As a college student I have witnessed first hand the usage of study drugs as they run ramped at universities and even high schools across the country. The University of Austin Texas provides an in depth explanations of what study drugs are in an article on their website titled, “Study Drugs”. The pertinent point of the article is this: study drugs are prescription medication used to ease the difficulties stemming from being diagnosed with disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Unfortunately, drugs, prescription or not, tend to be abused by people. Study drugs are abused in an unusual manor, unlike most drugs they are used for academic purposes not for fun or social purposes. So, a drug for academic purposes? I have always found this curious due to its unusual function, and have had many questions about it. For the purpose of narrowing the focus of this blog let us look into the following question: Do study drugs improve academic performance?

First things first, there are people who, like with other prescription medications, describe symptoms they do not have to doctors in order to obtain a prescription from the doctor. That is not to say that certain people do in fact experience various learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders. I want to make it clear I am not questioning whether the fact that these people do need some sort of assistance to allow them to function in a way that permits them to perform adequately in school or in there everyday lives. Rather, I am questioning the fact that if study drugs are the solution for these people and if they genuinely benefit those who abuse it. With that being said, let us move on to the original question at hand.

So, do study drugs boost academic performance? Well, I am going to separate the discussion into two areas dependent upon whether the different individuals actually have attention deficit disorders or are just people trying to get a leg up on others.

It turns out that different medications that are used for treating attention deficit disorders are primarily used on adolescents and children. As of recently, scientists are beginning to conduct research to see if this type of medication can be used by adults to treat attention deficit disorders. Unfortunately, after vast research all over the web I was unable to find any empirical or actual studies conducted on children and how Adderall, Ritalin or how other study drugs affects them. Then after a while it dawned on me, it may be viewed and considered unethical for these types of studies to be conducted on children. Again and again in class we have discussed the ethics on a considerable amount of studies, and why in some situations, particularly when it comes to manipulating different variables in children. That being said, I was able to find a considerable amount of research conducted on the matter.

The conclusions of the majority of the research I found are unsatisfying, likely due to the lack of experiments done on the matter. For example, research conducted by Kenneth D. Gadow PhD discussed in the article, “Effects of Stimulant Drugs on Academic Performance in Hyperactive and Learning Disabled Children”, found that: performance on standardized tests did not necessarily improved, though some of the children’s temperament benefited; however, the findings found the reaction to vary drastically amongst patients. Another article, “Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: An Overview of Empirically Based Treatments”, draws a similar vague conclusion discussing the benefits or ineffectiveness although they have not been entirely proven. Consequently, it would be interesting to see if they found an ethical experiment that could be conducted in order to draw more sound and consistent conclusions. It is clear that there are many more studies needed to be done for these conclusions to have any substance to them, so, let us look into the usage of study drugs amongst adults who do not actually require them.

Because I thought that the issues with not finding many studies was due to the ethical questions in regard to experiments done on children I thought it was going to be easy to find studies done on adults; unfortunately, this was not the case. It turns out there is a lack of experimentation and consistent evidence. An article titled, “The Myth of Cognitive Enhancement Drugs” does an exceptional job of explaining the issue with the research done on study drugs, underscoring the inconsistent results. The inconsistent results may be due to a variety of studies experiencing the file drawer problem among other things.

Luckily, I stumbled upon a Time Magazine article by Meredith Melnick that discussed a few well-conducted studies on the matter. The first of studies took 47 adults not diagnosed with ADHD and tested them on both on Adderall and on a placebo. The researchers found that while on the Adderall pill the subjects reported performing better on the tests even though their performance had not improved. The second study done on 36 women and men, again people without ADHD, displayed another interesting element of study drugs, “they were more likely to choose to delay gratification and receive a larger monetary reward when given amphetamines than settle for a smaller amount of money immediately” (Szalavitz). The last study, disappointingly did not discuss how the study was conducted; therefore, I am unsure of its relevance. Anyway, the conclusion of the study was that study drugs such as Adderall may not benefit extremely intelligent people, but actually result in worsened performances on the tests, while their less intelligent counterparts were able to “catch up with them” improving there cognitive performances.

In conclusion, more research and experimenting is still necessary for there to be any single answer to my question; however, it is undeniable that some of studies found study drugs, such as Adderall, did in fact improve cognitive performances in certain individuals. Thus, my take home point is this: study drugs can help some people out, but they do not benefit everyone. So, if you are relying on study drugs to get you through that difficult exam it may or may not help you out.