In today's drug culture, Adderall OK for cramming students

By: Norman Anderson

Posted: 11/22/05

Many have said that in 21st century America, we inhabit a pharmaceutical culture. For essentially any problem we face, a doctor has a solution in the form of a prescription. If I'm in pain, I can get one of a million painkillers that does not actually treat my symptoms, but can make the pain go away. If I can't get an erection, I can take Viagra. If I get a girl pregnant, she can get a pill to make the fetus go away. This emphasis on solving problems with pharmaceuticals creates a culture in which responsibility is eschewed. This makes the very concept of responsibility a problem that can-and will-vanish itself.

Nothing is more indicative of our culture's increased shirking of its responsibilities than the ever-growing number of people prescribed Adderall, a drug for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Parents can now be relieved of the rigors of dealing with a kid with too much energy and too little desire to sit quietly. The logic goes: If a kid doesn't want to sit still and learn, there is something medically wrong with him. Some of these kids have ADHD, but others do not. Adderall is a legitimate drug that addresses the chemical imbalance in kids with ADHD. The danger is when kids without this imbalance take the drug.

According to heathsqaure.com, adderall can be prescribed to children as young as three. Now, instead of running around, your child will find nothing more amusing than sitting quietly and engaging in repetitive tasks; finally he's normal. This is problematic not solely for the complacent attitudes it creates, but for health reasons as well. When abused, the effects of Adderall are extremely similar to its illegal street counterparts. Since Adderall is a relatively new drug, no one knows what the long-term health effects are.

But we do know how easy it is to get a prescription. Adderall has a high tendency for abuse, can incite clinical depression, create dependence, trigger latent schizophrenia and turn a fun person into an empty shell.

Despite my anger at irresponsible parents and doctors, I do think that college students are justified in using Adderall to cram for exams. The developmental health risks of using the drugs are fewer than for people younger than us, since we are physically far more mature.

One of the prerequisites of college life is the ability to pull a 48-hour cram session, for which Adderall is particularly useful. I mean, haven't we all been caught staring at our clock while slowly giving into the desire to sleep at 4 a.m., and wishing coffee was a little bit stronger? This line of thinking has swept through American colleges, including Brandeis, to a great extent. This is why students take Adderall to stay focused. Sure, it's the easy way out, but when faced with the choice of doing something slightly unfair or wasting $40,000, the former seems pretty appetizing.

Besides, if you find the illegal use of Adderall too compromising to your ethical principles, you can legally obtain it by going to your physician and saying you want it. If you disagree with my assessment, check out the trash cans in the green room during exam week-the blue tissues don't mean a cold is going around.