Vallon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that new data from its recently-sponsored survey of stimulant abuse patterns in adults was presented at the APSARD 2022 Annual Conference, held virtually January 14-16, 2022. The poster titled, Characteristics and Behaviors of Recreational Prescription Stimulant Users: Findings from an mTurk online survey, outlined additional results from a large survey, led by researchers at the University of Kentucky, of nearly 500 people who misuse or abuse prescription stimulants. Participants in the survey were recruited using Amazon.com Mechanical Turk (MTurk), an online crowdsourcing platform.

A total of 975 respondents aged 18 - 30 completed the survey between March - April 2020, of whom 496 reported using a prescription stimulant when not prescribed to them. The survey included demographic and drug use questionnaires, as well as clinical and behavioral instruments. The survey was conducted through a common online platform, MTurk, which has been used in addiction science research to efficiently crowd source information from large populations.

Summary of Results: A total of 496 responders who were surveyed reported using a prescription stimulant when not prescribed; >150 admitted snorting prescription stimulants. While most abusers reported taking prescription stimulants orally, 32% reported snorting, 2% injecting, and 4% vaping. Prescription stimulant snorters were more likely than overall abusers to also report using other controlled substances including cannabis, cocaine, opioids, and methamphetamine.

Almost 90% of prescription stimulant snorters have done so with an IR amphetamine. Adderall (mixed amphetamine salts immediate release) was the most commonly snorted prescription stimulant (n=135). More than 40% of respondents who snorted Adderall say their typical dose is up to 10 mg, 40% say 11–30 mg, and <5% report doses >30 mg.

Over 80% of those who snort say it takes no more than 5 minutes to manipulate; over 90% say it takes no more than 10 minutes. Over 90% of snorters say they would take prescription stimulants orally if unable to manipulate for snorting; <5% would try to prepare prescription stimulants to inject.