BEZAWADA: Adderall abuse is prevalent, but whose fault is it?
Column: Traipse the Fine Line
One day last year, I bought lunch at the Busch Dining Hall. Just as I started to eat, I heard someone behind me telling his friend, "I know I'm not supposed to, but the Adderall really helps. It's the only reason I’m able to study and take exams."
The conversation disturbed me. I was no stranger to the “study drugs” phenomenon. Students have abused Adderall to force themselves to focus on assignments since my time in high school. But, I had never personally witnessed somebody confessing to it.
It could not possibly be healthy. As I found out, it indeed is not. But the problem is far more extensive than is socially acknowledged — and the cause is just as deeply institutionalized.
The stimulant dextroamphetamine-amphetamine, better known by its brand name Adderall, is a prescription medication that typically treats Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy, conditions that impair the central nervous system. ADHD patients, in particular, suffer from deficiencies in serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, leaving their brains in constant search for stimulants.
Adderall intensifies the effect of those chemicals, thereby reducing the appeal of distractions to people with ADHD. It also activates the body’s fight-or-flight response, diverting energy from the digestive system to other major organs, allowing users to concentrate better.
Adderall can generate a high that induces “a sense of grandiosity, invincibility and intense wellbeing.” One university student stated that it helped her “be more efficient, which is very helpful with the chaos of college” according to CNN. Another student added, “I just feel very alive and awake and ready for challenges that come my way.” Confidence, vitality, self-empowerment — all are at distressingly low levels among millennial and Gen Z populations.
In other words, a prime hotspot for addiction.
Approximately 60 percent of non-medical Adderall use is attributed to 18- to 25-year-olds. Much of this abuse stems from a whopping 30 percent of full-time college students. Of this population, more than 90 percent use it to study. Particularly alarming is the growth of non-prescribed Adderall use, climbing by 67 percent from 2006 to 2011 and “associated emergency room visits” by 156 percent, according to The Johns Hopkins University Hub.
The ubiquity of Adderall among students has led to a major outcrop of black markets on college campuses. One university student stated that illegal dealing of Adderall was of little concern, “It's not something that I get nervous about because it’s so widespread and simple,” according to CNN.
“The off-label use of prescription stimulants had come to represent the second-most-common form of illicit drug use in college by 2004," outdone only by marijuana, said Casey Schwartz, according to The New York Times. This is almost impressive considering Adderall’s classification as a Schedule II drug. Labelmates include oxycodone, morphine and cocaine.
The medication’s position is interesting because it underscores just how harmful Adderall really is. The effects of Adderall addiction are much subtler, more internalized, than those resulting from the abuse of similar drugs.
“While the picture of a methamphetamine user has hollowed cheeks, rotting teeth and skin sores, an … (Adderall) user looks just like anybody else," said Arianna Yanes, according to CNN. Side effects of Adderall abuse include nausea, vomiting, dramatic weight loss and a heightened “feeling of impatience, worry, nervousness and anxiety," according to American Addiction Centers.
As tolerance increases, so do the risks of long-term psychological and physiological dependence. Withdrawal is arduous, resulting in “suicidal thoughts, mania, panic and nightmares."
Despite the sheer prevalence of Adderall misuse, few are aware of its risks. Of 1,800 college students surveyed, 81 percent believed “illicit use of ADHD medication” was not at all, or only slightly, dangerous. Ramin Mojtabai, professor of mental health at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said, “Many of these college students think stimulants like Adderall are harmless study aids. But there can be serious health risks and they need to be more aware.”
Even then, the blame is unfairly ascribed to young people. The key questions are, for some reason, completely overlooked. Why are students resorting to dangerously addictive drugs to succeed in school? Has academic pressure risen that much?
Unfortunately, it has. “Academic factors were the predominant cause of stress” in most university students, according to a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health. Heavy workloads were a significant contributor. In fact, college students today experience far greater levels of anxiety than their peers in the 1950's.
An increasingly uncertain future, compounded by the current chaos of the pandemic, does nothing to alleviate the situation. It is no wonder students believe their illegal consumption of Adderall to be morally justified: They claim it helps “advance their academic and professional goals” and “to stay afloat in the sea of intense competition."
If the Adderall epidemic is to be addressed, school administrations must address the root cause of the problem — academic workload. Despite the growing suffocation of a rapidly changing world, exacerbated especially by the unprecedented rates of unsettling fatigue and anger exposed during the pandemic, schools do not seem to be making adjustments to consider the concerns students face.
If the only thing they can do is shift to remote instruction or provide infographics, then they should not act surprised when Adderall abuse spikes.
Sruti Bezawada is a Rutgers Business School senior majoring in marketing and minoring in Japanese. Her column, “Traipse the Fine Line,” runs on alternate Wednesdays.
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