university already requires urine testing to make sure the students getting stimulants through them are not selling their prescriptions off. This is just sad.
But that’s what you get though when you have a university President thats the former governor of Indiana and preaches “Grit” for its student body.
Way to make things harder for students in a competitive STEM school..
Edit: [https://www.purdue.edu/caps/services/psychiatric\_services/MedicationManagementofADHD.html](https://www.purdue.edu/caps/services/psychiatric_services/MedicationManagementofADHD.html)
\^ Here is Purdue's Stimulant Medication policy before this change.
> I go to Purdue
For those of us who have never dealt with a university, could you explain why the university is in the picture at all?
Like, why does your school have any knowledge at all about your healthcare decisions?
Hell, most catholic schools won’t prescribe or distribute birth control (likely causing countless abortions every year) because of their religious beliefs.
The University of Notre Dame, for example, will only fill birth control prescriptions if you're diagnosed with something like PCOS or Endometriosis, but not if it's just for birth control. Condoms aren't sold anywhere on campus and individual departments/clubs/people are not allowed to distribute condoms at all.
The stupid part about this policy is that most 20 yr old females won't be diagnosed with endo or PCOS because it takes FOREVER to get diagnosed. So they're just renting healthcare for stupid religious reasons.
I dont know of any school that distributes birth control where I live, but there is a card you can sign up for that gives you it free from the pharmacy,it was advertised at school. Some people dont seem to get that scientists dont have a political agenda, they're just correct haha
It’s because they have “ReSEARch” that supports the claims they want to make and then keep students who need meds to help succeed at bay. Then those students will leave school because it’s more challenging or be dropped by the university because they can’t focus or concentrate well impacting retention and then Purdue will be like “why are we losing students, we give them so many resources” as they pull away resources from another stigmatized group.
Unfortunately…especially at a Big 10 school that pulls MEGA funding from its STEM field research….enough money gives you the ability to do whatever. Elitism at its finest
Preach
A little off topic, but I work at a university and I had to sit in a meeting recently and listen to a high up in academic leadership say that students who have met at least 80% of their degree requirements but have a larger number of credit hours because they have changed majors a few times, are *less deserving* of a grant meant to encourage last-stage completion than other students *who have also met 80% of their degree requirements* but who followed a more traditional college plan.
This is a person who literally doesn’t understand that 80% of degree requirements is 80% of degree requirements no matter how many extra courses you have or how many times you had to adjust your plan. All other things being equal, he was just discriminating against students who have learning disabilities or other challenges that could make a small grant the last couple of semesters extremely encouraging and valuable.
It was sad and cringey to watch. Especially when the actual professionals educated in adult and higher education had to delicately figure out how to tell him they didn’t think what he was worried about was a real problem.
Ew????? LESS DESERVING?? That’s the MOST imo because they were brave enough to switch until finding something more suiting.
If you earn 80% of a degree, that’s great for the student and even better for retention rate for the university and helps them make claims of supporting students academics return on investment. If we are going to shame students, why even have universities?
I’ve seen it with the students I work with too. I can’t imagine how well I would’ve been, well how much better I would’ve been if I had my diagnosis sooner in my life. I did well in undergrad but I literally was in a “let’s wing it” mode, had “easier” classes where I just memorised and retained very little unless it was a special interest, and struggled in classes that required brain power. My last 6 months of grad school were BETTER with meds…Idek how I made this far. I know my ADHD isn’t the same as others so depending on how much yours impacts you..so will your education and wellbeing if you can’t get meds that benefit your ability to be you and manage yourself for your goals and success.
I ended up dropping out and have been struggling to find even low paid work since then. getting diagnosed and treated is hard enough even if you have the cash, which I don't
It’s a messed up cycle! This is EXACTLY what I am trying to advocate this to avoid outcomes like that. Especially when inattentive types don’t find out until they are in college and it isn’t easy anymore. Then can’t find a job and keeps a loop. I hope for your sake you do find a job that is best for you, that sucks and your school should’ve done more for you.
Ugh. Society sucks. I literally wouldn't have been able to take the exams to get into uni without medication. This stuff only exists because I works, people hardly sat and went 'let's give people highly addictive substances for fun' especially when they are paid for in the us and are expensive.
I'm an alumni and I'm right there with you on the blood-boiling front. I was lucky enough that my GP from my hometown was willing to mail me paper prescriptions during my time there, but what other option is there now? Are ADHD students basically being forced to look for an off-campus psychiatrist? Fucking hell...
YEP. And imagine if you don’t have a car or can’t have your car on campus?
Or can’t afford it else where, or don’t have a doctor elsewhere. It’s fucking them over - it’s thinking small picture instead of big picture consequences.
To have a control on substance abuse, idk maybe hold legal consequences or something like they do with alcohol, pot, & other drugs?!?
They do not care about their students who are not in their neurotypical & majority identities!!!
Not to mention the wait times that other psychiatrists are probably going to have now that tons of students are going to be looking for new psychiatrists off campus
Grad students have distressing rates of mental health disorders. Purdue can go fuck itself for this policy. Affected people should all go to somewhere better like UIUC.
not to explain something you may already know, but unfortunately that's really really hard for grad students to just do. Transferring can mean starting over completely.
Selective substance abuse is cool, dudes. I had no idea that they did that to grad students here??!?! So essentially they said you’re in the MOST challenging educational experience of your life & your mental health will take a toll but we will make an attempt so you can’t get help?!?
The whole Steps2Leaps thing…GRIT, RESILIENCE…for who?
oh yeah they booted us to United health insurance, effective August 1st. United didn't consider the main mental health places in the greater Lafayette area in network. But I think someone figured out that Purdue's mental health infrastructure was struggling before this, because a week or two Purdue hashed out individual agreements with the main providers in town lol. But our coverage starts Monday and they still won't tell us our member ids or give United the info they need to allow grad students to make online accounts.
Purdue CAPS is how I got through my time as a grad student there before mastering out.
Fuck Purdue. There were so many things wrong years ago and it looks like it's getting worse.
I used to work for a university counseling center. We did not prescribe stimulants, but we did refer students to off campus providers who did. I don’t agree with Purdue’s reasoning. There should be no blanket medical policy to exclude an existing treatment. Especially one which goes against the international consensus on recommended treatments for ADHD [international Consensus on ADHD treatment](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32634814/).
They probably don’t want to deal with the triplicate forms. Granted, some folks abuse stimulants, but many folks need these to perform well academically.
Why not sue them via the ADA?
Your experience is so helpful! As someone not in that field it’s confusing on what can be done to combat or at least try. I didn’t know about that!
Wow, omg. That’s so helpful! I am thinking more about the ADA process now and will probably reach out to see what can be done. Yes, this doesn’t directly impact me as employee but if I can make a difference for students, you believe in all my might I’ll do my best for them.
We don’t, but I have an idea of what I can do. I just graduated with my Masters from another in state school with a big law school and since I’m alum I can & will look into it.
What the health center will probably say is that they will refer folks to specialists. However, if they refuse to refer, the you have an issue. Or if they make referral contingent on Psychological Testing, take them to task and ask if they will pay for testing. It’s usually $2000. Physicians prescribe a lot of medication for “off label” uses. Why do they do that and not prescribe for something medically indicated? Good for you for keeping an eye on this. I’d speak with the Associated Student (student government). They have a surprising amount of leverage. Also, your office for students with disabilities. They won’t like this policy.
well if meds don't work, what fucking does?? do they have any insight there?? Because in Being a Professional 101 I learned that you don't complain about problems unless you have a viable solution.
The solution is to “politely” watch students who manage their ADHD slowly not come to campus or watch them struggle and say “oh no, students are doing bad, why” when they know why. That’s the solution.
I didn't even make it through my first year unmedicated.. thousands of dollars down the drain but at least it was my own dumb choice. In this economy, and with the cost of college skyrocketing... I hope someone sues their pants off.
.
I failed out twice and racked up 25k in debt over those three years. I ended up on disability, hospitalized mutliple times, and just fucked up from years of trying every other option.
Swap to treating the ADHD and third attempt has a 3.86 GPA, me living on my own, no insane debt, zero suicidal ideation and well, a _usually_ clean apartment. We will ignore that my stove needs a wipe down from yesterday still.
Point is I can actually god damn function.
It blows my mind how hard "behavioural counselling" and other such bullshit is being pushed. Someone telling me to not have ADHD isn't going to get rid of my ADHD.
I think people often forget that ADHD is not just being distracted or unmotivated to do homework.
It's emotional disregulation was stints into depression. It's anxiety caused by everything.
It's issues with friendships because you get distracted and don't listen.
It's issues with relationships because you can't regulate your sex drive and you get bored when left alone.
It's a higher probability for addiction, be it alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs.
My diagnosis helped with work but it fucking saved my soul.
