Adderall: A Growing Trend Among College Students Essay -- Documentary

Adderall: A Growing Trend Among College Students Brian,* a 20-year-old Northeastern University student, carefully lays out his â€Å"stash† of blue pills on a table one Sunday evening. As he organizes them into groups according to size and dosage, he mentally runs through his class work and assignments for the week. â€Å"A physics quiz on Tuesday,† he says, eyes still fixed on the dozen or so blue pills on the table. â€Å"A calc test on Friday and a lab due on Thursday.† Brian sinks back into his chair with a sigh of defeated enthusiasm. A weekend full of late night socialization and early afternoon wake up calls has finally given way to the harsh realization of an intense week of school work. As Brian prepares for Monday morning to rear its ugly head, he is comforted by the sight of those tiny blue pills laid out delicately on his table. This, he explains, will sustain him through the hellacious school week ahead of him, and provide him with the motivation and concentration he needs to get his work done. â€Å"I’d be much more stressed out if I didn’t have these,† he says. â€Å"It’ll make the week go by a little easier. That’s not to say it won’t be brutal though.† Those tiny blue pills laid out on Brian’s table are the prescription drug Adderall. Manufactured by the British based pharmaceutical company Shire, Inc., Adderall has become the leading medication prescribed for those diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The National Institute of Mental Health describes ADHD as, â€Å"one of the most common of the psychiatric disorders that appear in childhood in which an individual can’t stay focused on a task, can’t sit still, acts without thinking, and rarely finishes anything†. If left untreated, the effects of ADHD... ...y guess is that it is more of a psychological habit. I think the best approach would be to challenge students to find a different approach to dealing with stress and increasing workloads, and not to turn to pharmaceuticals as the answer.† Whether or not college students at Northeastern and across the country will heed such advice remains to be seen. But as it stands the use of Adderall without a prescription continues, and it seems unlikely to go away as long as students continue to find their desired results. Recreational experimentation with drugs and alcohol are commonplace and are part of the maturing process that is college, but such experimentation for the means of academic success is a relatively new phenomenon, and one that promises to gain more momentum as long as â€Å"academic steroids† like Adderall continue to make its way into thecollege campus culture. Adderall: A Growing Trend Among College Students Essay -- Documentary Adderall: A Growing Trend Among College Students Brian,* a 20-year-old Northeastern University student, carefully lays out his â€Å"stash† of blue pills on a table one Sunday evening. As he organizes them into groups according to size and dosage, he mentally runs through his class work and assignments for the week. â€Å"A physics quiz on Tuesday,† he says, eyes still fixed on the dozen or so blue pills on the table. â€Å"A calc test on Friday and a lab due on Thursday.† Brian sinks back into his chair with a sigh of defeated enthusiasm. A weekend full of late night socialization and early afternoon wake up calls has finally given way to the harsh realization of an intense week of school work. As Brian prepares for Monday morning to rear its ugly head, he is comforted by the sight of those tiny blue pills laid out delicately on his table. This, he explains, will sustain him through the hellacious school week ahead of him, and provide him with the motivation and concentration he needs to get his work done. â€Å"I’d be much more stressed out if I didn’t have these,† he says. â€Å"It’ll make the week go by a little easier. That’s not to say it won’t be brutal though.† Those tiny blue pills laid out on Brian’s table are the prescription drug Adderall. Manufactured by the British based pharmaceutical company Shire, Inc., Adderall has become the leading medication prescribed for those diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The National Institute of Mental Health describes ADHD as, â€Å"one of the most common of the psychiatric disorders that appear in childhood in which an individual can’t stay focused on a task, can’t sit still, acts without thinking, and rarely finishes anything†. If left untreated, the effects of ADHD... ...y guess is that it is more of a psychological habit. I think the best approach would be to challenge students to find a different approach to dealing with stress and increasing workloads, and not to turn to pharmaceuticals as the answer.† Whether or not college students at Northeastern and across the country will heed such advice remains to be seen. But as it stands the use of Adderall without a prescription continues, and it seems unlikely to go away as long as students continue to find their desired results. Recreational experimentation with drugs and alcohol are commonplace and are part of the maturing process that is college, but such experimentation for the means of academic success is a relatively new phenomenon, and one that promises to gain more momentum as long as â€Å"academic steroids† like Adderall continue to make its way into thecollege campus culture.