Janice Biancavilla“A” is for Adderall

Cramming for a test, pulling an all-nighter at the library, trying to stay awake for a late night party? Instead of reaching for the traditional caffeine, college students are now turning to prescription pills.

Adderall, Ritalin, and Concerta, are just a few name brands included in the plethora of available prescription amphetamines used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD). However, non-prescribed students can easily obtain a pill or two from friends if they are looking for a fix.

Experts are becoming concerned with the growing trend of ADD/ADHD medication abuse among non-prescribed college students who are taking the drug both recreationally and to increase concentration for studying.

Samantha Strodel, a sophomore at the University of Arizona, admits she is not prescribed Adderall but uses it a few times a week to help her do homework and study.

“It helps me focus and do my work in a short amount of time,” Strodel said. “If I don’t take Adderall I will end up procrastinating.”

Strodel, like most college students, obtains the pills from close friends who are prescribed. And recently, it appears that almost everyone has a prescription, if they don’t, they probably know someone who does.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Heath Report, published in 2009 by the Office of Applied Studies, found that full-time college students aged 18 to 22 were twice more likely than non full-time students, to have used Adderall non-medically in the past year.

So how much of this stuff is really on the market right now? Research and Markets announced in 2006 that since its first appearance on

the market in the early 1990s, ADD/ADHD medicine has grown to the ninth largest segment of the Central Nervous System disorder market, accounting for $2.6 billion in sales. With an 8 percent growth rate year-to-year, the research company forecasts the drug’s global sales to reach $4.3 billion by 2012.

For drug companies like Shire, the biopharmaceutical company and creator of Adderall, this is great news. But they are not the only one’s celebrating. As more ADD/ADHD drugs are introduced into the market, doctors are handing out prescriptions like candy. The University of California, Berkley estimated that 4 percent of today’s youth aging 5 to 19-years-old, are prescribed medications for ADHD, and energy-hungry college students are taking as much as they can grab.

“Anyone can go into the doctors office and get prescribed to Adderall,” said Sean Spencer, a sophomore at Pima Community College and prescribed Adderall patient.

Spencer explained that the test doctors administer to patients to check for ADD/ADHD symptoms is nothing more than a no-brainer survey.

“There is 10 questions, like “Can you sit down and read a book? Do a research paper?” If you say no, they hand you a prescription, so it’s really easy to fake.”

Many students are unaware of the detrimental effects these energy-boosting pills can have on their health though, prescribed or not.

The medication, a combination of salts and amphetamine, is basically a small amount of speed with every swallow. An overview on ADD/ADHD medications created by the Mayo Clinic staff noted that common side effects can include insomnia, anorexia, nausea, decreased appetite, weight loss, headache, increased blood pressure, faster pulse, abdominal pain and shifting moods. That is just if you take the medication alone.

Many college students both intentionally and unintentionally will combine the prescription with other drugs, most commonly with alcohol.

“We’ve seen kids come in from Adderall abuse, the biggest problem is when they are drinking with it, especially hard alcohol,” said Denise Butler, a respiratory therapist at Banner Good Samaritan Hospital.

Butler noted that the combination of mixing amphetamine, a stimulant with alcohol, a depressant, could result in heart arrhythmias, raised blood pressure, insomnia and other unpredictable side effects based on the individual and the amount taken.

“When you mix uppers with alcohol it increases the chances of alcohol poisoning,” she said. “The body can’t metabolize all that stuff.”