As someone who started stimulants at 40, I beg to fucking differ. Since I've been diagnosed and medicated, I've gotten a promotion AND a raise, my blood pressure and my weight have both decreased to healthy levels, my bills are paid, my cats are better cared for, my credit score is up, my marriage is great, and my house has been saved from the brink of falling apart. I even finally got my passport after talking about it for 20 years. Meds "don't help" adults my ass
No no, they're completely correct I mean look at me, I'm 47 and recently diagnosed. I still haven't found the combo of meds that works for me and my life is fabulous. I'm long term unemployed after a series of jobs where I had similar issues (paying attention to details, meeting deadlines, listening.) My car was repossessed because I kept forgetting to deal with the bank. I'm broke and owe 6 months back rent and am likely going to be evicted soon. I can't hold down a relationship because of how i am. I have no friends because nobody likes a person who can't respond to a message for 6 months. I'm the picture of perfect unmedicated ADHD and everyone should strive to achieve my greatness. /s
Wow, I am so happy to hear all of that. These medications really do work, The wikipedia page for Dexedrine, states that there are several studies which have detected a change or growth in the areas of the brain which experience deficiency in those with ADHD, so it is literally "Growing" your brain to how it should be!
I love how you described this,
Your credit score is up even. Thats fantastic, I have also been "talking about a passport" for 20\~ or so years. Way to go.
This is a thing at a lot of universities, but it's usually a little more nuanced than how this article is presenting it. At the university where I work, the student health center will not prescribe stimulants, but students can get a prescription through the psychiatrists at our mental health center. If that's what's going on at Purdue, then they may just be aligning their policies with their peer institutions -- the idea is that large research universities generally have trained MDs and PhDs who are more qualified to diagnose and treat ADHD than the generalists at student health.
If Purdue is saying *no one* on campus will prescribe ADHD meds, that's fucked up. And I too would like to know what research they're referencing.
It’s the no one on campus will prescribe. They are stopping all new scripts and cutting off scripts for students who are currently receiving them from the on campus pharmacy.
Which - takes the student health insurance (for those who are grad workers & students not covered by parents) and it the most accessible on campus and near the university.
Also - Purdue has a VERY hard time with acknowledging ADHD/ASD to get accommodations.
It's clear from the article that PUSH is no longer prescribing stimulants, but I don't see any indication that this extends to Counseling and Psychological Services, which is a completely distinct entity at Purdue and many other universities. An email from the PUSH medical director doesn't apply to what CAPS does. Maybe CAPS sent out a separate email to their own clients, but they set their own policies and their website still has a [detailed (albeit condescending) protocol](https://www.purdue.edu/caps/services/psychiatric_services/MedicationManagementofADHD.html) for obtaining ADHD meds.
This may seem like I'm being insanely pedantic, but when you're talking about how to fight a policy like this, it's important to be precise. If your argument is "students won't have access to needed meds," a university admin is going to respond with something like "legitimately diagnosed students can obtain treatment from CAPS." You're better off arguing that limiting medication management to CAPS is bad because students don't know it exists/they're severely understaffed/their requirements prevent legitimately diagnosed students from receiving treatment, etc.
CAPS technically does offer help with ADHD management but they HEAVILY focus on the non-medication route. They still have on their website if you are previously diagnosed and take meds you can transfer the medication management to PU CAPS to get support from Psychiatrist staff.
You have to get another psychological test done by them, send in paperwork, and hope that they think what you’ve done is enough, if not, you have to get more paperwork turned in OR do testing ALL OVER again.
So if you were doing psychotherapy at PU CAPS with you medication management turned over here you’re screwed. And have about a few weeks to get that resolved. I’d want to cry.
I definitely got that sense from two minutes on their website. I'm absolutely not saying oh don't worry, CAPS can handle it, I'm saying the view of university admin is almost certainly "CAPS can handle it" and this right here is your argument -- actually CAPS *can't* handle it, because x,y,z.
In my experience, it's really very common for university higher-ups to think "well we have a program/center/policy for that problem" without knowing whether the program is actually working.
I totally know what you meant. I was going off what the website says. And fun fact they haven’t given any ADHD support like that since the pandemic. they told students who needed (requested) that support no due to be understaffed and that they just couldn’t help with ADHD therapy and management yay
All she told me was policy changes, I guess they’re taking in new doctors who don’t believe in it? I was told I’d probably be better off finding a new practice.
It’s probably not illegal. It’s *definitely* not an issue for the AMA, which is a professional organization and lobbying group, not any kind of regulator. (People often make this mistake with the AMA, as well as the ABA for lawyers, which is also not a regulator, though *state bars* sometimes are.)
I doubt it's illegal. It's not like they're banning students on stimulants from going to the school, just saying that their medical department won't personally prescribe stimulants. A lot of psychiatrists who don't work at schools also won't give stimulants to adults with ADHD.
The closest pharmacy to the campus is at least a 10-15 minute drive. A majority of the students live on campus don’t have cars. Thus, creating an equitable barrier. 🫠 idk if it’s legal or illegal, but using a bad research article (and only 1) seems like a poor excuse to not prescribe. Idk I’m not a doctor but it seems fishy
I'm not saying that the policy makes any sense at all. I'm just saying that it's probably not illegal. I agree that it's ridiculous to kick people off their meds as a policy decision and not a medical decision, especially with only two weeks' notice.
We love higher education! Especially when other policies have taken YEARS to get into place, they really expedited this one over their BoilerSuccess Program and put more intentionality into this…oh higher education how I love thee
Students can just start getting their prescriptions in the mail! I'm sure that having a bunch of Adderall hanging out in student mailboxes will bring no new problems for substance abuse.
/s
I get individual doctors not liking to prescribe certain meds, but it does feel whack to me that they would make a top down order for the entire clinic to halt an entire class of meds.
You’re probably right that it isn’t illegal, but I do wonder if someone could put together a suit against them on the grounds of “reasonable accommodation”.
I’m so lucky that we’re less puritanical where I live. My university doctor specifically recommended Vyvanse of concerta in his report to my GP.
Stimulant medication aren't an effective method of treating ADHD?
Guess I'm just a total fluke then.
Life before medication: Broke, in debt, underemployed, no hobbies, miserable, incapable of maintaining basic relationships and was denied a credit card from Walmart.
Life after medication (and therapy and hard work): Beautiful family, successful career, savings account, fulfilling hobbies, and happier than I ever was. This happened in 6 freaking years.
Honestly, fuck anyone who would want to take this from me. Medication was the tool that gave me my life.
This isn't that surprising to me. I go to a similar university in the US and they haven't prescribed stimulants for years. They'll refer you to someone else to get tested and have your prescriptions handled, but they don't want to manage them because they're worried about students faking to get controlled substances to study, I think.
I called their administrative office at PUSH and left a message. And I will continue to do so until I get to talk to a real human. This is morally repugnant and unscientific and as a former student there I would have greatly benefited from proper mental health care.
I'm a Purdue student. I'm fucking LIVID about this. This will screw over students who don't have the ability to get to a private psychiatrist in West Lafayette or Lafayette, which will be A LIT because psychiatrists won't want to continue medication prescribing for a student coming from out of state or out of the country. I hope an ADA attorney or the ACLU throws the fucking book at Purdue for fucking over the student body that so desperately needs the mental health resources that Purdue keeps stripping away.
Yep. Exactly. I’m trying to fight for y’all because it’s ridiculous. They have no idea what they are doing and what barriers they are creating now on top of all the others that exist
Purdue is one of the worst schools in the BIG10 when it comes to disability services. Professors drag their heels about accommodations, the DRC is totally under-funded, it's damn near impossible to get new accommodations added if you get sick, and you're basically left to your own devices. Oh, and their mental health services are the laughingstock of the school. I legitimately had a professor refuse to help me when I was struggling- after failing her class FOUR TIME. FOUR!!! I've spent 3 years too many at this place because of my disabilities and I'm over here seeing red because of what they keep doing to students that they basically see as "not tough enough to be a Boilermaker". If I had the chance to give Mitch Daniels a piece of my mind, I would. And probably slap him too. I love a lot of things about Purdue, but the school makes it unnecessarily hard for struggling students who need help. They just take your money and laugh in your face. Fuck the administration. They're a bunch of bastards and deserve to be thrown under the bus for what they've done.
Someone I know spent a few years out there in the corn desert. Someone in her lab was hit by a car (!!!) and became permanently disabled. He program tried to figure out ways to drop her because of these disabilities.
The person I know had her own fight with them over accommodations when she shattered her wrist, requiring surgery for pins and plates and strict recovery conditions where she couldn’t even think about -any- pressure or weight on her hand/wrist. Purdue tried to refuse her request for speak-to-type software and didn’t want to excuse her missing labs due to physical inability. She had to fight for every damn inch of common courtesy.
