When classes got too hard, she felt she
needed a way to keep up with everyone else in her highly competitive major. Her grades weren’t cutting it, and Adderall, a stimulant prescription drug, seemed to be the easiest way to concentrate and get more out of her studying.
But it wasn’t an easy a decision. The 18-year-old freshman has a heart problem that Adderall, a drug designed to control Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, could worsen.
Yet the gamble is worth it for a higher GPA, she said.
“It’s a type of meth, speed pretty much,” she said. “I have heart problems, so it’s a bad thing for me, but it’s selfish. You want your good grades at any cost, and my grades have improved a lot since taking Adderall.”
Before coming to the University this fall, she had never heard of Adderall.
But it soon became a constant topic of conversation; it seemed like everyone was using it to study.
“I heard people talking about it in my classes, saying it was the drug of choice and that it’s a drug that can help you concentrate,” she said. “So I decided to try it.”
She knew of many people using the drug without a prescription, but it was harder to obtain than she thought. Everyone was using the drug, but no one would say where they got it or share their own.
“I had to ask around,” she said. “Everyone had taken it before, but no one actually had it, and the people that did have it weren’t wanting to give it out.”
She kept asking and discovered someone with a prescription for Adderall who was willing to give her some pills. She got the pills for free but said they usually sell for around $2 per pill.
“I know why people don’t give them out,” she said. “You have it and know you are going to need it later to study. It really does make your grades better, so you don’t give it away. I would pay up to $10 for a pill if I needed to.”
Despite the popularity of the pill, she was nervous about using it for the first time. She never had used drugs before and had some misgivings about Adderall.
“I’m really outgoing and very talkative,” she said. “I was really hoping that it didn’t make me go crazy and get all hyper.”
She tried it and was pleasantly surprised, she said. She had no problems concentrating on her homework and was able to study for hours after taking one pill. Her focus remained on her books, and things that used to distract her, such as people coming and going, didn’t attract her attention.
“It directed my focus to my books,” she said. “When I started reading, that’s what I focused on, and when I started a problem, all I focused on was that problem and nothing else. Nothing could divert my attention.”
She takes one 5 milligram pill, which works for eight hours. She said she drinks a lot of water to keep the pill working, whereas many people she knows take more pills or a higher dosage.
“I only take 5 milligrams; a lot of people I know take 20 or more,” she said. “I can’t even imagine what that would do.”
Many people abusing Adderall become addicted. Side effects include a faster heart rate, high blood pressure and increased risk of stroke.
While effects to her heart don’t worry her, she said, she does worry about becoming addicted, something she has seen in many people who use it. She only uses the drug during midterms, finals and when she has an important test. “I know a lot of people who are addicted to it and can’t study at all without Adderall,” she said. “It’s definitely not for everyday homework because
it is so addictive. There is no way I would take it any other time besides midterms and finals.”
A prescription for pills
Freshman Elizabeth Wallace said she has been using Adderall to control her Attention Deficit Disorder for four years. She was diagnosed with ADD when she was young and was prescribed Ritalin, which she took through middle school.
She didn’t take medication for ADD again until her junior year of high school, when she was having trouble focusing and her grades began to drop. Then she started taking Adderall.
“It removes distractions,” Wallace said. “It makes me able to function. Without it I would focus on outside conversations, which makes it really hard to pay attention in lecture classes.”
With the abundance of Adderall sales on campus, Wallace said many people who know she has a prescription assume she doesn’t need it and will sell it.
“I actually need mine,” Wallace said. “People take it and assume I don’t. I don’t get the same results as them. I need it to get normal grades.”
Wallace currently takes a 25 milligram pill before her classes. She takes one in the morning and one in the afternoon and says each pill lasts four to five hours. She only takes the pill when she knows she will need it, and on weekends, she said she tries to take just one pill on Saturday to get her studying done in one session so she doesn’t have to take the medication on Sunday.
Wallace said she is constantly being asked to sell her Adderall, especially during midterms and finals.
“It’s really hard to say ‘no’ to some people,” Wallace said. “It’s very, very illegal to sell, so I don’t do it. Most people respect it, but during finals week I had to lock my bottle up.”
She said she feels bad for people who come to her saying they have reading to do, but she still refuses to sell the drug.
“I can sell it for a lot. I have had people come up to me and offer $20 for four or five pills,” Wallace said. “It’s tempting for a poor college kid.”
She is thankful she has a roommate whom she trusts, but on short trips she has had pills “go missing,” even though everyone with her was a close friend.
As far as she can tell, people who are selling the pills are people with a prescription who need it or who were tested at a young age and don’t need the medication anymore.
“It goes in phases, or you can outgrow it,” Wallace said.
Wallace fills her prescription at the University Health Center pharmacy once per month. Her prescription is for 60 pills per month, which is monitored closely.
“It’s a Class 2, so every time the pharmacy fills it they have to speak to a doctor,” Wallace said. “One time I lost my suitcase and had to explain to the doctor. He gave me a prescription for
exactly one week. They monitor pretty closely.”
Wallace said she uses the pills as sparingly as possible for school work and usually doesn’t take the pills during the summer.
“I don’t know if I like the medication,” Wallace said. “I feel like I’m not really me. On the medication I’m different. It’s meant to stifle hyperactivity, but sometimes I want to be hyper and giddy.”
Controlling the drug
Jerome Vergamini is a consulting psychiatrist at the University. He said he sees more than 10 students each day at the health center, and up to half of those students have appointments related to ADD and ADHD. He frequently prescribes Adderall as a treatment to help students with ADD and ADHD to concentrate in classes and while studying.
Adderall is a stimulant Class 2 narcotic drug that, when used by those with ADD and ADHD, helps to put up “filters.” Vergamini described the conditions of ADD and ADHD as a disorder of distractibility and said that for students with ADD and ADHD, distractions such as noise in large lecture classes or people walking in and out of the library can make it nearly impossible to focus on the task at hand.
“They have difficulty focusing, staying on task, taking good notes,” Vergamini said. “The medications put up filters that are needed.”
Although Adderall is a stimulant, it slows down and focuses people with the chemical imbalances that cause ADD and ADHD. People without ADD and ADHD who illegally use Adderall h
ave a different experience. The drug keeps them awake and suppresses their appetites, among other more serious side effects.
“The problem is that with people who don’t need it and think they are studying well, it is probably less hel
pful than they realize,” Vergamini said.
Those without ADD and ADHD can quickly develop a tolerance for the medication, needing progressively larger doses for the same results.
“It is a way to get high,” Vergamini said. “Some who abuse it crush it and snort it or put it in any orifice.”
Vergamini said testing for ADD and ADHD has become more stringent as the pill has grown in popularity as a study aid. Vergamini said it is “absolutely possible” for people to fake ADD to try to get a
prescription, but the school has developed criteria to prevent those people from getting the pills.
“When we suspect a student is faking we send them for a TOVA (Test of Variables of Attention), which they probably couldn’t fake,” Vergamini said.
If a student has already been tested and diagnosed for ADD or ADHD, he or she can fill a prescription at the health center pharmacy with a written doctor prescription.
Prescriptions are most often given for one month at a time. Vergamini said he hears what he calls “pirate stories,” or stories about pills getting stolen or lost, but he isn’t swayed.
“If you tell me you lost or spilled your pills, I tell you that you will just have to wait ’til next month.”
Editor’s note: This story is paired with Prescription: concentration by Emily Smith (May 2, 2005).
