MEREDITH RODRIGUEZ
Staff Writer
It is dead week. There are two tests and three papers ahead and a semester’s worth of procrastinating behind. Voices charged with 10,000 gallons of pressure blast through the mind— parents, a competitive roommate, and worst of all your own voice— reminding that you have always been everything to everyone. There is no sense in stopping now. It is not enough to hold multiple leadership positions, support yourself financially and maintain a top-notch social life. One must get that A too.
Compounding the situation is the fact that exactly the week before finals, it becomes imperative to check e-mail every 20 minutes “just in case” someone finally sent that life-altering Facebook message.
At this point a miracle is needed. A sudden wish to stop time or get injured just enough to earn an incomplete soon dissipates from the mind as fantastic impossibilities. The next best thing, however, actually exists and has been tried by one in four college students.
These students take finals week as a call to turn to what has come to be known as the miracle pill for overachievers: Adderall. Pop one pill and be at a desk 18 hours straight, without the craving for a two-hour power nap, a tidy kitchen or those midnight snacks. In fact, one might not need an entire night’s sleep, lunch, dinner or anything whatsoever except an insatiable desire to devour biology terminology or write five pages an hour.
Adderall is prescribed to adults with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and is meant for those who have chronically struggled with short attention span, hyperactivity, distractibility and impulsivity. All of those “ivity’s” must be rampant because ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed childhood psychiatric disorder in the United States. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, many bright students who compensated for ADHD as children begin to reveal symptoms when experiencing the heightened demands of college.
Even so, most will argue the drug is over-prescribed and over-used, particularly by college students. That is because many have become adept, some with the help of family members, at researching and faking ADHD symptoms so their doctors will give them the ”edge” they feel is necessary in college. It is no wonder the number of ADHD diagnoses has increased dramatically over the past decade. Those without “supportive” family members often find diagnosed friends to enable them, while others buy pills from peers with ADHD.
The drug, used most commonly at highly selective universities, acts like speed to non-medical users. When snorted, it acts like cocaine.
Some say the occasional use of Adderall is not only harmless but is smart and efficient. Most appealing to Malibu might be the fact that it can cause weight loss, as it is known to suppress appetite— similar to cigarettes.
Like smoking, there are down sides. Aside from the psychological risks, there are legal risks. In many states, possessing Adderall without a prescription is a felony. This makes sense since a student taking a stimulant for an academic edge seems as ethical as an athlete taking steroids for the big game. Legal, ethical and health risks aside, there are other facts to consider before popping our generation’s miracle pill.
According to a study led by the University of Michigan, students who used prescription stimulants like Adderall non-medically are more likely to abuse other substances such as alcohol, marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine and are also more likely to report driving after heavy drinking.
The study also tested grade point averages associated with non-medical use, and here’s the clincher: Students who use Adderall non-medically are not more likely to have higher GPAs. Students with grade point averages of B or lower were two times more likely to use the drug non-medically than those earning a B-plus or higher. So instead of being an edge for the brilliant overachiever, Adderall is more like a desperate flotation device for those drowning in a sea of irresponsible activity.
Once again, the easy way does not pay, and those old standards of integrity and discipline win out over drug use.
In the end, the highest risk students take when using Adderall is not one of health or of getting caught. The risk runs much deeper and holds larger implications. Individually each has a choice to work for or against the self-destructive mechanisms of our generation. In our fast-paced land of privilege and excess, where college students easily fall prey to the dark side of the American dream, it is no wonder that so many in colleges across the United States find themselves teetering on a dubious crutch.
However, the high road here not only means doing less despite outside pressure, it also means expecting more of yourself morally and saying no to the overachievers, or overextended’s drug of choice. It means using college as prime time to build more than resume points and fun times. Here’s a novel idea: College students should use education to build something called character.
04-05-2007