Around this time of year, for me at least, coursework becomes near unbearable. Many times it
feels like all of our professors expect us to dedicate ourselves entirely to one project or one essay. We are expected to somehow turn out a huge amount of high-quality work that will determine our grade in a class, and consequently our GPA. It feels impossible to get everything done and even harder to do work that meets our own high-standards.
Its no surprise then that a large amount of students take unprescribed ADHD or ADD drugs in order to
give themselves a boost. Though ADHD drugs help a lot of people live fuller and more productive lives, these medications are also being misused a lot on college campuses by overworked and overstressed students. I am not going to lecture everyone about whether they should or should not take unprescribed ADHD or ADD drugs. In fact, I think soon colleges, professors and the general populace need to start asking serious questions about how we all contribute to an academic environment where many students feel constantly overwhelmed, are chronically sleep deprived, and are more often than not stressed. We live in a society where immediate results are constantly prioritized over personal health and well-being and for better or for worse, this is probably not going to change anytime soon. And I think it is important to remember that pharmacological "cognitive enhancement" is not so much the result of personal weakness or moral bankruptcy, but a natural development of the current college atmosphere. According to DeSantis, Webb and Noar (2008), the the vast majority of students using ADHD medications without prescriptions, are not doing it to cheat or gain an unfair advantage, but to help them learn their material and complete assignments.
So even though I understand and empathize with the use of unprescribed ADD and ADHD drugs for
"cognitive enhancement", I also believe that the somewhat common use of unprescribed ADD and ADHD drugs presents some interesting problems that people should be informed about. When I did research on these medications one of the most troubling conclusions I came to is that most first-time
users of these drugs actually have relatively little information about the
drugs they are taking. And this is my main goal for this post: to inform people about these drugs, so they can make their own informed decisions about these drugs and not simply use them because someone on our dorm floor uses them whenever they feel overwhelmed.
Its no surprise then that a large amount of students take unprescribed ADHD or ADD drugs in order to
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| Reasons for Illegal Use of ADHD Medication (N=585) (DeSantis, Webb and Noar, 2008) |
So even though I understand and empathize with the use of unprescribed ADD and ADHD drugs for
Many people are aware that drugs like Adderall and Ridolin
could potentially help them work more quickly (almost manically) and possibly
make them more efficient, but they do not know what chemicals these drugs
actually contain. The major component of drugs like Adderall,
Dexedrine and Vyvanse are amphetamines. This chemical compound is also found in
meth, ecstasy and MDMA. Aderall, Dexedrine and many other ADHD drugs are
actually in the same class of psychoactive drugs as these illegal drugs and
they affect our brain chemistry in fundamentally the same way. So if you are not comfortable taking meth, ecstasy or MDMA for recreational purposes, you should probably not even consider using ADHD medications which are chemically very similar to those recreational drugs.
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Rational scale to assess the harm of drugs (Nut, King, Saulsbary,
Blakemore 2007). Drugs charted by there ability to physically
harm to users on the x-axis and their potential for physical
dependence on the y-axis Many ADHD drugs are amphetamines,
which is an orange sphere on the graph. Many other
ADHD drugs, including Ritalin, are methylphenidates,
which is also displayed on this graph as a yellow sphere in the
middle.
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I think is is also important to remember that the DEA classifies many
ADHD medications like Adderall, Dexedrine and Ritalin as Schedule II. This
classification means that these drugs have a very high potential for abuse and
a very high risk for severe psychological and physiological dependence. Other
Schedule II drugs include cocaine, morphine, PCP, barbiturates,
methamphetamines, opium and OxyContin. Whether or not you use ADHD
drugs for academic or recreational purposes, the potential for dependency and mental or physical harm is still the same.
It is important to understand the misuse of ADHD medications can have life threatening consequences. These drugs are powerful and have powerful effects on our bodies and our brains. In 2010, approximately 31,000 people visited emergency rooms across the nation for reasons related to the use of ADHD medications, and 63% of these visits were because an ADHD medication negatively interacted with another prescription drug in the patient's system. It goes without saying, but the reason ADHD drugs require prescriptions is because even though they can improve many people's quality of life, their misuse is potentially dangerous. These drugs are powerful and have powerful effects on our bodies and our brains. ADHD medications when taken by people without ADHD produce the desired manic burst of energy that many people desire, but like many powerful medications can affect your body and brain chemistry in potent, but unpredictable ways.
It is important to understand the misuse of ADHD medications can have life threatening consequences. These drugs are powerful and have powerful effects on our bodies and our brains. In 2010, approximately 31,000 people visited emergency rooms across the nation for reasons related to the use of ADHD medications, and 63% of these visits were because an ADHD medication negatively interacted with another prescription drug in the patient's system. It goes without saying, but the reason ADHD drugs require prescriptions is because even though they can improve many people's quality of life, their misuse is potentially dangerous. These drugs are powerful and have powerful effects on our bodies and our brains. ADHD medications when taken by people without ADHD produce the desired manic burst of energy that many people desire, but like many powerful medications can affect your body and brain chemistry in potent, but unpredictable ways.
Some Short-Term Side Effects of ADHD stimulants:
Decreased Appetite Irritability Hallucinations Seizures
Sleep Problems Tics Suicidal Thoughts Heart Palpitations
Anxiety Mania Cardiovascular Arrest Elevation in Blood Pressure
If you want to do some additional research on the use of ADHD drugs on college campus, here are some of my sources that my prove to be a helpful start:
Illicit Use of Prescription ADHD Medications on a College Campus: A Multimethodological Approach
Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy
Emergency Department Visits Involving Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Stimulant Medications
NIMH: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Adderall: The Most Abused Prescription Drug in America.
