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Adult ADHD from the board-certified PMHNP behind the YouTube channel Focus Path and the book The Process. Clinical perspective on medication, frameworks, and the conversations the internet hasn't been having.
whether it's giving out some of your
ADHD medication or someone giving some
of theirs to you, the same question
remains: are you gonna get in trouble?
My name is Jonathan Murphy,
psychiatric nurse practitioner.
I've been treating adults with
ADHD for a decade, and I'm here
to answer those very questions
Because let's be real, it
does happen all the time.
The statistics about college
students are well known by now.
But let's be real.
What does the law say?
Well, before I get into that,
just a reminder that this is
not legal or medical advice.
You need to talk to a lawyer
or a provider about that.
Now let's get back into the
education that I'm providing you
If you have an ADHD medication
prescription and you give it to a
friend, yes, this is violating the law.
In fact, it's pretty serious
whether you get money for it
or not Yeah, that's right.
Could end up with a felony, some
jail time, just for giving it
out to a friend but what about
if you get it from someone else?
Well, possession of a controlled substance
that you don't have a prescription for
carries its own set of legal consequences.
But this part should be obvious,
and I wanna talk about today
the more philosophical reasons
not to do this very thing
You see, giving out ADHD medication As
well as receiving drugs from others sounds
very loosey-goosey and recreational.
ADHD medication is a medical intervention.
Now, the medication that's
used to treat ADHD are Schedule
II controlled substances.
That's the highest level of
risk to be misused or abused.
And, there's been a very interesting
relationship between stimulants and modern
life, going back about 100 years, and
you hear about performance enhancement,
and you hear about the Nazis, and
all of this stuff is true when we're
talking about stimulant medication.
Yes, the Nazis did take amphetamines,
and yes, people do take amphetamines
and other stimulant medications
to performance enhance, that's why
they're controlled substances at all.
Truck drivers and hippies
and the rest of it.
From what I hear, the '60s
was a pretty wild time.
But nonetheless, here we are in 2026, and
many patients come to me and they wonder
Is it okay that I got my ADHD
medication from someone else?
Well, here's the problem with that.
If you receive a pill in a casual setting
that's a controlled substance, it's the
casual breaking of law, for starters.
But larger than that, it is introducing
a drug into your life, a substance that
you're gonna have a relationship with.
Yes, it is true, amphetamines,
methamphetamine, methylphenidate, those
are drugs, but they're also therapeutics
when applied in a specific circumstance by
a specific person for a specific reason.
when we're talking about ADHD
medication for the treatment of ADHD,
We need to consider that in order
for someone to be successful, they
need to have a healthy relationship
with not a drug, but a medication
But maybe there's someone that
just wants to be altruistic.
" Hey, this medication helped me so
I can really think it helped you."
Well, honestly, I think the best
thing for you to do would be to point
them in the direction of my book,
The Process: An Adult's Guide to ADHD
Medication, available now on Amazon.
But what you can also do is refer
them to Psychology Today to find
a provider to evaluate ADHD.
It's as simple as going on there,
putting in your zip code, and hitting
the little checkbox that lets you
know that your provider actually
is gonna see or believes in ADHD
But let's just review
a potential scenario.
Let's just say little Timmy,
back in the day, gets medication
from a friend to study.
He's struggling, and he might
have dropped out otherwise.
But in between keg stands and other
debaucherous activities, he's taking
medication to study, and it really works.
The problem is he's chalking it up to
bootstraps and needing to try harder.
So as he continues to seek the medication
in an illicit way, he's developing an
unhealthy relationship to the medication.
He doesn't view it as an actual therapy.
He sees it as a drug, which doesn't come
to grips with the limitation of ADHD.
It's easy to go, "Oh, I don't have ADHD.
I just need some of them
meds, then I'll be okay."
But if someone actually has ADHD,
that means you're taking a medication,
you're adding it to someone's
life, and their function improves.
Societally, we look at this
demographic of people and
say, " With medication, better."
And we really wanna eliminate the
people that don't need the medication.
Why?
Because it doesn't actually
sustainably, in the long term, treat an
underlying pathology other than ADHD.
So someone that's seeking to enhance
their performance won't continue to
wanna remain on the medication to
help them with impulse control or
other issues But oftentimes, sadly
enough, it is true, just like any other
substance, people with ADHD can seek
stimulation in the form of substances.
And the unfortunate reality is
when that stimulant seeking becomes
a separate pathology, it's gonna
become very, very difficult to
treat your ADHD down the road.
