How ADHD Became a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry

(upbeat music)

[Narrator] How much is 13 billion dollars worth?

It's enough to put you

in the top 100 richest people in the world.

Or outrank 70 countries' GDPs.

It's also the annual revenue

pharmaceutical companies generate on ADHD medication

in the United States.

ADHD diagnosis have been on the rise in the last decade.

Putting second only to asthma

as the most common childhood diagnosis.

For many of the 11% of the kids

in America with an ADHD diagnosis,

the answer has been to throw pills at the problem.

But is it effective?

One study that followed students for more than three years,

didn't find any increase in performance or improved grades.

The amphetamine, Adderall, is chemically similar

to methamphetamine and causes a similar reaction

in the brain.

Both increase synaptic levels of dopamine,

norepinephrine, and serotonin.

The long terms effects of amphetamine abuse on the brain

are not totally known and some researchers believe

long term usage could lead to permanent damage.

Many of the trials of amphetamines

that established it as safe

were tested on rodents in short, high doses,

which is very different

than incremental, long term usage in humans.

But what about the organizations

that protect Jack and Jill Hyperactive?

Over time, the American Psychiatric Association

has expanded the symptoms for diagnosis

causing some to think finances is a motivating factor.

The APA receive between 20 and 30%

of their yearly funding from drug companies.

One of the leading ADHD advocacy groups, C.H.A.D.D.,

receives around one million a year

from pharmaceutical institutions.

And the FDA?

Well, half a billion dollars a year of its budget

comes from the fees that drugs companies give it

to look at their new drugs.

One group that profits from more diagnosis

and more prescriptions are those

who take the amphetamine medication recreationally.

Between 2006 and 2011, the number of people

abusing ADHD medications sky rocketed

from 4.7 million to 8.2 million.

Adderall is the second most taken drug

among high school seniors.

And one poll found that between 16 to 29% of students

with prescriptions have been asked to give, sell, or trade

their medication.

From big pharma to the black market,

ADHD is a profitable diagnosis.