By
Justin Ecung
Staying up late to prepare for final exams or to complete final projects is a difficult task for most college students. Consequently, many students look to coffee or energy drinks to help them stay awake and alert. However, rapidly growing numbers of college students are being prescribed Adderall, a drug normally used by individuals with attention deficit disorder. Students claim that the drug helps them remain focused while studying late at night. Unfortunately, many students have formed a dependency upon the drug and abuse it.
Adderall is a central nervous system stimulant; meaning it affects chemicals in the brain and nerves to contribute to hyperactivity and impulse control. By reducing the various urges a student may have while studying, the drug allows them to remain focused on the task at hand. Furthermore, those who chose to take the drug have the potential of forming a dependency upon the stimulant.
Nevertheless, some students feel that the many benefits of Adderall outweigh the potential risk.
April, a sophomore at Utah State University, has had an Adderall prescription for the past two years. April claims that although she doesn’t use her prescription often, she can notice significant differences when studying without it.
“When I’m on Adderall and I’m looking over some notes from class or reading a book, I don’t think about anything else but what I’m studying,” April said. “I forget about everything around me and my surroundings. But the times I decide not to take a pill I definitely notice all of the time I waste: people watching or doing whatever. It gives you the boost of energy needed to study when you don’t want to.”
It’s no secret that Adderall works for college students. April herself is on the honor roll at USU and plans to graduate with honors in two years.
Due to it’s effectiveness, the drug has quickly become known as a “Smart Drug” that provides students with the ability to study for absurd amounts of time.
Nonetheless, more students are taking Adderall to improve their grades.
A 2007 survey conducted at 119 colleges and universities across the nation found that up to 25 percent of students enrolled at very competitive schools had used the drug to study.
The federal government’s National Survey on Drug use and Health, for 2008, discovered that only 6.4 percent of college students had used the drug in the past year. However, college students ages 18 - 22 were twice as likely to abuse Adderall than individuals who weren’t students from the same age group.
Anthony Park, a drug abuse counselor at the Bear River Health Department in Logan, Utah, believes that Adderall is quite possibly one of the easiest drugs for college students to become addicted to.
“It’s a highly addictive substance and when you play with addictive substances, you ultimately get burned,” Park said. “For all intents and purposes, Adderall is speed. You’re putting something into your body that’s going to make you think you’re fine when you’re not. And the next thing you know, you’ll be spinning out of control.”
That’s precisely what happened to Bryan, a former student at Boise State University.
Bryan, was a sophomore at BSU, and regularly used Adderall to aide in his studies. After a few weeks of taking the drug, he soon became dependent upon it to complete his homework.
“You become dependent on it, because you’ll use it one night to study for a test like I did and the next thing you know, you’re using it every night to study for a test,” Bryan said.
Bryan suffered from panic attacks, mood swings, insomnia and depression. Consequently, it was too much for him to deal with and his grades plummeted.
“It just snuck up on me,” Bryan said. “I went from being on an academic scholarship at a great school to being on academic probation within six months, to being asked to withdraw from the university.”
Bryan is currently recovering from his Adderall use, and plans to attend USU in the summer of 2012.
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