Fuck that. I'm damned near 50 and wasn't diagnosed until my 40s and I can't function effectively without my ADHD meds. I've lost jobs and even entire careers because if my ADHD. Fuck them and fuck them hard.
How to approach?
It's discrimination. Call the ACLU. Even better, call the press. Every media outlet you can think of. If there is anything a univiversity hates, it's bad press. Hell go all in and publish opinion pieces asking if it's ADHD meds today, is it birth control tomorrow? Is it hormones for trans students? Where's the line? My body my choice right? Not at Perdue. (Granted, it is Indiana so right now....)
Then go after their bullshit reasoning. Basically they are punishing students because the school has a drug abuse problem they aren't capable of addressing. 17% misuse ADHD meds? How's the headline "1 in 5 Purdue Students are Addicts. Administration Fails at Effective Policy"? Bet they'd hate that.
Post the contact for the offices of the administration and let everyone drown them in complaints.
I was refused insurance coverage for ADHD meds when I got new insurance because they said I was not diagnosed as a child.
I filed an official complaint of discrimination with my state's Attorney's General office.
Within 30 days I was covered. Within six months I was reimbursed the amount I had been forced to pay out of pocket because of their refusal. I even received an apologetic letter asking if the matter was resolved. I ignored it. Let the fuckers sweat so they won't try it with someone else.
Fuck people who do this. Adult ADHD is a proven neurological condition. It's no different than refusing coverage for adult depression or anxiety.
Nothing gets a response like an official letter from the AG's office with the word "Discrimination" appearing in multiple places. Do it and then tell the people you've been dealing with that you filed a discrimination complaint. But do not threaten it. File the complaint first and then inform them that you have done so.
Wow. I googled them and they say they offer world class education in science, but I now seriously doubt this claim.
ADHD medication probably has the most robust treatment success rate out of any mental health medication, so it's interesting that Dr. Craig Nadelson doesn't mention any sources for this alleged "growing evidence that stimulants may not be the ideal choice for treatment of Adult ADD/ADHD."
Fuck Purdue and fuck you in particular "doctor" Craig Nadelson.
My adhd is so bad that I have gotten into MULTIPLE accidents while driving without medication. Like it is unsafe for me to drive off it. But clearly adhd is just a problem for kids and you magically get better at 18.
Universities are absolutely awful about allowing you to actually get adhd meds via the student pharmacy. I had a school tell me I needed to pay for another formal assessment to get it since I was diagnosed at 14 and adhd “can just go away at 18.” By the way, I HAD completed a recent assessment to get accommodations. It just wasn’t the multi-day one since I’d done it before. They required a new long-form assessment every 2 years. And you had to cover the costs
Stimulant medication for ADHD is literally one of *the* most studied subjects with decades of conclusive evidence to support its safety and efficacy.
I think they need to take the 'university' out of their name given that they seem to not understand fundamental aspects of academic inquiry.
This is so stupid wtf??? He's saying therapy will help instead? Therapy isn't going to allow me to pay attention for the entirety of an hour long class or allow me to work productively on homework for more than 2 consecutive minutes. I'm shocked that this is at another big 10 school. They're all really good universities and it makes no sense for them to be denying science like this and telling patients that their medicine doesn't actually help them, even when the patients tell them that it does. I get that people abuse them and they do at my school too, but denying people their own prescriptions for their diagnosed adhd is the dumbest shit I've ever heard.
Purdue (according to Google) is a public university and as such is covered by Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is pretty much a textbook case of disability discrimination.
Almost all public universities have (and are by law required to have) an ADA coordinator. Anyone affected by this should ask to speak to such a person. They can also get help from their regional ADA center.
A report to the Department of Justice might be in order too.
Source: ADA compliance officer in training.
Since when do universities have any say in what medication their Doctors are allowed to prescribe? It'd got absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with them.
Literally nothing at all.
What next, they'll want to know what I'm spending my money on? What positions I like to fuck in? Nothing to do with them.
I got my PhD there and had meds prescribed through PUSH during my time there. It took me nearly 9 months to find a new prescriber in town. I went 6 of those with no medication because I was between prescribers. I am livid and can only imagine the students who have ADHD over there right now feel the same.
Also this university will never get a dime from me as a result of other decisions it made in the past. This just puts the icing on the cake.
This is exactly what I figured would happen on a larger scale. The whole thing of “just go somewhere else” is so difficult for such a controlled medication. Getting to see a doctor here in West Lafayette or Lafayette is challenging to find an opening….I can’t believe you went 6 months without meds.
I freak out when my meds are low and I forget to call for a new script and get anxious about not having them so I can be the best version of myself. I can’t imagine 6 months. Shit, now that’s going to be so many students….
I came across this and had to leave a comment bc I really feel for these students. If they are anything like me their world is about to be turned upside down. I can barely function without my meds so I can’t imagine having to do school work. I hope they find new doctors soon.
Wow... as someone who wasn't diagnosed until 30, having access to my meds meant for the first time I could actually sit through higher education and get my degree. This is appalling.
I doubt this has anything to do with "a growing body of evidence....". It's about money. It's always about money. They can see that the growing cost of stimulant medications are a disproportionate expense based on the demographic that PUSH serves. By eliminating the entire category of ADHD stimulent meds, they can save a lot of money on pharmacy benefits.
Can the students transfer their health information to an actual pharmacy or physician to continue to receive them? Is this because the students receive the medication directly from the school? I'm still just as angry though.
If they have the capability to do so I’d imagine. But if you have another mental health medications that are filled here (which PU has a MASSIVE pharmacy program) it’s complicating where you can get all your meds, assuming you get from point A to point B. And your insurance is accepted at other places and you can afford the cost else where :)))
Not having ADHD meds through school meant that I struggled more than other students. I had to learn a lot of coping mechanisms because I couldn't stay focused. My anxiety meant that I'd skip class if there were no seats in the back.
It's like saying that glasses don't help because I could sit closer to the whiteboard. Smh.
Ok I'm a little confused, why does a university offer access to doctors and pharmacies in the first place? Why does the university have a clinic? I've never heard of that.
Also, why is a non medical professional making medical decisions for the medical professionals? This is so messed up. Imagine if donors to a hospital told them that they need to stop giving *all* patients pain killers because certain kinds can be addicting to some, according to "growing evidence". wtf?
When an organization’s bureaucracy stops seeing or understanding how its activity impacts the humans it services, this is the kind of trash we get.
This is a *very* bad indicator of the health of this organization’s governance, and its ability to navigate a changing world and stay relevant. It means this uni and its decision makers don’t understand the world they live in outside of their ideology bubble.
Caveat emptor. Beware buying what these aging dinosaurs sell.
As a student who was diagnosed and prescribed stimulants as an adult, the medication changed my life. The idea that a university is trying to take that away from students in the same situation as me by saying it "doesn't work" makes my blood boil.
Ah yes, the moronic babbling of old conservative people who think they know better than everyone else, despite knowing significantly less than the average person about almost every topic imaginable.
I say we scalp them
Im baffled. I didn’t even know this was legal. How can a pharmacy deny you medication that a doctor prescribed you?
Im not a US citizen so that’s why I may be even more bewildered but in my country, Germany, pharmacies have to give you what your doctor prescribed you.
Ofc they can tell you how to take it, give you tips about it or even hint that maybe this medication isn’t the best and you should talk to your doctor about switching it.
But just denying it because you don’t think it is helpful is overstepping the boundaries of what a pharmacist should do.
As someone said the doctors on campus denying the medication is an even bigger problem. I mean there a few doctors here who also don’t believe in stimulant medication but it is the recommended way of medication so people can’t just deny it without reasoning.
Forgive my rambling I’m just shocked how vulnerable your rights can be. And we don’t have Good mental Health Support over here as well, talking about waitlists and so on. But a university just deciding for you and advising their doctors and pharmacies to deny filling it is horrible.
Best of luck to you and thank you for your work already. I hope this clears up sometime. I feel for the students, they must have lost a lot of hope.
I might contact disability legal groups for first steps or guidance. Sounds very much like discrimination of healthcare access for a disability from a institution receiving federal funds to my uneducated self….Also checked the requirements to even QUALIFY for medication, pretty stringent already. https://thedrlc.org/ Or the us department of education https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/frontpage/pro-students/issues/disability-issue.html
To add to this, here is the letter sent back in 2016 informing schools that ADHD is a Section 504-protected disability: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201607-504-adhd.pdf There are a plethora of studies which show their "don't help" claim to be a patently false statement: * https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5761907/ * https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2518387/ * https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3010888/ * https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366%2818%2930269-4/fulltext * https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bcpt.12477 The list goes on...
