When faced with sleep deprivation and seemingly unending homework loads, many Aragon students struggle to keep themselves afloat. To combat this issue, some students turn to external means to stay ahead. Although coffee is a popular option to fulfill this need, some students look toward less conventional alternatives. ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) medications, such as Adderall, are widely recognized by high schoolers as the “study drug.”
One Aragon student, John*, tried this medication prior to taking the ACT. “It’s way more intense than coffee. It makes you sweat,” John says. “I think coffee makes you super motivated to do stuff, and [with] Adderall I don’t know … You don’t have a sense of humor and you just want to read stuff. It was weird.”
The physical effects of Adderall may differ based on who is taking it. Comparing Adderall and coffee, Alex* says, “It’s pretty much completely different, for when drinking coffee I still feel in control of myself.”
When taken for its actual prescribed purpose, Adderall can help treat ADHD, which is a neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorder that alters brain structure and neurochemical pathways in the brain. The most prominent effect of these alterations is a decrease in the levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which plays a big role in the reward pathway and typically helps one feel stimulated. Because of this, those with ADHD, who are relatively understimulated, may find it more difficult to concentrate and may seek stimulation from other external sources to compensate.
To treat ADHD, doctors can prescribe two different categories of medication: stimulants or non-stimulants. The efficacy of such medication, however, may differ depending on the patient, as ADHD is based on a spectrum. Adderall, a stimulant, increases the concentration of dopamine and can address brain development and growth amongst many other things.
Rumors surrounding ADHD medication often center around its supposed ability to grant students with hours of intense focus, giving one an advantage when tackling a large homework load or taking a big test. These rumors can hold true for those with a prescription. Junior Meghana Gadiraju, who does have a prescription for this medication, explains, “I wasn’t diagnosed last year, so it definitely did increase my academic performance, but I know sometimes it doesn’t. I’ll focus, but not on the right thing, so I’ll play Candy Crush for five hours.” Gadiraju adds, “[Those who take ADHD medication without a prescription] think it’ll help them focus or something, but I don’t know why. I think they just don’t have the right information.”
For a non ADHD patient, to abuse these drugs for performance enhancement is a gamble. Aragon student Sarah* explains, “I took it one time for a practice SAT […] but it kind of made me more unable to answer questions. Like for critical reading, I had to keep rereading lines like five times.”
As far as actual benefits of stimulants go, John explains, “It doesn’t make you smarter, it just makes you faster, and it helps you access the knowledge that you have already faster. So I guess [it’s best used for] doing homework, like if you have to cram to do a project.”
Like any other drug, Adderall does have side effects. “The next day I felt super lethargic, but that was about it,” says John.
While the consumption of controlled substances, like Adderall, for improper purposes is illegal, it is relatively easy for students to attain such medications. John says, “It was super easy to get. [I got it from] a friend of a friend in San Mateo.”
Similarly, Sarah* mentioned that getting Adderall was fairly simple. “It was kind of esay to get. I knew someone who had taken it, and then I just asked ‘Oh, where’d you get it,’ and he was like, ‘Oh, this person.’”
Although access to Adderall may seem fairly easy, the potential negative consequences of taking the medication without a prescription are serious. Such consequences, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, can include psychosis and seizures. For individuals with heart conditions, the consequences can be fatal.
Additionally, taking Adderall may negatively individuals affect psychologically. Psychology teacher Carlo Corti says, “I wish these students had a stronger internal locus of control, because there are other ways of improving grades.”
To clarify, having an internal locus of control relates to a person’s belief in their ability to change their situation through their own means. By taking the drug, students take on a mindset, in which they do not naturally have power over their academic situation, creating a dependency on the drug, which makes them feel relatively useless without it. Adderall, Ritalin, and other such drugs do not impose the same physical addiction as heroin or methamphetamines; however, the dependency one can form on these medications is very real.
Users, however, may not view Adderall as a form of dependence. When asked about taking Adderall, Alex says, “It’s more of an answer to a situation than something I always do.”
The heightened popularity of these drugs in high school is a fairly recent phenomenon and is not nearly as widespread as the use of similar drugs in college. According to a study undertaken by the Center of Young Adult Health and Development, 31 percent of college students have reported usage of ADHD prescription drugs in a non-medical manner, while only 6 percent of high school seniors reported such use. “This is a societal problem as much as an individual one,” says Corti. “People are feeling a pressure to do well, and drugs are thought to help resolve this.”
The increase in the expectations of high school students may be linked to such use. Corti says, “Society keeps expecting more and more from students at lower and lower ages … College level AP classes are more common now than ever, and students are expected to take more to be competitive.”
Despite the fact that inappropriate use of Adderall is technically illegal, it seems that the origin of the problem is more than meets the eye.
*Name changed for anonymity
