Wow. Not even five minutes in and they’re already depicting Adderol as a drug. Trippy music, weird jittery visuals, various people describing what it’s like to be on it (I don’t feel it kicking in, it’s really subtle, like I kind of realize I’m more focused and not hungry all of a sudden. If you start sweating and your heart pounds you are definitely overdosing).
Also…one guy says he sometimes takes ten??? Or two?? I don’t know with the trippy music it’s really hard to parse out. I can’t imagine anyone taking ten without having a heart attack.
People are describing having a bunch of doors and there’s good stuff behind the doors…I don’t know, they’re either taking something much harder than Adderol or absolutely none of these people have ADHD.
I hate that they mixed in regular people describing the high they get off of Adderol with people who actually need it describing what it’s like (”I can focus on one thing and drown everything else out,” “I can’t ever not be on Adderol, I need it,”).
I mean, it’s so painfully obvious they’re trying to paint this drug as equivalent to cocaine in legal form that we’re handing out to kids.
They turned the focus to a girl who takes a prescription for it and her parents telling her she needs a lock box because her dormmates will try to steal it. This would’ve been a great opportunity to make this about how other people (read: who don’t need Adderol) abuse a prescription drug that mentally ill people need and how that helps stigmatize its use, but judging by the intro that’s not what this is going to be about.
Oh my God it’s not supposed to “give you an edge on things” it’s supposed to put you at the starting level.
Okay so, I got up to have dinner and got a little sidetracked, but now I’m back onto this shitshow.
They don’t even mention ADD until over a full minute into the film. AFTER they’ve already given you the impression that ADD medication is a happy fun times drug that gets compared to cocaine.
And when it does mention it, they only list the most well-known symptoms, distractability and difficulty paying attention. No mention of memory problems, emotional imbalance, sleeping problems, social deficits, comorbidity with dyslexia or autism…nothing. They just, mention it in passing that “oh it’s hard for people to pay attention but then it gets real fuzzy because there’s no clear-cut line”
AND RIGHT AFTER THAT, they show the girl who got diagnosed and she was “thrilled” because she had her SAT coming up. Motherfucker I am livid.
We got two book authors talking about stimulant use (ADHD Nation and On Speed) and based on the books they wrote I can already tell what angle they’re coming from.
Now they’re talking about the history of amphetaminse and their abuse/misuse by people as a recreational drug throughout the years.
One consistent pattern I keep seeing: every single person they’re describing/is talking about the way this drug affects them is neurotypical. No one, at any point, is talking about what this does to an ADHD brain or why it’s considered helpful to them. And the almost constant flashing, glaring visuals tell me this documentary wasn’t made with someone prone to overstimulation in mind.
ifesbob 