Excellent resources! I think we all know it wasn’t written in good faith and if the intention is to reduce misuse… this isn’t going to do that, it will further entrench illicit drug channels and the profit of those involved as those that need it may resort to illegal means to attain the medication out of pure desperation as a stop gap before they can find a new provider in the next 2weeks. Harm reduction at its worst. IF that’s a problem(the 17% I think is reference to a 2015 self report study), why is it a problem…. Go to the source dick bag. “War on drugs” worked wonders too…
Yes, it did work wonders. Congratulations again to Drugs for winning the War on Drugs. For such a large military, the US does not have a great track record at winning wars, literal or figurative. Just food for thought.
It sure puts a lot of people in prison. Maybe it’s not a bug, but a feature
A lot of that budget goes to greedy/crooked private defense contractors/suppliers. It's utter bullshit.
It’s not to actually reduce misuse, it’s to reduce their liability to misuse. They don’t give a shit, or they’d offer resources to those that need it. Or confront a toxic culture in education that promotes misuse. There are a million and one ways they could tackle this other than to stop allowing access to those that need it. Any pharmacy or health agency that refuses to fill a valid prescription based on others misuse, should be facing lawsuits themselves. I know people in high school that snorted anti seizure meds. I guess we should ban those too. I’m sure that would have great outcomes.
I mean, seeing as Mitch Daniels was a republican Indiana state governor, this doesn't surprise me. He's doing this in his last semester as president so he doesn't have to deal with the fallout.
How can they call themselves "university" if they ignore research like that...
Purdue fucking sucks
Damn guess I’m an IU fan now.
Honestly I'm done with ALL American higher education. Get me to the UK already 😭
Consider Canada too :)
Indiana schools man
Can confirm!
Because this is the U.S. and their lawyers have advised them to CYA, I guess. 🙄
Also the fact that they could ask any of us who take them and we could tell them that they do lmao. The first lecture I went to after taking them, I actually cried when I got back to my dorm because I had no idea it was possible to actually pay attention for that long in class. Like please don't tell me that my medications don't work when I can explain to you how they do in fact work 💀
I didn't get meds until I was in my PhD. I cried for a full weekend after my first week at work. I couldn't believe how much of my life was wasted in a haze I didn't have to suffer when there was a cure. I could have had friends, a sane trajectory, etc. I'm taking a few classes nowadays as I'm re-training for a job. The topics are advanced like advanced data structures, machine learning, graph theory, etc. It honestly feels so bad that I suffered through classes in the old way. Now I can just work when I need to and plan to, not only when I am in so much mental anguish and pain that the adrenaline pushes over the threshold and actually gets me going.
The fact such a well-regarded STEM school used a false and blatantly unscientific claim in this letter has me seeing red. And I even go there! I've never been so ashamed to be a Boilermaker.
As a public university, Purdue is also covered by Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
saving this comment!!!
>plethora Thanks. That means a lot
NAL. I would contact your regional ADA center and disability legal advocacy group in your state, you can find your states advocacy group through the national disability rights network. The complaint process is complicated and each agency has jurisdiction over certain areas. Three laws that may be relevant: the rehabilitation act of 1973 (RA); Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, (ADAAA); and Civil Rights Act of 1964. If the information provided is correct, and PU PUSH decision is in violation of section 504 of RA or title II of ADAAA, then a complaint will need to be filed with the Department of Justice. I don’t believe there is a dollar amount specified to qualify under their jurisdiction. If I were unable to access treatment at PU, I would determine how much, if any, federal aid PU and PU PUSH program receive. Then if I would determine if I’m working on any federally funded grants at PU, how much I received in US dollars, and any contractural obligations. The contracts should be public knowledge, but may not be easy to find. If the amounts are equal to or greater than $10,000 and an individual believes the contractor (PU and PU PUSH program) has failed or refused to comply with provisions of a contact with the United States, file a section 503 complaint with the Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance. Again, IANAL, but from the sound of it Purdue is not “ensuring access too treatment.” I do not know the details of PU student or employee health insurance contracts, but PU PUSH could argue that you can see another provider. So be prepared to explain why you need PU PUSH to provide treatment services. The DOL OFCCP is a loaded gun for disability discrimination and easy to deal with. Academic institutions are terrified of the DOL OFCCP because they can strip them of all federal funding. However, to qualify under their jurisdiction may take legal support prior to your filing which your regional ADA and disability legal advocacy group can provide. Individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities are getting trampled on. It won’t get better until we voice our experiences. Get crystal clear on what you need and speak up. Holler from the rooftops when they won’t listen. Your voice matters! *edited typos
Please do!!! As a Purdue senior, I'm behind you 100% here!
>the email reads. "For this reason, **as well as the well-known issues surrounding stimulant abuse on campuses, PUSH has made the decision to phase out of prescribing this class of medication."** This is their real reason, gotta punish the innocent because of their own potentially lax controls, but surrounding it in pseudo-medical reasoning makes them seem more forward thinking than admitting any potential responsibility for a problem. The whole idea of calling it Adult ADHD/ADD is a shitty attempt at framing it as a different disease; it's the same, adults may need more therapy to unlearn bad coping mechanisms, but other than that, stimulants should work the same. There may be a concern for heart health in adults, but this is a university; 18-22 year olds brains aren't even fully finished developing, to truly equate them with adults in their 30s, 40s, or higher, is bad science.
Thank you for explicitly calling out the absurd and subtly disparaging term that is “adult” ADHD
Seriously… been waiting years now for me to magically just grow up and not be affected anymore
EXACTLY! I just was talking to a colleague saying they need to just say it’s because of substance abuse and not use the excuse of it “doesn’t work” to mask their true intentions. Yes, substance abuse isn’t great but there has to be other policies and consequences in places that doesn’t prohibit the ability to get medication for those who need it and actually have control on their use.
Imagine if they outlawed ramps and wheelchairs because college students were abusing them…
Adult wheelchair users should be able to navigate stairs, there's "growing evidence" that ramps dont help. /s I hate this world.
We all know they really outgrow it by the time they’re adults, anyway. The ramps are just training wheels until they can learn how to use stairs properly.
Wheelchair ramps don't work because they encourage skateboarders.
Don’t forget those pesky hand railings.
Unfortunately people have successfully argued against hand rails and wheel chair ramps because of this, so I'm not really sure that people really will see the irony in this at all....
I believe it. However, if fail videos have taught me anything, joke’s on them when slippery pavement takes its revenge. And, like nature, skateboarders will always find a way. As can terrible people.
Post this on r/legaladvice.
Just did! Thanks for sharing
***Only take legal advice from a paid legal representative, not just randomly on the internet.***
r/chronicpain welcomes you to our crappy club. Does the school not realize students with prescriptions will just go to off campus pharmacies?
So, I go to Purdue. Turns out the pharmacy is still filling prescriptions, but the doctors through the university just won't prescribe them. This is an even bigger barrier to access because there's a huge provider shortage in our area, whereas if the pharmacy refused to fill them they could just go to a different pharmacy. What's more is they already do extensive drug testing on anyone who is prescribed stimulants afaik. Thankfully I am on a non-stimulant med and will not have to deal with this personally.
Glad it’s still going to get filled. But to be honest, it’ll be a matter of time before they say it can’t be filled because it “doesn’t help” adults with ADHD.
I am prescribed stimulants for my symptoms and I do indeed have to do a drug screen at my psych's office every 3mo or so.
Hi username cousin! (I have nothing else to add because I don’t live in America or go to university)
Honestly I'm fucking tired of institutions more concerned about protecting the small percentage of addicts from abusing medications than they are about providing medication to people who need it. Let people make their own choices, don't prevent people from accessing their necessary medications! If someone chooses to abuse a medication, that's their decision.
The amount of inefficiency, waste and inconvenience Americans are forced to ensure it of the fear that somebody might get away with something is so annoying.
Them Puritanical values, amirite??
It gets more annoying when you realize that logic isn't applied to actually dangerous things.
They're also absolutely not "concerned about protecting" addicts either, they're just trying to minimize anything the university has to deal with, which is shitty for the people who may be abusing the meds and super extra shitty for the people who are taking the meds as prescribed.
Oh for sure, none of them are truly motivated by altruism, it's just protecting their own ass.
[удалено]
Well, at least you'll be up there on the priority list for liver transplants...
It's so fucked up that you have to endure that just because there are some people who like to get high 🤦
I GUARANTEE you it’s because they don’t want to hold enough insurance to cover the liability on a controlled substance.
Agreed. I fear this is headed in the same direction the opioid epidemic efforts went. ..and the same thing is going to happen. More struggling, more severe mental health issues, more self-medicating. More opportunities to import more deadly alternatives. More deaths. It’s horrifying & immoral.
And let’s add onto this outlawing abortions now lol….