It's best to develop a therapeutic
relationship with the medication,
with a provider that you trust.
And speaking of providers,
should you tell them if you've
taken ADHD medication before?
Well, I would start by saying anything
that you disclose, you choose to
disclose or not disclose, is your
private and personal information.
You're not going to talk to a cop,
you're going to talk to a provider.
But the thing of it is, you're going
to get the best outcomes from your
ADHD treatment when you're engaging
with a provider you can trust.
When I hear a patient has taken
medication before from someone
else, I don't immediately say, "Oh,
there's something wrong with you."
I do wanna hear about that medication
response if someone's taken Vyvanse,
for example, and they've gotten a good
response from it, or maybe they didn't.
Having that information is
helpful, but don't expect it to
dictate the medication choice.
Always look at symptoms first.
Consider the functional impairment as
well as the specific symptoms, so you
can put words to the actual problems that
you're having, and make them tangible
so your provider can help you with them
At the end of the day, it's all about
improving functional impairment,
whether it's difficulty with emotional
functioning, difficulty completing
school, difficulty with self-care,
or difficulty in the workplace.
ADHD medication should
never be used in recreation.
The two don't work.
There is therapeutic administration
of the medication, which is gonna be
once a day, and then there's a bit of a
blurry line, and this is where the old
school, the way stimulant medication was
always tablets, and it was prescribed
and still is in many ways as needed.
The as needed is asking someone with
ADHD to self-assess in the moment
if they need to take another pill.
That's the behavioral problem.
But then there's the issue with
The way the medication's absorbed,
extended-release medication administered
consistently is going to change behavior.
So at the end of the day, if someone's
gotten the medication from a friend or in
a way that feels a little uncomfy, then
I would say it's time to move forward
with ADHD treatment, and evaluation
is about saying, "I do have an issue,"
and understanding that life on the
other side is gonna look different.
I never have to harp on the controlled
substance stuff too much because when it's
good for my patient, it's good for me.
We have the same interests in mind.
I'm not going to have to worry about
someone abusing their medication
because if they have ADHD, that
won't result in the best outcome.
If someone is selling the medication,
well, at the end of the day, that's
on the patient, because providers
can only do so much in terms of
education and assessment and consent.
And as a license holder, it's my
responsibility to make sure that
I'm prescribing medication to people
I'm checking in with frequently.
However, I haven't had issues with
compliance too much over the years,
and I think that people bring
a lot of shame to the process.
I would say whatever it takes for you to
have a clean slate,, with your conscience,
but most importantly, to move forward
with ADHD medication in a way that
actually accepts the diagnosis, taking
it at the same time every day, committing
to a trial, and understanding that
you can't control the ADHD medication.
The more people try to control it,
the bigger it becomes a problem.
If you let go of control and say, "Hey,
I'm just gonna take this medication
every day," it might not be perfect,
but down the line, the medication that
you can take consistently and daily and
behaviorally change your life is the
one that's gonna have staying power,
where oddly, down the line, you'll
be less dependent on the medication.
People that develop an unhealthy
relationship with the medication by
taking it as needed or getting it
from a friend, they're the people that
struggle to create meaningful change.
oftentimes, holding back the acceptance of
the diagnosis, you're just saying, " Oh,
I just need some medication sometimes,
but not all the time," is a bit of denial.
So-
I'd ask you to explore that
whenever you're seeking treatment.
Understand that this is a medication,
and if you've treated this substance
as a drug or it's been introduced
to you in a recreational setting,
there's no shame, but there's some
serious legal consequences to consider.
Adderall and Ritalin is a
controlled substance anyway.
It's a controlled substance
to allow access to the people
that need the medication.
And when you get on the right track,
taking the right medication at
the same time every day, you will
understand that you're not gonna
wanna give out your medication anyway.
Forget about all the prison sentence stuff
So, now you know the answer to that
question, and my hope is that you will
develop a healthy relationship with your
medication or anything that we do in life.
It's all about balance.
All or nothing, black and white,
that's very untreated ADHD.
And my hope is, is that if nothing
else, over the past year and almost
110 videos on YouTube, I've reached
some people amidst the noise, and
it's been a long time coming for some
realistic, adult-focused education
about the medication that we were
put on as children 20, 30 years ago.
Well, how do you like that
for ADHD storytelling?
My name is Jonathan Murphy,
psychiatric nurse practitioner.
If you wanna see more about
ADHD medication, I got a
video for you right here.
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