Adderall

[palmspringsbum]

College students focus on pills to make the grade

Brittany Kunza
Daily Titan Staff Writer
Published: Monday, March 16, 2009


Not a sense of euphoria, pleasure or hallucination, but possible loss of appetite, enhanced focus, sleep loss, anxiety and chance of death outline the Adderall experience.

Pressured to succeed and surpass competition, some college students are turning to the often illegally obtained prescription drug Adderall to gain a questionable edge in their academic performance.

Adderall is a central nervous system stimulant (amphetamine) typically prescribed to treat those of age six years and up suffering from Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"If given to a normal person, they become hyperactive. If given to kids with this condition it actually has a reverse effect," according to Mahindokht Jafari, Pediatrics Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine at Kaiser Permanente in San Dimas.

The sense of extreme focus over an extended period of time is the "high" that some college students turn to Adderall to experience.

"This is a study drug, essentially. People who are lazy, people who do not want to do their homework, you know, or who don't care about school, they don't even want to mess with Adderall, it is not going to give you that much of a positive high or make everything pleasurable. People who are taking it are wanting to get their stuff done, they are stressing about it," Jay Spall, 23-year-old UCSD Graduate, said.

In Spall's bout with prescribed Adderall to treat his diagnosed ADHD, the drug did not lead to the relief he was looking for.

"The anxiety, I just couldn't turn it off," Spall said, "I hated it, I wasn't myself. I was always anxious, always worrying about shit."

But, response is not always increased anxiety. A 23-year-old CSUF student who wishes to remain anonymous, was diagnosed with ADD at 18 and has benefited from the drug.

"You feel organized," he said, mentioning his ability to sit down, make a task list and work through it without getting side tracked.

Even those treated with Adderall legally and under a physicians supervision do not always have a predictable response to the drug.

Self-medicating college students seeking out Adderall as a new age No-Doze (caffeine pill) to cram for exams, face the risk of plummeting into addiction, adverse side effects and even death.

"Adderall is one of many gateway drugs and it is similar to marijuana because of tolerance and efficiency," Morgan Richardson, Intake Counselor for the South Coast Rehabilitation Center, said. "Anxiety and depression can be two bi-products of getting off of Adderall."

Students may take this unassuming pill as a study aid and reap greater consequences than they expected.

From Spall's point of reference, Adderall causes a very psychological withdrawal due to the positive effects the drug can have on some students ability to focus and study.

It is "less social and more of a chemical addiction," Richardson said, "Most who are addicted to Adderall are addicted to multiple drugs; Oxcycotton, Vicodin, Opana (Oxymorphone), a new synthetic opiate (painkiller for surgery), all opiates, Norcos, Xanax, methadone, heroin ... primary ones. All kinds."

Some might argue with doctors rationale behind putting children on this drug, being aware of the possibility of addiction, but in some cases, the drug may actually prevent addiction.

"If you don't feed ADHD with the right dosage and medication, [those suffering with ADHD] tend to self medicate," Jafari said. "ADD and ADHD kids have more tendency to use drugs. Using the right medication is better than them self-medicating."

On the other hand, those trying to self-diagnose ADD or ADHD and obtaining prescription Adderall illegally may not be adequately informed and in danger. While ADD and ADHD are common amongst children and adolescents, the population that actually requires the drug to treat the disorder may not reflect such a magnitude.

"About one in every 10 kids really have ADD or ADHD," Jafari said. "A PET scan of kid's brains found brain activity in the frontal lobe,which is different in these kids and adults than normal," referring to those without ADD or ADHD.

The PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan is a form of nuclear imaging that is used in medical settings to measure things such as blood flow, oxygen use and sugar metabolism to assess the functions of specific tissues and organs, according to radiologyinfo.org.

But of this population who can be clinically diagnosed with either disorder (ADD or ADHD), Jafari and Richardson do not feel that they all would require medication. There are different methods of treatment that would be sufficient for the less severe cases.

Self-diagnosing could lead to the use of more drugs, as Richardson witnesses at the South Coast Rehabilitation Center, or to other physical or physiological side effects.

"It could be habit forming if they don't really need it," Jafari said. "They could have some headaches, decreased appetite, blurry vision, irritability, motor ticks, and/or jitteriness. If taken at a high dosage, they might have increased blood pressure and if they have an underlying cardiac (heart) condition, it [Adderall] could cause death."

Of those attempting to self-medicate/diagnose, some are not treating a medical disorder but are instead attempting to treat effects of other drugs.

"As one of the top five holistic treatment centers in the country, we treat 60 people every 30 days of which 20 percent claim ADD and ADHD," Richardson said.

This statistic also includes people who have already been addicted to other drugs and are displaying manipulative, drug seeking behaviors.

Of the clientele at South Coast Rehabilitation Center, many older people are showing up with an Adderall addiction.

"Why a lot of people get addicted into their late 20's is due to a chemical imbalance that occurs due to addictions to other drugs first. They can't stop opiates, can't sleep, are irritable, racing thoughts, so they think they have ADHD- and take amphetamines such as Adderall," Richardson said.

Those who are in college and abusing Adderall, may come from a surprising niche.

"They tend to come from upper class or upper middle class families that have a history of university level education, like mom and dad are college grads. Usually they have had an older sibling who is getting ready to graduate or already graduated from college. Usually they are the youngest in the family. These are true for probably 30 percent of the clients," Richardson said.

In other words these are generally students who care about their grades and are wanting the drug to help them to succeed in school.

"It was just to study," a CSUF biochemistry senior who wishes to remain anonymous, said. "I got it from a friend – a graduate student for $4 per pill. I took a quarter of a pill at a time. I felt like I was on ecstasy without the MDMA (ecstasy). I was really enveloped in my senses."

The relatively inexpensive price and availability of the drug only adds to its abuse among college students.

"If you are not focused on something the day you take (Adderall) you will not have a good day. Literally, I absorbed about two-and-a-half hours worth of information in about 30 minutes," an anonymous CSUF senior who used the drug to succeed on his anatomy practical, said.

The effectiveness of the drug, for many, with generally minimal side effects only continues to add to its abuse among college students.

But, the morality behind it, most can argue, is upsetting.