The Magic Pill
Attention hyperactivity deficit disorder, other wise known as ADD, has long been considered one of the most socially debilitating disorders. Those who have this disorder have difficulty focusing, controlling their actions, remaining quiet or sitting still for extended periods of times. To mitigate these effects, Doctors commonly prescribe patients diagnosed with ADD the drug Adderall. This drug, chemically derived from amphetamines (psycho-stimulants), works by increasing alertness, sharpening focus and prolonging the need for sleep. Although Adderall earnestly provides some relief to individuals suffering from ADD, it has increasingly been misused by healthy, college age, individuals desiring a cognitive boost. When taken by presumably healthy individuals, Adderall provides its users an unparalleled amount of attention that allows them to focus for previously unimaginable hours on end. Adderall certainly does augment studying or working capabilities, however; only a few people get to “enjoy” the benefits of this temporary cognitive enhancement (“Adderall”).
This type of cognitive enhancement unequivocally provides students in high stress environments an edge over their competitors, who presumably do not have access to Adderall or a similar psycho-stimulant. Unfortunately, the college campus increasingly exemplifies one such high stress environment. The high stress environment in college primarily results from two factors – the cutthroat grading nature of many classes that only allow a finite number (20% roughly) of students to obtain an A and external pressures on students to obtain the highest GPA possible. The result-oriented nature of many colleges induces a Machiavellian, “ ends justify the means”, mentality among many students. While most students try to achieve desirable grades through hard work, some choose to go a step farther. Through the use of drugs such as Adderall, college students enable themselves to study and focus on a super human scale. This artificial cognitive enhancement not only violates federal law and endangers the welfare of students but it also constitutes a moral failure by breaching the academic honor code (otherwise known as cheating). Therefore, in the interest of student welfare and in accordance to high moral standards, universities across the United States need to explicitly state un-prescribed Adderall use as a violation of school rules. Those that concur with this view include, Danielle Bronner, a reporter for the Huffington post, Jacob Andrews, a reporter for the NY Times, and Laura Hoxworth, a columnist for Her Campus.
Beyond violating school rules, consumption of Adderall, without a doctor’s prescription, constitutes a breach of the law. To obtain Adderall by legal means, one must go through a “thorough” psychological evaluation by a trained professional. However, even these supposedly “thorough” evaluations can be biased. In the candid words of Dr. Howard Cohn, a psychologist from Albany, New York,
Sometimes its really hard to accurately gauge whether a patient truly has a need for Ritalin [ another type of pysco-stimulant] or Adderall. I still believe that most patients that ask for the drug are in genuine need of it however some patients, who I believe are psychologically healthy, ask for it anyways… From a psychologists view it can be difficult to say no to a demanding patient, for financial or other reasons… (J)
While individuals earnestly diagnosed with ADHD have a genuine need for Adderall, they, in some instances, resell their prescription drugs to healthy individuals for a profit, around five dollars a gram. These transactions, akin to selling drugs on the street and punishable by the law, allow students to obtain Adderall. However, the federal drug enforcement agency classifies Adderall as a schedule II controlled substance (the same legal category as cocaine or heroin) which means that the minimum sentence for first time possession of between 5 and 49 grams of Adderall (without a prescription) is five years in prison (Hoxworth). If our society heavily punishes un-prescribed Adderall use, why don’t our colleges? Therefore, it makes just as much sense for all universities to explicitly ban un-prescribed student Adderall use as a violation of school rules as it does for universities to explicitly ban underage drinking or drug dealing – other serious violations of the law.
