More Students Turning Illegally To 'Smart' Drugs

More Students Turning Illegally To 'Smart' Drugs

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Drugs like Adderall and Ritalin, generally prescribed for attention-deficit disorder, are increasingly being used by college students to help them study despite serious side effects...

Although Adderall and Ritalin might sound like wonder drugs that can help students study for hours, the drugs are amphetamine-based. That means they can be habit-forming...

...as many as 25 percent of students on some college campuses have used these study drugs in the past year.

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Back when I was in college (turn of the millenium), ritalin was quite common. It was mostly the so-called nerds that were taking it, as they would do anything to get a boost in their studies. As the effect of the drug became more well known, you would start to see more and more students using it, often times using it as an excuse to procrastinate ("Oh well, I'll just pop a few R's a day or two before the exam and cram...let's go drink!").

Apparently it has become widespread. Adderall was not as popular several years ago, but appears to be the drug of choice today. Ritalin and Adderall are both amphetamines (ie. mild speed) and do increase one's ability to concentrate. However, the addictive nature of the drug is often overlooked.

These drugs, along with most every other prescription drug, are not seen for what they are. Most people believe that since they are manufactured by a huge company and distributed by doctors that they are essentially harmless. This is not the case.

The more drugs produced means more profit for these pharmaceutical companies. The more drugs distributed means more profit for these doctors. The abuse is rampant. There NEEDS to be stricter laws and regulations regarding pharmaceutical drugs. Just because a drug is considered "white-collar" doesn't mean it is any less dangerous. In fact, because of the lack of attention, they may be the most dangerous drugs out there.

www.npr.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

This has been going on or years. I'd assume that drugs such as xanax, kolotopins, and vicodin were more common.

frankly, the idea of warning adults against using these drugs to enhance concentration while prescribing them to children for that very same reason is hypocritical to say the least.

I want to see the report where it states whether these pills are really effective in increasing study habits and grades.


Pretty sad if somebody is popping these pills only to get a "C" OR "D". I would at least expect a 3.0 GPA and above.

[edit on 5-2-2009 by jam321]

I'm sure a bunch of people in my university take those... I won't ever. I prefer failing an exam than taking those things, the pharma industry can go to hell.

Ritalin is not an amphetamine, its amphetamine like. But not a true amphetamine.

Adderall is dextroamphetamine and levoamphetamine. Very very close to methamphetamine, which is avaliable to people with ADD although not widely prescibed.

Adderall is quite a common street drug. I personally have never done it because the idea of speeding awake for three days doesn't exactly sound like recreation to me but I come across people on that drug all the time. The real problem though is Oxycontin and other opiate based pain killers which are basically synthetic heroin that gets people addicted and then onto harder street drugs. I've seen this over and over here and I've lost a few friends to ODs. It's a real plague here and no one is holding the pharmaceutical companies responsible for flooding the streets with super expensive heroin.

I definitely agree, opiates are the biggest problem when it comes to pharmaceutical drugs. Vic's, oxy's and perc's are rampant and quite easily attainable. Many do not realize that all they are doing is using a cleaner form of heroin because they are being produced and pushed by professionals.

That being said, ADD drugs and anti-anxiety/depression drugs are still a huge problem. These drugs effect the chemicals (dopamine, serotonin, etc.) in your brain and are just as addictive as the opiate-based drugs.

They used to prescribe coc aine for headaches, yet people still believe that doctors/pharma can do no wrong. We need to re-evaluate what we are doing to our bodies.

After looking into it all, I bought a load of Modafinil. My eldest is going through his exams right now and while I can't afford to send him to the kind of school that will let a retard like David Cameron get into Oxford, I can afford to help him get the best out of his brain.

I have tried them myself and they certainly make a difference to my ability to concentrate and get on with stuff, though they stymie creativity somewhat.

I used to use Adderrall and I am bipolar so it is not a good medicine for me.

So I switched to provigil which works very good and is not an amphetamine. It is a controlled substance and I have to show I'd to get it but it is a great alternative.

The right thing to do for a society would be to try and fix the root problems, why people take drugs instead of policing it. Endorsing it is completely the wrong thing. I wouldn't use it nor allow my children to, even if I can understand the pressures of today's schools. But way things are going it wouldn't surprise me if the government would actually believe a more educated workforce, even though it's mostly the drugs that allowed people to pass, is a good thing and justifies the use of dope and then makes study enhancing drugs mandatory.

I use adrafinil in daily life. The cheap legal version of modafinil/provigil.
There is actually a whole world called nootropics, where there are tons of focus and short term memory boosting drugs/supps. The research is actually pretty interesting.
racetams, choline sources, clitep, suniframs, phenibut, any vitamin combination known to man. even some unamed molecules like PRL-53.

I'd stay away from any amphetamines because of addiction potential. the modafinil family does not hit dopamine nearly as hard and in general has low abuse potential.

College students using smart drugs is such a miniscule problem anyways, this a a subgroup of generally well functioning individuals who won't have future problems with dumbing drugs