I'm a psychopharmacology student with bipolar and comorbid ADD. I take, among other things, Concerta. Concerta is very similar to Ritalin SR; they are both time-release methylphenidate. My pharmacy required three forms of ID to fill my prescriptions, and my doctor is sure to write "DAW" or "dispense as written" on my prescriptions. They still treat me like a meth head half the time, but perhaps that would be a start? I imagine pharmacists who don't specialize in psychopharmacology would NOT realize that there is a difference in the therapeutic level of Ritalin for ADD vs. narcolepsy; most pharm students certainly don't know.

I can't comprehend why the pharmacist would want to give you regular Ritalin instead of the SR; if she was concerned about abuse, um...the regular one is WAY easier to parachute/snort/etc than the time release one. Duh.