system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why are stimulants like adderall only therapeutic to people with ADHD, and not recommended for normal people improve performance?

It seems confusing that these drugs are meant to be taken everyday despite tolerance and addiction risks. From a performance perspective, wouldn't one be more interested in spacing out dosage to reset tolerance? Even with stimulants like caffeine, do you get the most bang for your buck by taking it every day in low dosage, or by spacing them out some amount?
gpt
They’re not prescribed for performance reasons because of the risk of addiction (and other negative health effects). Those downsides are only considered “worthwhile” if there’s a significant problem that they would solve. This is the whole point of *prescribing* certain medicines rather than making them freely available, and stimulants aren’t the only example of medicines restricted in this way. 

The benefits may also be smaller for people without ADHD. Stimulants improve focus and energy, and are used illegally to improve performance (especially with academics). But if a person is *able* to focus on a task consistently/long-term without the drugs, the possible improvement is smaller than somebody who can’t do that at all. 

With ADHD, consistent use is part of a treatment plan that intends to develop good *habits* as well as methods like organization to support better productivity, focus etc.

Without the need to address those issues or maintain structure/consistency as part of the treatment plan, consistent use may have more downsides (tolerance etc) and occasional use would be better.