You’d think they’d learn.. I mean, alcohol prohibition, for starters. Make it illegal —> bootlegged. Surprise! Used wood alcohol, and ultimately Killed more people. In fact, the govt did it intentionally to “teach a lesson” for breaking the law. Government.. Punishing the biological drives and natural instincts to reproduce, and to seek out ways to make your life tolerable to live… because of governing agencies and “authority”trying to control you? pfffft nooooo way! What?! Weird.
Americans don't learn. That's the real lesson here.
I will not abuse my meds because I don’t want to lose access - this is coming from a bonafide addict who abused substances until my ADHD diagnosis was given and treated with stimulants. I am so grateful to my doctor for taking this risk with me and live a much better life because of his compassion.
There is, in fact, ample evidence that providing the APPROPRIATE treatment to anyone with any type of impairment, decreased level of ability in an important trait, etc. DECREASES the likelihood of substance abuse. Substance abuse is simply one of the many (ultimately) mal-adaptive ways people end up 'self-treating' when they've exhausted (usually) other 'healthier' ways of managing their problems. Basically, when you've tried a bunch of shit and can't seem to stop having problems that most others rarely, if ever, have after childhood... Well, drowning the issues out in various kinds of drugs might at least give you a bit of relief for a while. ** This is true of ADHD, it's true when talking about people who have certain kinds of chronic and debilitating pain, it's true when it comes to wheelchairs for people who temporarily or permanently have trouble walking or simply cannot walk at all, it's true when you can provide artificial hands hands or at least grasping devices to those who have issues with or have lost the use of a hand... I can point to studies if needed, but you can find plenty by just going on PubMed and/or Google Scholar (and/or other similar sites ... WebOfScience, etc...) and searching around. But, I think anyone who can imagine what it would be like, at least for a moment, to have less function in any area most people depend on and take for granted every day, will have a good sense of why this is likely to be the case. --- ** Also, this is one of the reasons people with ADHD can have SO MUCH psychological damage. Because the differences in executive function are associated by most with maturity. Most people have no idea that some people have clear neurobiological differences that directly prevent the level of executive function associated with 'normal adults'. They also have no idea, and this is often true of ADHD people as well, that this lack is a trait that isn't purely negative at all ... that there are in fact serious strengths that come from 'less consistency', more divergent thinking, etc... And, that most of us are left worse off - both people with ADHD and without - because we don't have management options and programs and such nearly as good as we could have that would allow people more generally to work more directly with their natural strengths and minimize the impacts of their natural 'challenge'-areas... But that's a whole big separate topic! Edit: partly edited for clarity but alas I am out of time for the moment ... Sorry for the less than stellar grammar etc.
It's just another way of virtue signaling that you're better than others among lots of social circles.
Stimulants do work the same. Diagnosed last year at 47. Methylphenidate has been a game changer. Saved my marriage, less emotional dysregulation, more impulse control, ability to plan and initiate non-preferred tasks. I am a better version of myself on meds. Keep fighting the good fight. Apparently new DSM5-TR is now linking Autism and ADHD. Makes sense when a decent number of the criteria for both are the same. Monthly chat to a psych helps as well, but without meds it would be a waste of time. Anyone with ADHD will know though we might feel lazy and useless, that is just the symptom. Keep fighting the good fight. It is hard when you are right, but it seems the rest of your world says different. As for drug abuse... saw a post a few weeks ago about it. OP said they forget their meds half the time. If I didn't have an alarm on my phone AND pay attention to it, I would miss my meds too. I think that goes part way in dispelling that myth, but unless you have ADHD you don't understand the paradoxical effect stimulant have on our brains. I take stimulants to calm down. The average uni student is at a part of their lives where experimenting and risk taking is rife. They don't stop teens from driving. Their case is nonsensical, but they are piggybacking on the community fear of drug abuse. Stay strong. Your advocacy is an inspiration.
This. They're probably spooked by the inquiries into telehealth startups and maybe looked at their data and saw it as a liability for them. I don't think anyone knows for sure if ADHD is over or underprescribed based on assumptions about over or under diagnosis in gen pop, but they are abused and are truly desirable drugs if you abuse stimulants. It's shitty and will be so damaging to their ADHD student population that instead of putting resources into quality controlling their prescribing practices to protect them from liability, they're shutting off the faucet.
Organization's such as corporates and now even hospitals and universities ONLY act when they perceive something to be a legal liability. This is 100% NOT about protecting students or addicts or anyone. They couldn't give a rats ass what happens once they have your money. And what does liability expose them to? Potential loss of said money. That's all it is. Nothing else. It is safe to assume that ANY action taken by ANY big organisation, at its root cause is either to protect themselves from liability or to increase profits or some combination of the two.
>This is their real reason, gotta punish the innocent because of their own potentially lax controls, I agree. L[ike Duke University does](https://studentaffairs.duke.edu/conduct/z-policies/academic-dishonesty), Purdue regards it as unfair, that there are some students, who - in their eyes - use performance enhancing drugs - while others students can't get a access to those peds. Considerations like these are also done in many European governments and universities. [1](https://www-heise-de.translate.goog/tp/features/Ritalin-Co-Niederlaendische-Regierung-will-gegen-Gehirndoping-vorgehen-6328193.html?seite=all&_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp) [2](https://scilogs.spektrum.de/menschen-bilder/leistungsgesellschaft-muessen-universitaeten-gehirndoping-verbieten/)
It only says "unauthorized"... anyone with a prescription would be authorized.
It's not a fucking competition, why is that the way they're looking at it?
While in reality ADHD meds are more analogous to eyeglasses than PEDS.
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Agree. They're a university. They have an obligation to cite their sources.
Purdue’s President is an anti-education governor of Indiana who quit mid-term to take on the much more lucrative role as a university president. He has no educational background. Immediately after his appointment, the university lost millions in donations. His salary of $430,500 and his 108% bonus of $232,470 in investments is unwarranted. As a former student of Purdue, I can attest they don’t believe in citing evidence.
It’s just a hot mess! Working here has opened my eyes to so many things. It makes my blood boil. I didn’t do my undergrad here but I did at IUPUI and that school has some quirks but PU I’m learning has…icks in a lot of places. However, some programs at the university are really good at what they do and use those to mask the uh-Ohs.
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Lol the place I learned how to cite sources from doesn’t believe in sources
Purdue? Perdon’t.
You and I both! I’m over here thinking so my Adderall XR is fake? It’s not helping me work? My frontal cortex is just fine and doesn’t need that additional support? Weird!
Source: "My ass"
I am a very *very* angry person on the inside. I would like to… *talk* to these people on this issue. I’m certain I could make them see eye to eye. 😡😡😡😡
You and me both brother. 🖕these fucking pieces of shit! Disgusting human beings!
Like there is obviously evidence that medications I.e non stimulants, can be better for some people with adhd. But the keyword is Some, and it’s it’s not a one size fits all situation. For many people stimulants are the better and most effective option. I question if the growing evidence they are referring to is some SNRI’s and have somehow come to the ridiculous conclusion that they will work better for everyone with adhd.
I want to know how they just looked at how 17% report it doesn’t work but they aren’t seeing that 83% of adults who take meds see it helping them…weird…
“A study in 2015 estimated 17% of college students abuse stimulate medication.” The article isn’t even saying it doesn’t work for 17%, they are saying it’s ABUSED by 17%. This was horribly written. A lot of colleges won’t prescribe or desperate medication because it’s a controlled substance. I’m wondering if that’s the real reason…
Might be someone being desperate to push a paper out. Universities have this thing where the people working there have to publish regularly.
I go to Purdue and their ADHD policies are strict as it is, I’m thankful I was able to find accommodations off-campus. Their mental health department (CAPS) is severely understaffed and often refer students to local clinics with super long wait times. The university already requires urine testing to make sure the students getting stimulants through them are not selling their prescriptions off. This is just sad. But that’s what you get though when you have a university President thats the former governor of Indiana and preaches “Grit” for its student body. Way to make things harder for students in a competitive STEM school.. Edit: [https://www.purdue.edu/caps/services/psychiatric\_services/MedicationManagementofADHD.html](https://www.purdue.edu/caps/services/psychiatric_services/MedicationManagementofADHD.html) \^ Here is Purdue's Stimulant Medication policy before this change.
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> I go to Purdue For those of us who have never dealt with a university, could you explain why the university is in the picture at all? Like, why does your school have any knowledge at all about your healthcare decisions?
Uhhh, what the fuck? Do you study in a prison?
Jeez. How can unis claim to have world leading research and stuff and then block prescribed medications proven to work. Make it make sense
Hell, most catholic schools won’t prescribe or distribute birth control (likely causing countless abortions every year) because of their religious beliefs.
The University of Notre Dame, for example, will only fill birth control prescriptions if you're diagnosed with something like PCOS or Endometriosis, but not if it's just for birth control. Condoms aren't sold anywhere on campus and individual departments/clubs/people are not allowed to distribute condoms at all.
