How Big Pharma Gets Away With Selling Crystal Meth To Children: By Renaming It ‘Adderall’

In a recent appearance on All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC, drug abuse and addiction expert Carl Hart of Columbia University made a shocking claim: There isn’t much difference between the demonized street drug methamphetamine (also known as meth or crystal meth) and the prescription drug Adderall.

It’s not the first time Hart has raised this idea. In a 2014 report, Hart and co-authors Joanne Csete and Don Habibi, also from Columbia, examined in depth the effects of meth on the brain, concluding that there is no discernible difference in the effects of any amphetamine, whether prescription or illicit.

First, some definitions: Amphetamines are a class of chemicals that are used both medically and recreationally. The street drug known as “meth” may refer to either methamphetamine or dextroamphetamine. “Crystal meth” is a more specific form, methamphetamine hydrochloride. The authors of the report note that both popular and scientific literature regularly make meth out to be much stronger and more addictive than other amphetamines...