Consumption and distribution of Adderall is a serious violation of the law because of Adderalls medically detrimental nature. Adderall, although FDA approved, has been known to cause some “minor” side effects including but not limited to aggression, vomiting, headaches, dizziness, insomnia, nervousness, restlessness and dry mouth and many very serious side effects including but not limited to:
Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); blurred vision; change in sexual ability or desire; chest pain; confusion; depression; fast or irregular heartbeat; fever; growth suppression; mental/mood changes; numbness or tingling in an arm or leg; one-sided weakness; painful or frequent urination; seizures; severe headache; severe stomach pain; severe weight loss; sudden severe dizziness, fainting, or vomiting; uncontrolled muscle movement; unusual weakness or tiredness; vision or speech changes. (“Adderall Side Effects”)
Many students, lacking the guidance of a physician and seeing that their peers liberally use Adderall, neglect to realize that Adderall comes with a whole host of “minor” and major side effects. Even those students that realize the dangers of Adderall choose to consume it anyways for the ephemeral benefits of a higher grade. To further compound this problem, most students take excessive doses of Adderall – due to a lack of pharmaceutical expertise. To highlight the danger of excessive Adderall use consider this – a dose as small as 2 milligrams, when taken by an individual with underlying cardiovascular or health problems, can be enough to induce the gravest of side effects. Unfortunately, this happened in 2008 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A female-senior over dosed on Adderall while studying for her final exams. She not only suffered seizures, that required her to take a trip to the local hospital, but also had difficulty sleeping days after the incident. (Hoxworth) While her incident highlights the dangers of over dosing on Adderall, the greatest risk that Adderall poses is that of addiction. Adderall’s addictive properties, a reason why Adderall shares the Schedule II controlled substance category with heroin and cocaine, have the ability to destroy an individual’s capacity for creativity, empathy and diligence. (“Adderall Side Effects”) In light of Adderall’s medically insidious nature and in the interest of student welfare, Universities must explicitly list un-prescribed Adderall use as a violation of school rules. While this ban may not prevent all students from taking the risks of un-prescribed Adderall use, it certainly will dissuade most from doing so.
Colleges must dissuade students from consuming un-prescribed Adderall because un-prescribed Adderall constitutes academic cheating. Cheating, in any form, plagues college campuses all over the United States, however, use of Adderall takes cheating to a new level. Adderall provides an un-paralleled cognitive boost that allows a student an immense edge on the academic playing field by allowing them diligently study for hours on end without fatigue. Unfortunately, one does not have to go to far to find an example of this type of Adderall misuse. Columbia University, known for its immensely competitive academic environment, serves as one example of Adderall misuse. Angela, a junior at Columbia in 2005, talked candidly about her Adderall use to achieve higher grades with NY times reporter Andrew Jacobs, “This week is killing me and I could use a little help… I don’t think I could keep a 3.9 average without this stuff [Adderall]”. The NY times later learned that after its conversation with Angela, she studied through the night for her humanities final and received an A on it. John, an economics major at Columbia in 2005, corroborated Angela’s observations about Adderall. Before coming to Columbia, John believed that to succeed one had to simply be diligent and honest, however after arriving at Columbia his opinion changed. "The environment here is incredibly competitive, If you don't take them [Adderall], you'll be at a disadvantage to everyone else." Angela and John unfortunately were not anomalies. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services, Adderall use more than doubled in a ten-year span from 1992 to 2002 on college campus across the country. This statistic bears bad news for those who choose to abstain from Adderall use (Jacobs). In fairness to such people who don’t take Adderall, Columbia University and other colleges must explicitly ban the use of un-prescribed Adderall.
