Adderall season

Editor’s note: Sources Tim and Marshall in this article gave interviews with the condition of anonymity, which is why their last names have not been disclosed.

Tim started taking medication for Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD, in eighth grade.

He went from almost flunking out of school to earning straight A’s almost immediately — but he grew tired of it. When he came to Utah State University, there was high demand for the medication he had become so disinterested in.

“Once I went to college, people would hear that I had it through the grapevine or friends, and there were times that I would keep a couple (pills) on me and walk around campus,” said Tim, a junior at USU.

Tim could make $100 dollars walking around campus selling each capsule for $10, especially during finals week.

“The street price, or the campus price, definitely doubles around finals week,” he said. “Students are seeking after it during finals week even if they aren’t so much during the semester.”

Students get ahold of medications like Adderall to ensure productivity on extensive study-binges. Demand peaks at the end of the semester.

“I think it helps me focus,” said Marshall, a sophomore at USU. “It makes me alert and aware, and I’m present. A lot of times finals week is stressful. You don’t get a lot of sleep because you are studying and stressed out. On Adderall I still do get stressed, but it’s like a positive stress, I guess, because I feel more productive.”

Dr. James Davis, director of the Student Health and Wellness Center, said while students may feel more productive, that is not necessarily the case.

“That doesn’t mean that it is going to change their ability to retain information or process information,” he said. “It’s not changing what the student is hoping it will change, and it is adding risk that the doctors are hoping that it doesn’t add.”

Medical risks include heightened blood pressure, which can lead to stroke and a higher risk of heart attack. Lack of appetite and sleep are minor concerns, Davis said. The only cases of stroke Davis has seen in someone under age 30 were connected to the use of ADD medication.

Davis said these medical risks are “quite rare,” yet students seeking Adderall or other ADD medication have to weigh their perceived need against potential legal ramifications. Technically, possession of non-perscribed Adderall could result in a felony, as it is a controlled substance.

“The real problem is that it is illegal,” he said. “It is not something that you can talk your way out of if you were apprehended for doing it, but it’s not something that we turn people in for. My interest is for people to stay in school and stay healthy.”

A person can get a prescription for Adderall or other ADD medication at USU by getting an evaluation from a licensed psychologist, who can then give a recommendation to a doctor after an extensive evaluation process to prescribe the medicine.

The Student Health and Wellness Center has written 473 ADD medication prescriptions to different students this school year.

Dr. David Bush, a psychologist for Counseling and Psychological Services, said that students come in for attention troubles, ranging from anxiety to lack of interest to actual ADD.

Bush said there are potential alternatives to ADD medication: mindful-awareness practices such as breathing exercises, meditation or yoga.

“I wish every student on campus practiced those strategies,” he said. “I think you’d see the academic benefits as well as the social and emotional benefits.”

The actual amount of students who use Adderall without a prescription at USU is unknown. Marshall speculated that 20 percent of his friends use Adderall on occasion. Tim thinks that number is higher, guessing that 25 to 50 percent of students are taking it this week.

Tim started giving Adderall away in high school to his friends when he didn’t want to take it any more.

“My friends would hit me up and be like, ‘You’re not even taking this. Can I have one or two?’ And I would be like, ‘Sure, I don’t care,’” Tim said. “At that point I wasn’t doing it for money. I just didn’t want to take it.”

He continued giving it away to friends in college, sometimes selling it and eventually stopped renewing his prescription this semester. While it helped him with school, it took away from other aspects of his life.

“It just kind of focuses you in on what you’re supposed to be doing, which is fine, but it really takes away your personality almost,” he said.

The perspective on Adderall for Tim and a college student cramming for finals is vastly different. He doesn’t consider people taking Adderall on occasion to study a bad thing, but he just doesn’t find the side effects worth it.

“Those side effects are something that college kids just aren’t worried about when they need to study for their final,” he said. “They are just taking it because they know they are going to help them study. But for someone who has been prescribed for many years, it’s miserable to take regularly, in my opinion.”

The process for getting prescribed can be lengthy. Some students feel that because Adderall is so accessible, they would rather buy it then go through process of getting evaluated and prescribed.

Marshall is one of these students. He sees his Adderall use for finals and big tests throughout the year as self-medication.

“I should be prescribed it, and I guess that’s like a placebo. It kind of helps me tell myself it’s OK because I probably should be on it. I probably should take it,” he said.

This practice is discouraged by CAPS and the Student Health and Wellness Center.

“We strongly discourage them from medication if there is no evidence to support the diagnosis,” Bush said. “We encourage them instead to look at a host of other interventions.”

Most college students know this. Tim said he had a roommate who went to the doctor, said he can’t focus and ended up with a prescription.

“It’s really not that hard to get a prescription, but I think students would rather just buy a couple during finals week,” Tim said.

Regardless of reasons and accessibility, ADD medicine is a seasonal drug, and it is Adderall season right now.

Many students at USU are like Marshall, taking Adderall “mostly around the end of the school year, finals week.”

Though Utah students may not have the reputation of taking Adderall as much as students at colleges in other states, there is still a demand.

“Everybody wants Adderall,” he said. “They are pretty much willing to pay a lot of money for it, especially during finals week.”

— dahdahjm@gmail.com