Prescription drugs used as study aids
The Daily
By Tom Christiansen
January 19, 2005

Prescription drugs -- some use them to alleviate illness, while others use them to enhance academic performance, even though they don't have a prescription.

The increase in people diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) within the past several years has led to a spike in the illegal use of prescription drugs because they are more often prescribed and more readily available, said Christina Chavez, a Hall Health psychiatrist.

Many ADD medications, including Ritalin, Adderall and Strattera, are classified as stimulants. While they may calm and focus patients diagnosed with ADD, people without ADD are "sped up" so they can stay awake longer and maintain longer periods of concentration than otherwise, said Chavez. Ritalin and Adderall -- not to mention street quality speed -- are the most common "study" drugs used by students, she added.

"I think [the number of students prescribed ADD drugs] has really increased over the past two or three years," said Chavez. "It's gotten a lot of press and I think kids realize they help. It's like speed -- it wakes you up, it makes you more alert, it heightens your focus."

"Study" drugs are used by students as a last resort when other forms of study aids fail, said Abu Yerra, a senior majoring in economics, who said he once used such drugs. Yerra and Jane, a junior who preferred that her real name not be used, said the drugs helped them stay alert when they were behind in their class work or facing a series of intensive exams.

"There are people who think [Adderall] is a tool that they're using; that it isn't a drug," Jane said.

The large quantity of ADD medications available and the media attention they have received over the past several years is partly to blame for causing students to think using study drugs will help them get ahead in their classes, said Chavez.

"I don't know why there's been an increase of students who want to use [ADD drugs] except that it's gotten a lot of press," she said. "Also that maybe students feel more pressure at school to perform higher and that they're not satisfied with Bs. ... I do get the sense that's what's driving a lot of students."

Because ADD medications have become more commonly prescribed, students think anyone can take them, said Chavez.

Possessing a controlled substance -- including ADD medications -- without a prescription is illegal. Anyone caught in possession of ADD drugs would face penalties similar to having been caught with a small quantity of illegal street drugs.

Regardless of the legality, neither Yerra nor Jane had heard of any student being arrested for taking Adderall or similar study drugs without a prescription. Chavez said that while she has caught two patients getting Ritalin from multiple providers, they have been the only cases of abuse she has encountered in her 10 years at Hall Health. Chavez added that Adderall's main ingredient, dextroamphetamine, can become an inhibitor to studying the more it is taken.

"After a while you would need [Adderall] to concentrate. ... It's like people on speed; they get really thin and they don't look good. They don't sleep very well because dextroamphetamine is speed. ... the brand name for that is Adderall," Chavez said. "Physiologically we know it can cause high blood pressure and that can lead to heart problems or aneurisms and so it's not without its problems."

When Jane and Yerra used Adderall, it was to catch up after being ill, after bouts of procrastination or when multiple exams would occur one after another, they said.

"It was obviously my problem because I wasn't able to get stuff done when I should have gotten it done, and then I got more and more stressed out and I started to procrastinate," Jane said.

Yerra said that while he used Adderall on several occasions when he was unable to learn all the information he needed to in a short time, he still knows people who use it before every exam.

Although Yerra and Jane said their experiences with Adderall were useful in the short term, both intend to budget their time and pace themselves instead of relying on a drug.

"I think if you're stressed out and you're comfortable with drugs it's not a big deal to use [Adderall]," Jane said. "While it's not a big deal it's also not anything to make into a habit."