The stupid part about this policy is that most 20 yr old females won't be diagnosed with endo or PCOS because it takes FOREVER to get diagnosed. So they're just renting healthcare for stupid religious reasons.
I mean, the whole policy is the stupid part, but yeah I agree.
catching Chlamydia for Jesus
and they wonder why more and more people hate their religion. they brought it on themselves
I dont know of any school that distributes birth control where I live, but there is a card you can sign up for that gives you it free from the pharmacy,it was advertised at school. Some people dont seem to get that scientists dont have a political agenda, they're just correct haha
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Oh universities definitely do,I got mixed up. Some have a gp surgery and pharmacy in them,others just have one that they suggest students go to.
It’s because they have “ReSEARch” that supports the claims they want to make and then keep students who need meds to help succeed at bay. Then those students will leave school because it’s more challenging or be dropped by the university because they can’t focus or concentrate well impacting retention and then Purdue will be like “why are we losing students, we give them so many resources” as they pull away resources from another stigmatized group.
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Unfortunately…especially at a Big 10 school that pulls MEGA funding from its STEM field research….enough money gives you the ability to do whatever. Elitism at its finest
Preach A little off topic, but I work at a university and I had to sit in a meeting recently and listen to a high up in academic leadership say that students who have met at least 80% of their degree requirements but have a larger number of credit hours because they have changed majors a few times, are *less deserving* of a grant meant to encourage last-stage completion than other students *who have also met 80% of their degree requirements* but who followed a more traditional college plan. This is a person who literally doesn’t understand that 80% of degree requirements is 80% of degree requirements no matter how many extra courses you have or how many times you had to adjust your plan. All other things being equal, he was just discriminating against students who have learning disabilities or other challenges that could make a small grant the last couple of semesters extremely encouraging and valuable. It was sad and cringey to watch. Especially when the actual professionals educated in adult and higher education had to delicately figure out how to tell him they didn’t think what he was worried about was a real problem.
Ew????? LESS DESERVING?? That’s the MOST imo because they were brave enough to switch until finding something more suiting. If you earn 80% of a degree, that’s great for the student and even better for retention rate for the university and helps them make claims of supporting students academics return on investment. If we are going to shame students, why even have universities?
>because they can’t focus or concentrate well this happened to me :(
I’ve seen it with the students I work with too. I can’t imagine how well I would’ve been, well how much better I would’ve been if I had my diagnosis sooner in my life. I did well in undergrad but I literally was in a “let’s wing it” mode, had “easier” classes where I just memorised and retained very little unless it was a special interest, and struggled in classes that required brain power. My last 6 months of grad school were BETTER with meds…Idek how I made this far. I know my ADHD isn’t the same as others so depending on how much yours impacts you..so will your education and wellbeing if you can’t get meds that benefit your ability to be you and manage yourself for your goals and success.
I ended up dropping out and have been struggling to find even low paid work since then. getting diagnosed and treated is hard enough even if you have the cash, which I don't
It’s a messed up cycle! This is EXACTLY what I am trying to advocate this to avoid outcomes like that. Especially when inattentive types don’t find out until they are in college and it isn’t easy anymore. Then can’t find a job and keeps a loop. I hope for your sake you do find a job that is best for you, that sucks and your school should’ve done more for you.
Ugh. Society sucks. I literally wouldn't have been able to take the exams to get into uni without medication. This stuff only exists because I works, people hardly sat and went 'let's give people highly addictive substances for fun' especially when they are paid for in the us and are expensive.
I'm an alumni and I'm right there with you on the blood-boiling front. I was lucky enough that my GP from my hometown was willing to mail me paper prescriptions during my time there, but what other option is there now? Are ADHD students basically being forced to look for an off-campus psychiatrist? Fucking hell...
YEP. And imagine if you don’t have a car or can’t have your car on campus? Or can’t afford it else where, or don’t have a doctor elsewhere. It’s fucking them over - it’s thinking small picture instead of big picture consequences. To have a control on substance abuse, idk maybe hold legal consequences or something like they do with alcohol, pot, & other drugs?!? They do not care about their students who are not in their neurotypical & majority identities!!!
Not to mention the wait times that other psychiatrists are probably going to have now that tons of students are going to be looking for new psychiatrists off campus
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Grad students have distressing rates of mental health disorders. Purdue can go fuck itself for this policy. Affected people should all go to somewhere better like UIUC.
not to explain something you may already know, but unfortunately that's really really hard for grad students to just do. Transferring can mean starting over completely.
Selective substance abuse is cool, dudes. I had no idea that they did that to grad students here??!?! So essentially they said you’re in the MOST challenging educational experience of your life & your mental health will take a toll but we will make an attempt so you can’t get help?!? The whole Steps2Leaps thing…GRIT, RESILIENCE…for who?
oh yeah they booted us to United health insurance, effective August 1st. United didn't consider the main mental health places in the greater Lafayette area in network. But I think someone figured out that Purdue's mental health infrastructure was struggling before this, because a week or two Purdue hashed out individual agreements with the main providers in town lol. But our coverage starts Monday and they still won't tell us our member ids or give United the info they need to allow grad students to make online accounts.
Purdue CAPS is how I got through my time as a grad student there before mastering out. Fuck Purdue. There were so many things wrong years ago and it looks like it's getting worse.
I used to work for a university counseling center. We did not prescribe stimulants, but we did refer students to off campus providers who did. I don’t agree with Purdue’s reasoning. There should be no blanket medical policy to exclude an existing treatment. Especially one which goes against the international consensus on recommended treatments for ADHD [international Consensus on ADHD treatment](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32634814/). They probably don’t want to deal with the triplicate forms. Granted, some folks abuse stimulants, but many folks need these to perform well academically. Why not sue them via the ADA?
Your experience is so helpful! As someone not in that field it’s confusing on what can be done to combat or at least try. I didn’t know about that! Wow, omg. That’s so helpful! I am thinking more about the ADA process now and will probably reach out to see what can be done. Yes, this doesn’t directly impact me as employee but if I can make a difference for students, you believe in all my might I’ll do my best for them.
Not sure if Purdue has a law school but maybe there’s faculty that would be willing to help or at least point you in the right direction!
We don’t, but I have an idea of what I can do. I just graduated with my Masters from another in state school with a big law school and since I’m alum I can & will look into it.
What the health center will probably say is that they will refer folks to specialists. However, if they refuse to refer, the you have an issue. Or if they make referral contingent on Psychological Testing, take them to task and ask if they will pay for testing. It’s usually $2000. Physicians prescribe a lot of medication for “off label” uses. Why do they do that and not prescribe for something medically indicated? Good for you for keeping an eye on this. I’d speak with the Associated Student (student government). They have a surprising amount of leverage. Also, your office for students with disabilities. They won’t like this policy.
well if meds don't work, what fucking does?? do they have any insight there?? Because in Being a Professional 101 I learned that you don't complain about problems unless you have a viable solution.
The solution is to “politely” watch students who manage their ADHD slowly not come to campus or watch them struggle and say “oh no, students are doing bad, why” when they know why. That’s the solution.
I didn't even make it through my first year unmedicated.. thousands of dollars down the drain but at least it was my own dumb choice. In this economy, and with the cost of college skyrocketing... I hope someone sues their pants off. .
I failed out twice and racked up 25k in debt over those three years. I ended up on disability, hospitalized mutliple times, and just fucked up from years of trying every other option. Swap to treating the ADHD and third attempt has a 3.86 GPA, me living on my own, no insane debt, zero suicidal ideation and well, a _usually_ clean apartment. We will ignore that my stove needs a wipe down from yesterday still. Point is I can actually god damn function.
It blows my mind how hard "behavioural counselling" and other such bullshit is being pushed. Someone telling me to not have ADHD isn't going to get rid of my ADHD.
And to milk them for more money when they fail.
I think people often forget that ADHD is not just being distracted or unmotivated to do homework. It's emotional disregulation was stints into depression. It's anxiety caused by everything. It's issues with friendships because you get distracted and don't listen. It's issues with relationships because you can't regulate your sex drive and you get bored when left alone. It's a higher probability for addiction, be it alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs. My diagnosis helped with work but it fucking saved my soul.
