HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Americans across the country are finding it difficult to acquire medication to treat diabetes and ADHD.
Pharmacists say supply and demand are the root cause of the lack of medications such as Adderall and Ozempic, which have been in huge demand.
Since the pandemic a study provided by lawmakers on the Senate Homeland Security Committee shows a 30% increase from last year to now, leaving local pharmacists, scrambling to find medications for their customers
“Because of COVID, we’ve had a lot of patients be placed on Adderall because of mental health issues. That’s part of it,” said Bobby Muñiz, of Muñiz pharmacy.
The shortage however has not affected all pharmaceutical drugs.
“Most of your hypertension drugs, most of your other diabetic medications, most other medications you’d see patients on for high cholesterol, there’s not a shortage of everything else is we see a great supply with that,” said Muñiz.
Muñiz remains optimistic suppliers will catch up to the demand but the need for these prescribed medications is placing doctors in a position they have never encountered before.
“We’re having a lot of difficulties finding pharmacies, usually it’s the larger pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens that have been running out,” said Dr. Velma Hughes, Mental Health professional. “There are times when patients go weeks without the medication, and that’s harming them.”
Due to the popular demand for Ozempic for weight loss, suppliers have had issues keeping up with the prescriptions. This places people like Travis Bence at risk because he depends on the drug to help manage his insulin levels.
“It created my A1C number to rise and caused my blood sugar to rise and caused me to gain weight again, which further compounded the problem,” said Bence.
Muñiz recommends contacting your local pharmacy before sending your prescriptions.
