Objectives

Adderall (amphetamine-dextroamphetamine) is a controlled medication that can have harmful adverse effects if taken in excess or incorrectly. We examined the marketing strategies and safety of online pharmacies selling Adderall, as well as the drug’s accessibility through well-known search engines.

Participants and the setting

The search term “buy Adderall online” was entered into four search engines between December 2019 and February 2020: Google (N = 100), Bing (N = 100), Yahoo (N = 50), and DuckDuckGo (N = 50). Online pharmacies that claimed to sell Adderall, have unique Uniform Resource Locators, be open, free to use, and speak English were among them. Findings

61 of the 62 online pharmacies that sold Adderall were rogue or unclassified. Prescriptions were not necessary (100%), pharmacist services were not provided (100%), and there were no quantitative restrictions on the number of Adderall transactions (100%), across all rogue and unclassified online pharmacies. The cost was the deciding factor for rogue and unclassified online pharmacies, which offered coupon codes 70%, bulk discounts at 67%, and price reductions of 61%. Despite their promises, GoodRx offered all Adderall formulations and dosages at lower costs than these internet pharmacies. Rogue and unclassified online. Rogue and unclassified online pharmacies used privacy appeals (74%), cryptocurrency purchases (74%), and claims of site registration or accreditation (33%), to encourage and facilitate the illegal purchase of Adderall.

Background

Online pharmacies have become a well-liked place to get prescription medications. In 2016, it was discovered that between 30,000 and 35,000 online pharmacy websites were available, albeit the total volume fluctuates frequently. Online pharmacies can be classified as either unlawful and operating outside U.S. pharmacy rules and guidelines, or as legitimate, licensed pharmacies. 96% of the available internet pharmacies are fraudulent, with 92% of them being rogue—that is, selling medications without a legitimate prescription—according to LegitScript, a verification and monitoring firm. The ease of access to drugs that have the potential to be abused is especially concerning given the high frequency of fraudulent internet pharmacies.

The spread of fraudulent internet pharmacies has been fought by national organizations. Customers are empowered by the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) BeSafeRx and the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP) Buy Safe Rx programs, which inform them of the dangers of purchasing prescription drugs from fraudulent online pharmacies and the warning indicators that an online pharmacy may be engaging in illegal activity. Accredited online pharmacies are listed on the website of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP).In order to increase consumers’ awareness of trustworthy pharmacies, NABP also provides a verification service for accredited online pharmacies, allowing them to obtain a “.pharmacy” domain. Customers can use Legit Script to enter a unified resource locator (URL) to assess the legality of a pharmacy.

Goals

Look at the marketing strategies and safety of internet pharmacies that sell Adderall, as well as whether the drug is accessible via well-known search engines. Buy Adderall from online pharmacy to get better results.

Techniques

The search term “buy Adderall online” was used in four distinct search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo) to pick websites between December 2019 and February 2020. The selection of these four search engines was based on user traffic and, in the case of DuckDuckGo, its focus was on user privacy. These websites’ search algorithms have already included synonyms for the search phrases. More results from the more well-known search engines were included after screening the first 100 Google and Bing results as well as the first 50 Yahoo and DuckDuckGo results. Websites that claimed to sell Adderall, were active, free to view, in English, and had a unique URL were all included. Since amphetamine/dextroamphetamine is the active ingredient in both Adderall immediate release (IR) and Adderall extended-release (XR), information about websites selling these drugs was gathered. Included were websites that needed an additional click to access the product’s sales page. To make sure the results were internally legitimate, screenshots of the website pages were taken.

Precautions

The characteristics were collected as binary variables: whether the website exhibited or required such features or not, to compare rogue, unclassified, and legitimate pharmacies and these precautions must be taken (1) requiring a prescription; (2) requiring a health-related questionnaire; (3) offering to talk to a pharmacist; (4) warnings and precautions about drugs on the product page; (5) drug information on the product page, including the class of medication; (6) imposing restrictions on the quantity of Adderall that patients could order (e.g., limiting patients to a 90-day supply); and (7) matching the country between the IP address location and the website location.

Promotion

The selection of marketing-related characteristics was based on prior research.13, 19, 21, 22, 29, and 30 From every website, the following marketing attributes were collected: (1) makes a “discount” claim in comparison to other pharmacies; (2) provides bulk discounts; (3) provides a “promo code” or voucher at the point of sale; (4) allows cryptocurrency purchases (such as Bitcoin); (5) features ads specifically for A (6) shows ads for other products on the page promoting the sale of Adderall; (7) includes a phone number or WhatsApp contact information; (8) makes an offer to talk to an associate; (9) asserts pharmacy registration (e.g., NABP Digital Pharmacy Accreditation or Professional Compounding Centers of America [PCCA]); (10) includes customer testimonials; and (11) provides privacy guarantees (e.g., confidentiality of billing or health information or discrete packaging).

The price

30 mg Adderall IR and Adderall XR prices and shipping costs were gathered for the most often sold quantities of 60, 90, 120, 180, and 240 pills or capsules. The price per tablet or capsule of Adderall IR and Adderall XR was calculated after delivery costs were deducted. The total number of tablets or capsules in an order was used to calculate the shipping charges.