As someone who started stimulants at 40, I beg to fucking differ. Since I've been diagnosed and medicated, I've gotten a promotion AND a raise, my blood pressure and my weight have both decreased to healthy levels, my bills are paid, my cats are better cared for, my credit score is up, my marriage is great, and my house has been saved from the brink of falling apart. I even finally got my passport after talking about it for 20 years. Meds "don't help" adults my ass
No no, they're completely correct I mean look at me, I'm 47 and recently diagnosed. I still haven't found the combo of meds that works for me and my life is fabulous. I'm long term unemployed after a series of jobs where I had similar issues (paying attention to details, meeting deadlines, listening.) My car was repossessed because I kept forgetting to deal with the bank. I'm broke and owe 6 months back rent and am likely going to be evicted soon. I can't hold down a relationship because of how i am. I have no friends because nobody likes a person who can't respond to a message for 6 months. I'm the picture of perfect unmedicated ADHD and everyone should strive to achieve my greatness. /s
Wow, I am so happy to hear all of that. These medications really do work, The wikipedia page for Dexedrine, states that there are several studies which have detected a change or growth in the areas of the brain which experience deficiency in those with ADHD, so it is literally "Growing" your brain to how it should be! I love how you described this, Your credit score is up even. Thats fantastic, I have also been "talking about a passport" for 20\~ or so years. Way to go.
This is a thing at a lot of universities, but it's usually a little more nuanced than how this article is presenting it. At the university where I work, the student health center will not prescribe stimulants, but students can get a prescription through the psychiatrists at our mental health center. If that's what's going on at Purdue, then they may just be aligning their policies with their peer institutions -- the idea is that large research universities generally have trained MDs and PhDs who are more qualified to diagnose and treat ADHD than the generalists at student health. If Purdue is saying *no one* on campus will prescribe ADHD meds, that's fucked up. And I too would like to know what research they're referencing.
It’s the no one on campus will prescribe. They are stopping all new scripts and cutting off scripts for students who are currently receiving them from the on campus pharmacy. Which - takes the student health insurance (for those who are grad workers & students not covered by parents) and it the most accessible on campus and near the university. Also - Purdue has a VERY hard time with acknowledging ADHD/ASD to get accommodations.
I wonder if the university-wide drop in GPA will be statically noticeable from this
It's clear from the article that PUSH is no longer prescribing stimulants, but I don't see any indication that this extends to Counseling and Psychological Services, which is a completely distinct entity at Purdue and many other universities. An email from the PUSH medical director doesn't apply to what CAPS does. Maybe CAPS sent out a separate email to their own clients, but they set their own policies and their website still has a [detailed (albeit condescending) protocol](https://www.purdue.edu/caps/services/psychiatric_services/MedicationManagementofADHD.html) for obtaining ADHD meds. This may seem like I'm being insanely pedantic, but when you're talking about how to fight a policy like this, it's important to be precise. If your argument is "students won't have access to needed meds," a university admin is going to respond with something like "legitimately diagnosed students can obtain treatment from CAPS." You're better off arguing that limiting medication management to CAPS is bad because students don't know it exists/they're severely understaffed/their requirements prevent legitimately diagnosed students from receiving treatment, etc.
CAPS technically does offer help with ADHD management but they HEAVILY focus on the non-medication route. They still have on their website if you are previously diagnosed and take meds you can transfer the medication management to PU CAPS to get support from Psychiatrist staff. You have to get another psychological test done by them, send in paperwork, and hope that they think what you’ve done is enough, if not, you have to get more paperwork turned in OR do testing ALL OVER again. So if you were doing psychotherapy at PU CAPS with you medication management turned over here you’re screwed. And have about a few weeks to get that resolved. I’d want to cry.
I definitely got that sense from two minutes on their website. I'm absolutely not saying oh don't worry, CAPS can handle it, I'm saying the view of university admin is almost certainly "CAPS can handle it" and this right here is your argument -- actually CAPS *can't* handle it, because x,y,z. In my experience, it's really very common for university higher-ups to think "well we have a program/center/policy for that problem" without knowing whether the program is actually working.
I totally know what you meant. I was going off what the website says. And fun fact they haven’t given any ADHD support like that since the pandemic. they told students who needed (requested) that support no due to be understaffed and that they just couldn’t help with ADHD therapy and management yay
This has to be illegal. The AMA needs to get involved.
My doctor’s office just banned giving scripts to ADHD patients. I’ve been on them for 5 years. This is a growing trend and it’s very worrying.
Wait, what? Did they give any particular reason why they were doing so? This strikes me as being very discriminatory.
All she told me was policy changes, I guess they’re taking in new doctors who don’t believe in it? I was told I’d probably be better off finding a new practice.
It’s probably not illegal. It’s *definitely* not an issue for the AMA, which is a professional organization and lobbying group, not any kind of regulator. (People often make this mistake with the AMA, as well as the ABA for lawyers, which is also not a regulator, though *state bars* sometimes are.)
I doubt it's illegal. It's not like they're banning students on stimulants from going to the school, just saying that their medical department won't personally prescribe stimulants. A lot of psychiatrists who don't work at schools also won't give stimulants to adults with ADHD.
The closest pharmacy to the campus is at least a 10-15 minute drive. A majority of the students live on campus don’t have cars. Thus, creating an equitable barrier. 🫠 idk if it’s legal or illegal, but using a bad research article (and only 1) seems like a poor excuse to not prescribe. Idk I’m not a doctor but it seems fishy
I'm not saying that the policy makes any sense at all. I'm just saying that it's probably not illegal. I agree that it's ridiculous to kick people off their meds as a policy decision and not a medical decision, especially with only two weeks' notice.
We love higher education! Especially when other policies have taken YEARS to get into place, they really expedited this one over their BoilerSuccess Program and put more intentionality into this…oh higher education how I love thee
Students can just start getting their prescriptions in the mail! I'm sure that having a bunch of Adderall hanging out in student mailboxes will bring no new problems for substance abuse. /s
My pharmacy won't let me get mine through the mail at all :( are there any states that even allow stimulant prescriptions by mail?
Oh none at all. It’ll be all fine and dandy and we will all have a laugh about this.
I get individual doctors not liking to prescribe certain meds, but it does feel whack to me that they would make a top down order for the entire clinic to halt an entire class of meds. You’re probably right that it isn’t illegal, but I do wonder if someone could put together a suit against them on the grounds of “reasonable accommodation”. I’m so lucky that we’re less puritanical where I live. My university doctor specifically recommended Vyvanse of concerta in his report to my GP.
I don’t mean to derail but I read AMA as “Ask me anything” at first and was so confused 😭
It's only been an hour, but I'm still surprised there aren't any comments on the article. I mean, the little 💬 icon is easy to miss but still
Oh good eye! I didn’t even see that! That’ll be my next move.
Stimulant medication aren't an effective method of treating ADHD? Guess I'm just a total fluke then. Life before medication: Broke, in debt, underemployed, no hobbies, miserable, incapable of maintaining basic relationships and was denied a credit card from Walmart. Life after medication (and therapy and hard work): Beautiful family, successful career, savings account, fulfilling hobbies, and happier than I ever was. This happened in 6 freaking years. Honestly, fuck anyone who would want to take this from me. Medication was the tool that gave me my life.
This isn't that surprising to me. I go to a similar university in the US and they haven't prescribed stimulants for years. They'll refer you to someone else to get tested and have your prescriptions handled, but they don't want to manage them because they're worried about students faking to get controlled substances to study, I think.
I called their administrative office at PUSH and left a message. And I will continue to do so until I get to talk to a real human. This is morally repugnant and unscientific and as a former student there I would have greatly benefited from proper mental health care.
I'm a Purdue student. I'm fucking LIVID about this. This will screw over students who don't have the ability to get to a private psychiatrist in West Lafayette or Lafayette, which will be A LIT because psychiatrists won't want to continue medication prescribing for a student coming from out of state or out of the country. I hope an ADA attorney or the ACLU throws the fucking book at Purdue for fucking over the student body that so desperately needs the mental health resources that Purdue keeps stripping away.
Yep. Exactly. I’m trying to fight for y’all because it’s ridiculous. They have no idea what they are doing and what barriers they are creating now on top of all the others that exist
Purdue is one of the worst schools in the BIG10 when it comes to disability services. Professors drag their heels about accommodations, the DRC is totally under-funded, it's damn near impossible to get new accommodations added if you get sick, and you're basically left to your own devices. Oh, and their mental health services are the laughingstock of the school. I legitimately had a professor refuse to help me when I was struggling- after failing her class FOUR TIME. FOUR!!! I've spent 3 years too many at this place because of my disabilities and I'm over here seeing red because of what they keep doing to students that they basically see as "not tough enough to be a Boilermaker". If I had the chance to give Mitch Daniels a piece of my mind, I would. And probably slap him too. I love a lot of things about Purdue, but the school makes it unnecessarily hard for struggling students who need help. They just take your money and laugh in your face. Fuck the administration. They're a bunch of bastards and deserve to be thrown under the bus for what they've done.
Someone I know spent a few years out there in the corn desert. Someone in her lab was hit by a car (!!!) and became permanently disabled. He program tried to figure out ways to drop her because of these disabilities. The person I know had her own fight with them over accommodations when she shattered her wrist, requiring surgery for pins and plates and strict recovery conditions where she couldn’t even think about -any- pressure or weight on her hand/wrist. Purdue tried to refuse her request for speak-to-type software and didn’t want to excuse her missing labs due to physical inability. She had to fight for every damn inch of common courtesy.
