• Posted July 13, 2026

Adderall Misuse Falls Sharply Among Young Adults, Study Finds

Half as many young adults are misusing Adderall, Ritalin and other ADHD medications these days to help them remain alert at study or work, a new evidence review says.

Misuse of ADHD stimulant meds among adults under 30 fell from 7.5% in 2016 to 3.7% in 2023, researchers report in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology.

“We found a rapid drop in misuse of these medications, largely driven by a decline in Adderall misuse among young adults,” lead researcher Margaret Maglione said in a news release. She’s a project leader with the Southern California Evidence Review Center at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

This decline might be tied to a nationwide ADHD drug shortage that began in 2022, researchers noted. At its peak, nearly 72% of patients reported difficulty filling their prescriptions.

For the new review, researchers pooled data from 64 prior studies conducted between 2004 and 2024.

ADHD meds like Adderall, Ritalin and Vyvanse are commonly misused because they can produce immediate brain effects, even in people who are only occasional users, researchers said.

About 35% of misusers take the drugs to help them concentrate; 31% to stay awake or alert; and 16% to get high or counter the effects of other drugs, researchers said.

Young adults tend to take Adderall or similar pills to help them study or focus on detailed work, researchers said. They are more likely to get pills for free from friends or relatives.

A smaller number of “high-frequency” users are older than 30, are more likely to obtain their drugs by doctor-shopping or from a drug dealer, and are more likely to snort, smoke or inject the stimulants, researchers said.

“The data shows us that most patients do use the medications safely and as prescribed, but these medications are most likely to be misused by those who have a legitimate prescription or those who have access to someone else’s medication,” researcher Dr. Jaskanwar Batra, vice chair for clinical affairs in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Keck School of Medicine, said in a news release.

Misuse of ADHD medications is far from harmless. Between 2012 and 2016, U.S. poison control centers received more than 33,000 reports involving these drugs.

Many people misusing ADHD drugs take other substances at the same time – alcohol (53%); weed, (26%); cocaine (20%); or other prescription meds (20%).

However, only a tiny fraction (0.2%) of admissions for substance use treatment involved prescription stimulants, researchers found.

Further, the review found no evidence that taking prescribed ADHD medication in one’s teen years increases the risk of substance abuse disorders later in life.

But there have also been no long-term U.S. studies on the health effects of misusing ADHD stimulants, researchers noted.

“The misuse of stimulants is nothing new — this has been in the public eye for many decades,” senior researcher Susanne Hempel, a professor of clinical population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and director of the Southern California Evidence Review Center, said in a news release.

“But we didn't find any long-term studies on the physical health consequences of long-term misuse of these drugs, which was surprising,” Hempel said. 

More information

Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) has more on ADHD medication misuse.

SOURCE: Keck School of Medicine of USC, news release, July 9, 2026