Coffee and willpower are not always enough to help students survive the stresses of school, so many students turn to prescription drugs intended for people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
In many cases, students rely on friends with connections or prescriptions for the illegally received study aids.
Three of the most common “study aids” are Adderall, Dexadrine and Ritalin, said Patrick, a University student who did not want to provide his last name.
According to the Merriam Webster Medical Dictionary, amphetamines such as Adderall are used as a central nervous system stimulant and treat certain conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression and narcolepsy. Amphetamines can be abused illegally as a stimulant.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, dextroamphetamines such as Dexadrine are used as a central nervous system stimulant. Methylphenidates such as Ritalin are chemically related to amphetamines. They act as mild stimulants of the central nervous system and are used especially to treat hyper-kinetic disorders like AD/HD in children.
“I know people who have prescriptions and sell to a lot of people,” said Patrick. “Some of these people don’t even use their prescription – they just sell their medicine to make a profit.”
Patrick said students who sell these prescription drugs do make a profit. The highest price he has paid for Adderall pills was $5 per pill.
The reason for the popularity of these concentration-boosting drugs is that they “make you actually want to study,” Patrick said. He said Adderall helped him study for about 11 hours straight for a test.
Engineering sophomore Heath Hobbs also attests to the effectiveness of prescription drugs, but unlike Patrick, Hobbs has a legal prescription for the amphetamine stimulant Adderall.
Hobbs takes Adderall to counteract Attention Defecit Disorder and AD/HD. He began taking Adderall after a challenging first semester of college last fall, when he had trouble concentrating on his studies. He tested positive for ADD in December.
“My concentration and study skills have increased, which improved my grades,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs is one of many adults, students and children who use prescription drugs to increase concentration and focus.
In 1991, the U.S. Department of Education officially recognized AD/HD as a handicap, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, AD/HD is categorized under three subtypes of behavior: inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive and combined inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive.” A behavior diagnosis evaluates the mannerisms and behaviors of the subject to come to a diagnosis.
According to the 1999 Report of the U.S. Surgeon General on Mental Health Report, 3 to 5 percent of school-age children have AD/HD. In 2003, the numbers increased to between 4 and 6 percent of school-age children and 2 to 4 percent of adults.
“Approximately 5 percent of people have AD/HD. A person is born with the disease and cannot contract it as an adult,” said Dr. Alicia Pellegrin of Baton Rouge’s Assessment and Psychological Services. “There are two types of treatment: medication, such as Adderall or Ritalin, and behavioral therapy to help the person learn to control AD/HD.”
Some experts attribute the large number of diagnoses to some cases of AD/HD and some cases of other learning disabilities, misdiagnosed as AD/HD, which are not sufficiently treated with stimulants.
“Some people who have learning and concentration problems think they have AD/HD, but they may have other learning disabilities,” Pellegrin said.
As a result of misdiagnosis, the patients’ concentration problems are not resolved.
“AD/HD is greatly over-diagnosed. Only 20 percent of people who come in for treatment are wholly affected by AD/HD,” Pellegrin said. “Often they have another learning disability in addition to AD/HD. The only way to determine a learning disability is by an academic evaluation by a qualified psychologist. A medical doctor cannot diagnose a learning disability.”
Pellegrin said another theory about the over-diagnosis of AD/HD is that doctors do not know enough about the disease to diagnose it. Since AD/HD is a familiar diagnosis, doctors determine that patients having trouble concentrating have AD/HD and prescribe them medicine that treats AD/HD.
“AD/HD should be the last diagnosis made, but it is often the first diagnosis made,” Pellegrin said.
Hobbs disagrees with this theory, because his doctor conducted tests to determine the reason for his difficulty in concentrating.
“My doctor gave me 12 to 15 different tests over an eight-hour period,” Hobbs said. “In one test, he read me a story, and I had to tell him the main characters of the story. Thirty minutes later, he would ask me the main characters’ names again without rereading the story.”
Adderall and other prescription drugs are very effective and can be very effective in helping patients with AD/HD concentrate, Pellegrin said.
“The reason that the medication has such a bad rap is because more people take it than need it,” Pellegrin said. “If these people are misdiagnosed with AD/HD when they actually have other learning disabilities, the patient will not benefit from the medication.”
Though there are many positive attributes to these drugs, there are also negative side effects that can make the user suffer.
“I have trouble going to sleep if I take Adderall too late, and it makes me not want to eat. Sometimes I have to force-feed myself,” Hobbs said.
“The only bad thing that’s happened to me is it makes you sweat,” Patrick said. “It’s basically prescription speed.”
According to results from tests run by scientists in the Physiology Department at State University of New York at Buffalo, the possible negative side effects include headaches, high blood pressure, tics, dizziness and impotence.
Some experts pinpoint these drugs as gateways to other drug usage.
“Stimulant-induced over-stimulation, for example, is often treated with addictive or dangerous sedatives, while stimulant-induced depression is often treated with dangerous, unapproved antidepressants,” said Dr. Peter Breggin, former Director of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology.
Doctors and pharmacists are working together to stop misuse of these drugs, which can be harmful if recklessly used.
Breggin testified to the U. S. House of Representatives in 2000 that short-term clinical doses of amphetamines produce brain cell death. Studies of methylphenidate show long-lasting and sometimes permanent changes in the biochemistry of the brain.
Breggin also claimed that these drugs stunt growth and endanger the cardiovascular system.
“America’s children are being exposed to a ‘prescription epidemic’ of dangerous, addictive stimulant drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall,” Breggin said. “Ritalin does not correct biochemical imbalances; it causes them. There is some evidence that it can cause permanent damage to the child’s brain and its function.”
According to an article in The Hampton Union, undercover police agents have caught students selling the drugs and arrested them for possession of a controlled drug. These felonies carry a possible jail sentence of 7 and a half to 15 years in prison and a $4,000 fine.
“Adderall has the potential to be very addictive,” said David Lawrence, Pharm D-Rph. “To prevent abuse, laws now require that you must have a prescription to receive Adderall, and you cannot refill the prescription without a doctor’s consent.”
Although AD/HD’s controversial treatment raises questions and lawsuits, the disease’s prevalence in both schools and the workforce has compelled the public to accept these drugs as effective, though risky, means of treatment.