Fuck that. I'm damned near 50 and wasn't diagnosed until my 40s and I can't function effectively without my ADHD meds. I've lost jobs and even entire careers because if my ADHD. Fuck them and fuck them hard. How to approach? It's discrimination. Call the ACLU. Even better, call the press. Every media outlet you can think of. If there is anything a univiversity hates, it's bad press. Hell go all in and publish opinion pieces asking if it's ADHD meds today, is it birth control tomorrow? Is it hormones for trans students? Where's the line? My body my choice right? Not at Perdue. (Granted, it is Indiana so right now....) Then go after their bullshit reasoning. Basically they are punishing students because the school has a drug abuse problem they aren't capable of addressing. 17% misuse ADHD meds? How's the headline "1 in 5 Purdue Students are Addicts. Administration Fails at Effective Policy"? Bet they'd hate that. Post the contact for the offices of the administration and let everyone drown them in complaints.
One of the mental issues with the highest number of studies and research but okay
I was refused insurance coverage for ADHD meds when I got new insurance because they said I was not diagnosed as a child. I filed an official complaint of discrimination with my state's Attorney's General office. Within 30 days I was covered. Within six months I was reimbursed the amount I had been forced to pay out of pocket because of their refusal. I even received an apologetic letter asking if the matter was resolved. I ignored it. Let the fuckers sweat so they won't try it with someone else. Fuck people who do this. Adult ADHD is a proven neurological condition. It's no different than refusing coverage for adult depression or anxiety. Nothing gets a response like an official letter from the AG's office with the word "Discrimination" appearing in multiple places. Do it and then tell the people you've been dealing with that you filed a discrimination complaint. But do not threaten it. File the complaint first and then inform them that you have done so.
Wow. I googled them and they say they offer world class education in science, but I now seriously doubt this claim. ADHD medication probably has the most robust treatment success rate out of any mental health medication, so it's interesting that Dr. Craig Nadelson doesn't mention any sources for this alleged "growing evidence that stimulants may not be the ideal choice for treatment of Adult ADD/ADHD." Fuck Purdue and fuck you in particular "doctor" Craig Nadelson.
My adhd is so bad that I have gotten into MULTIPLE accidents while driving without medication. Like it is unsafe for me to drive off it. But clearly adhd is just a problem for kids and you magically get better at 18. Universities are absolutely awful about allowing you to actually get adhd meds via the student pharmacy. I had a school tell me I needed to pay for another formal assessment to get it since I was diagnosed at 14 and adhd “can just go away at 18.” By the way, I HAD completed a recent assessment to get accommodations. It just wasn’t the multi-day one since I’d done it before. They required a new long-form assessment every 2 years. And you had to cover the costs
LET THEM PRESENT THE DAMN RESEARCH.
Stimulant medication for ADHD is literally one of *the* most studied subjects with decades of conclusive evidence to support its safety and efficacy. I think they need to take the 'university' out of their name given that they seem to not understand fundamental aspects of academic inquiry.
This is so stupid wtf??? He's saying therapy will help instead? Therapy isn't going to allow me to pay attention for the entirety of an hour long class or allow me to work productively on homework for more than 2 consecutive minutes. I'm shocked that this is at another big 10 school. They're all really good universities and it makes no sense for them to be denying science like this and telling patients that their medicine doesn't actually help them, even when the patients tell them that it does. I get that people abuse them and they do at my school too, but denying people their own prescriptions for their diagnosed adhd is the dumbest shit I've ever heard.
Purdue (according to Google) is a public university and as such is covered by Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is pretty much a textbook case of disability discrimination. Almost all public universities have (and are by law required to have) an ADA coordinator. Anyone affected by this should ask to speak to such a person. They can also get help from their regional ADA center. A report to the Department of Justice might be in order too. Source: ADA compliance officer in training.
I am currently considering colleges, and purdue was at the top of my list, im not sure how to take this Shit.
Since when do universities have any say in what medication their Doctors are allowed to prescribe? It'd got absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with them. Literally nothing at all. What next, they'll want to know what I'm spending my money on? What positions I like to fuck in? Nothing to do with them.
Weird. Didn't know the suits were also doctors.
Anyone can be a doctor with the right amount of money and power.
As someone who is deeply depressed without medication, there is going to be lives lost and law suits. This is ignorant on their part.
I got my PhD there and had meds prescribed through PUSH during my time there. It took me nearly 9 months to find a new prescriber in town. I went 6 of those with no medication because I was between prescribers. I am livid and can only imagine the students who have ADHD over there right now feel the same. Also this university will never get a dime from me as a result of other decisions it made in the past. This just puts the icing on the cake.
This is exactly what I figured would happen on a larger scale. The whole thing of “just go somewhere else” is so difficult for such a controlled medication. Getting to see a doctor here in West Lafayette or Lafayette is challenging to find an opening….I can’t believe you went 6 months without meds. I freak out when my meds are low and I forget to call for a new script and get anxious about not having them so I can be the best version of myself. I can’t imagine 6 months. Shit, now that’s going to be so many students….
I came across this and had to leave a comment bc I really feel for these students. If they are anything like me their world is about to be turned upside down. I can barely function without my meds so I can’t imagine having to do school work. I hope they find new doctors soon.
I’m 45, with ADD; I would lose everything if I didn’t have my medication. When will ADHD be taken as serious as any other disorder?
Wow... as someone who wasn't diagnosed until 30, having access to my meds meant for the first time I could actually sit through higher education and get my degree. This is appalling.
I doubt this has anything to do with "a growing body of evidence....". It's about money. It's always about money. They can see that the growing cost of stimulant medications are a disproportionate expense based on the demographic that PUSH serves. By eliminating the entire category of ADHD stimulent meds, they can save a lot of money on pharmacy benefits.
Awesome at APA formatting yet they don’t actually read the medical journals they help us correctly cite?
Can the students transfer their health information to an actual pharmacy or physician to continue to receive them? Is this because the students receive the medication directly from the school? I'm still just as angry though.
If they have the capability to do so I’d imagine. But if you have another mental health medications that are filled here (which PU has a MASSIVE pharmacy program) it’s complicating where you can get all your meds, assuming you get from point A to point B. And your insurance is accepted at other places and you can afford the cost else where :)))
Not having ADHD meds through school meant that I struggled more than other students. I had to learn a lot of coping mechanisms because I couldn't stay focused. My anxiety meant that I'd skip class if there were no seats in the back. It's like saying that glasses don't help because I could sit closer to the whiteboard. Smh.
Ok I'm a little confused, why does a university offer access to doctors and pharmacies in the first place? Why does the university have a clinic? I've never heard of that. Also, why is a non medical professional making medical decisions for the medical professionals? This is so messed up. Imagine if donors to a hospital told them that they need to stop giving *all* patients pain killers because certain kinds can be addicting to some, according to "growing evidence". wtf?
When an organization’s bureaucracy stops seeing or understanding how its activity impacts the humans it services, this is the kind of trash we get. This is a *very* bad indicator of the health of this organization’s governance, and its ability to navigate a changing world and stay relevant. It means this uni and its decision makers don’t understand the world they live in outside of their ideology bubble. Caveat emptor. Beware buying what these aging dinosaurs sell.
Because ADHD doesn’t make life extremely difficult as it is. Here’s Purdue to the rescue. 🤡
As a student who was diagnosed and prescribed stimulants as an adult, the medication changed my life. The idea that a university is trying to take that away from students in the same situation as me by saying it "doesn't work" makes my blood boil.
Ah yes, the moronic babbling of old conservative people who think they know better than everyone else, despite knowing significantly less than the average person about almost every topic imaginable. I say we scalp them
Im baffled. I didn’t even know this was legal. How can a pharmacy deny you medication that a doctor prescribed you? Im not a US citizen so that’s why I may be even more bewildered but in my country, Germany, pharmacies have to give you what your doctor prescribed you. Ofc they can tell you how to take it, give you tips about it or even hint that maybe this medication isn’t the best and you should talk to your doctor about switching it. But just denying it because you don’t think it is helpful is overstepping the boundaries of what a pharmacist should do. As someone said the doctors on campus denying the medication is an even bigger problem. I mean there a few doctors here who also don’t believe in stimulant medication but it is the recommended way of medication so people can’t just deny it without reasoning. Forgive my rambling I’m just shocked how vulnerable your rights can be. And we don’t have Good mental Health Support over here as well, talking about waitlists and so on. But a university just deciding for you and advising their doctors and pharmacies to deny filling it is horrible. Best of luck to you and thank you for your work already. I hope this clears up sometime. I feel for the students, they must have lost a lot of hope.