Unlike Columbia University, Wesleyan University provides a unique example of a campus, plagued by prevalent un-prescribed Adderall use, that has take some action against it. Many have described Wesleyan students as “overachievers” – students that engage in myriad activities at once. In order to sustain a level of excellence in all their respective activities at once, some students turn to Adderall or other pysco-stimulants. In one class nearly half the students admitted to using Adderall or another study aid during a 24 hour take home final. In the words of senior Bradley Spahn, a high-ranking Student Assembly member, “Study drugs are commonly used [at Wesleyan University], particularly in the most academically intensive majors… I know how serious the problem [Adderall] is, and how unfair the advantages it offers are.” Demetria Spinard, a Wesleyan Senior, and Calvin Goetz, a Wesleyan junior, further corroborate Spahns observations by dually noting that many people use Adderall around campus. Furthermore, a 2009 graduate of Wesleyan University admitted to using Adderall during “three out of eight final [exam] weeks” and that he “knew a lot of people” who frequently used Adderall as well. (Grasgreen) In response to the wide spread academically unethical Adderall use, Wesleyan University, at the beginning of this past year, decided to explicitly list un-prescribed Adderall use as a violation of the academic honor code or as cheating. (Bronner)
While places like Columbia University and Wesleyan may be geographically far away, the issue of study aid drugs actually hits home here at the University of Maryland. Before coming to UMD, almost all incoming students expected to continue achieving at the same pre-collegiate level of academic, athletic or extracurricular success. Many planned to take advantage of all UMD has to offer through its plethora of student clubs and organizations while still maintaining straight A’s. However reality soon brought these idealistic notions to the ground. The immensely competitive academic nature here at UMD, stemming from classes only offer a limited number of A’s, quickly drove home the point to many incoming students that success here would be significantly harder than in high school. While most students took this in stride and chose to work as hard as they could for their grades, some turned to Adderall to get an added advantage. I personally know of at least five or six people who choose to use study aid drugs on a frequent basis. When I asked them if taking Adderall really does help, they all adamantly responded yes. For one of them, Adderall allowed him to re-read nearly the entire calculus textbook the night before a midterm, forgo sleep and still score in the A range. For another, it allowed her to write a seven-page paper, study for an economics test and complete a physics problem set all in one night while still being mentally alert and functioning in the morning. This type of mental edge unequivocally puts students who don’t use psycho-stimulants at a loss. I personally feel disadvantaged on the academic playing field. No matter how hard I tried, I simply could not stay up all night reading a textbook or studying for a test and still be functioning in the morning. While I concede that I lack factual data, of the people I’ve talked to that don’t use Adderall, both at UMD and elsewhere, almost all of them agreed that the use of Adderall constitutes academic cheating. Therefore UMD must take the step of explicitly listing Adderall as a violation of school rules in order to assure equity for those who try to achieve success without the aid of study drugs.
While many agree with my perspective, that un-prescribed Adderall use must be explicitly banned by colleges, some think otherwise. Some individuals contend that Adderall, a stimulant, is no different from coffee, shots of expresso or energy drinks. They further argue that Adderall provides no “real” cognitive enhancement (doesn’t actually make a person smarter) but just keeps an individual awake. Proponents of Adderall conclude that Adderall amounts to an augmented version of coffee. However these claims are not true. While I concede that Adderall doesn’t literally make someone smarter, I maintain that Adderall certainly does make an individual more diligent and focused – traits that coffee does not do. Furthermore, Adderall must be obtained through illegal means, while coffee or energy drinks can be bought at a local café. Finally, Adderall, due to its inaccessible nature, provides a tremendously unfair advantage, cheating, that coffee does not.
Cheating, in any form, plagues all aspects of our society. Anabolic steroids in sports serve as a perfect example of this on going problem. Anabolic steroids, drugs that mimic the effects of male testosterone, can be used to provide their respective users with an immense competitive edge in sports. They do so by increasing muscle mass, strength and speed at super human paces – allowing their uses to become stronger quicker thereby allowing them greater athletic success. However, Anabolic steroids come with grave side effects that include but are not limited to, increased cardiovascular risk, premature balding, mood swings, delusion, paranoia and testicular shrinking. For these reasons (steroids provide an unfair competitive edge and steroids adversely affect ones health) anabolic steroids have long been banned in almost every professional sport. (“Are steroids worth the risk?”) Yet some individuals choose to ignore this explicit ban and take steroids anyways – Why do they choose to do this? These people cheat because of the goal oriented nature of most societal functions (sports for example) – in which material success, desired and demanded above all else, compels individuals to resort to cheating. To correct this problem, our society as a whole must change the way we define and think about success. Our society must emphasize the notion that we should succeed and strive for improvement to better ourselves instead of emphasizing success for material accomplishments.
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