The problem I have with self-medication (of ADHD meds or any other substance) is not so much that people are doing it - as you said, it’s a rough world out there, and you do what you can to survive and function.

But - “Medical supervision of treatment” is (or should be) not just a couple of empty words. All ADHD meds can have serious side effects and contraindications that you don’t necessarily know about beforehand or notice by yourself. Discovering your un-diagnosed heart disease by taking amphetamines without supervision and getting life-threatening arrhythmia can just feel like “I’m getting a bit dizzy for a time after taking the meds, no need for concern, I’ll just take it easy” (I know, because I have arrhythmia, and wouldn’t know it if I hadn’t had an ECG, as I barely notice it happening). Medical supervision should catch that kind of thing, that’s what it’s for.

You and I don’t know who reads this and what kind of conclusion they will draw, and what kind of risk assessment they do beforehand trying it out themselves. Giving you the benefit of the doubt that you have done your full research, and are aware that there is a chance you might harm or, if particularly unlucky, kill yourself doing this (especially if you cannot verify the purity of your medication, it could be cut with anything), and have weighed that against the benefits of being able to do work and function better in everyday life, I have no problem with you self-medicating or talking about doing that.

But if you don’t transparently communicate these risks, and how you came to your conclusion that this is the only way for you, it looks to others like an easy way to forgo the harder, non-medical, not-as-effective but also not-as-dangerous ways to treat yourself, implying that everyone can and should do it this way.

And I understand why some communities want to curb that from the get-go. Some rules are written in blood.