Today, there is a lot of pressure for students to excel, especially at a school like Penn State where the academic level is high. In high school, many students around me were taking adderall to boost their chances of succeeding. The majority of these students were not prescribed to the drug but managed to get it from friends who were. Adderall is a drug that is meant to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder(ADHD), a disorder where someone cannot stay focused and lacks the ability to comprehend information easily. Adderall is a stimulant that is meant to help someone suffering from the disease focus. It is a combination of both amphetamine and dextroamphetamine which are stimulants for one’s central nervous system. As a result, adderall triggers the fight or flight systems in one’s body and causes increased blood pressure, sweating, and more.
When someone who does not have this disorder takes adderall, it can cause jitters, anxiety, and the inability to sleep. There is definitely an academic enhancement as a result but it does not last. When combined with another stimulant, it can be very dangerous to take adderall. Other stimulants are things such as coffee, certain alcohols, and other drugs.
In addition, adderall is considered a Schedule II controlled substance, which means that it is very easy to get addicted to. When someone is a patient in need of the drug it isn’t as much of an issue but for people who don’t need adderall to function properly, there is a high risk of becoming dependent on it and addicted as well.
In a study done in 2016, an increased amount of hospital visits was looked at to see if this was due to an increased amount of adderall use. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, found that the use of adderall in adults has gone up by 67.1% and emergency room visits due to adderall went up an astonishing 155.9%. This may be due to the fact that snorting adderall has become a new trend for some people. Snorting the drug has major health effects such as respiratory problems, irregular heartbeats, and toxic shock. When doing this for a long time, there can be problems with one’s brain function. Also, combining adderall with the use of alcohol can cause severe problems for the user like death from alcohol poisoning because adderall enhances how intoxicated someone is.
The message here is clearly that there are plenty ways to succeed without having to take adderall. I suggest:
-Studying for exams
-Going to class and participate
-Getting rest