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Comment by viraptor | Hacker News Reader

> The meds are basically speed.

There's a number of different stimulants and non-stimulants. "The meds" are not a thing.

Care to elaborate? I've just looked it up to see if things changed, but all I see is Ritalin / Concerta, Strattera, and Dextroamphetamine. There might be others, but they'd either be off-label or aren't reimbursed by insurance. Where in the world are other meds prescribed and covered?

On the non-stimulant side there's also atomoxetine and guanfacine, but they're not commonly used yet. And there's weed which is prescribed in some places. You can also find studies on other things which you can buy without prescription, but they're not officially approved / fully checked for safety.

atomoxetine, while not a direct stimulant, is a norepinepherine reuptake inhibitor. That is, it makes the speed you already have stay around longer.

And Guanfacine is certainly a stimulant. It is an agonist of the α2A-adrenergic receptor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanfacine

Guanfacine is not a stimulant. The Wikipedia page doesn't say it explicitly but hints at that a number of times. It's spelled out here though https://www.nps.org.au/radar/articles/guanfacine-intuniv-for... DEA also doesn't care and https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=1c4... shows no potential for abuse and lethargy as common side effect. Also from experience - it doesn't feel even close to stimulants.

My definition of stimulants is wider than your definition.

The drug antagonizes the adrenaline receptors. Adrenaline stimulates people.

They are selling it as a non-stimulant drug because people are stupid.

All you see where?

Buproprion and clonidine are commonly prescribed for ADHD in the US.

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