<p>Talking to S yesterday, and he mentioned that the most ‘popular drug’ on campus is black market adderall (sp?). He said kids take it to study- supposedly it helps you get twice as much accomplished in the same amount of time. He also said he heard that once you start using it, it becomes harder to NOT take it and study- sort of like you develop a psychological attachment- which is why he doesn’t use it/hasn’t tried it. (I told him that I hoped he didn’t use it because it’s illegal and dangerous to buy/take drugs from the street, but that’s beside the point :eek:.)</p>
<p>I was shocked, truly. I remember the old days- coffee and peanut M&Ms, maybe an occassional “no-doz” when things got really tough.</p>
<p>Interesting. My niece (college Jr) was diagnosed ADHD and prescribed meds. Since taking the meds, her grades are all A’s. My sister swears by it.</p>
<p>This information is correct and it concerns me. Taking someone else’s prescription medication is NOT a good idea. Kids are getting dr. appts to try to be diagnosed and get their own prescriptions.</p>
<p>My son started on Adderall as a freshman when he was first diagnosed with ADD. He has always kept it in a lockbox as he says it is in great demand.</p>
<p>A friend’s d. just had a prescription filled for Adderall (she had been on something else previously). Before she had even taken one, someone stole all the pills out of the bottle.</p>
<p>I believe it. My son doesn’t keep his locked up but not in plain view. He has had Adderall taken from his dorm room. Since he has switched to Vynanase ( not spelling it correctly) but it is a derivative of Adderall that works differently. He doesn’t like it as much as the Adderall but no one tries to steal it or ask him to give him some. He said his Dr told him to not tell people he took it to avoid friends asking for a few pills at exam time. Another option is the Ritalin patch. Not much of a black market for that either.
Adderall will keep you up which is why lots of the students want it during exam time.
Also my son had a girl ask him for some because it suppressed appetite.</p>
<p>My mother-in-law was prescribed Adderall for a while. It was a nightmare – she got terribly agitated, had honest-to-God paranoid delusions and actual hallucinations on occasion, and had an enormous, immediate loss of functioning. All of which reversed within days of changing her meds. It is NOT a drug I would want to see anyone using without medical supervision.</p>
<p>This doesn’t surprise me in the least. It’s basically speed - not actually the same thing, chemically, as meth, but it’s an amphetamine, a psychostimulant. People use it illicitly to focus for long, uninterrupted periods of studying.</p>
<p>I love my adderall xr, I just have to take it once a day- although it took me a really long time to get into the habit of taking it in the morning.
Ritalin, I had to take more than once a day - which caused problems & the generic stuff was awful.</p>
<p>I have had ADD all my life though- but always diagnosed as something else- depression generally, but not being able to focus on anything, made me pretty depressed and frustrated.
Its far from being a panacea- I still have an awful time studying, but it is little easier to actually get started- without it, I am so distracted- I have no ability to make priorities.</p>
<p>Speed has been used by non ADDers, as is lots of coffee and all those energy drinks so it doesn’t surprise me if someone is trying to get prescriptions to sell to students, but that isn’t the fault of the meds, or of most drs.
My dr has to see me at least every month as the prescription is a controlled substance ( even though things like Xanax are not)
It seems it would be a PITA to do that for a college student, unless they are really charging a lot for the medication.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard about illegal use being a problem at Reed, I expect because some students probablly already do have legitimate prescriptions, plus they have legal stimulants in the library for free at exam time.
( which horrifies some prospies) I also think the overall emphasis on studying at Reed actually could make it easier, because you know you aren’t missing anything
But I agree, prescription meds need to be monitored by a DR- very important</p>
<p>Nationally, the most widely abused drug is still marijuana. Prescription drugs, as a class, are still at number 3. Number two is nicotine, and number 4 is alcohol.
Adderall is a expensive drug; even generic Adderall will set you back quite a bit.</p>
<p>You’re not kidding about it being expensive!! </p>
<p>About monitoring, my son has to go to the doctor for bloodwork and a check up every six months (when he comes into town). I have to go monthly to the doctor’s office to get the prescription (can’t phone it in-controlled substance) and then I ship the prescription to my son.</p>
<p>Nobody has asked him for pills (they just took them at first), but he wouldn’t give them away, he needs them.</p>
<p>He started with ritalin a long time ago, but didn’t like that he had to go to the clinic mid-day to take another pill, when concerta came out, he took that, but it made his stomach upset and he began losing weight. The doctor then tried adderall and it has been the best. He doesn’t like all of the side effects, sleeplessness and lack of appetite, but he wouldn’t go back to the days before taking the pills, which, frankly, were a nightmare for him (and me).</p>
<p>you know in reading that attached article, there is a paragraph where a bioethicist talks about how there is some resentment from students who don’t take the drugs for people who do, that they think it gives an unfair advantage…</p>
<p>I doubt they would resent the kids who take them for real issues if they knew what it was like for them before they were tested for ADHD and prescribed medicine. </p>
<p>Maybe they might still resent them, but they sure as heck wouldn’t trade places with them.</p>
<p>“you know in reading that attached article, there is a paragraph where a bioethicist talks about how there is some resentment from students who don’t take the drugs for people who do, that they think it gives an unfair advantage…”</p>
<p>Don’t see how this is different from the way people view Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens. </p>
<p>“Nationally, the most widely abused drug is still marijuana. Prescription drugs, as a class, are still at number 3. Number two is nicotine, and number 4 is alcohol.”</p>
<p>Sorry. Not even close. Alcohol by a long, long shot. (I do this for a living.)</p>
<p>Uh, there’s a big difference between some perfectly normal kid taking adderall to do better in school and a kid with ADHD taking adderall to be able to function in society.</p>
<p>So, to compare it to someone taking hgh or steroids to hit a baseball farther or bulk up is not only wrong, but insulting, and irresponsible.</p>
<p>I do not do it for a living, but I have lived it as a mom, and know the difference.</p>
<p>"Uh, there’s a big difference between some perfectly normal kid taking adderall to do better in school and a kid with ADHD taking adderall to be able to function in society.</p>
<p>So, to compare it to someone taking hgh or steroids to hit a baseball farther or bulk up is not only wrong, but insulting, and irresponsible."</p>
<p>Agreed, and I apologize if you took it that way. There are major positive uses for steroids and for human growth hormone, used as directed and with a prescription, under physician supervision.</p>
<p>But a perfectly normal kid taking drugs to get ahead in school is no different than a baseball player taking drugs to bulk up. It is cheating, pure and simple, no different than if they had stolen the test answers. To my way of thinking, it is far worse than recreational drug or alcohol use.</p>
