Upon being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, I was handed a pill.
The psychiatrist said, “These pills works like magic. It will make things better.”
For a couple months, I found what the psychiatrist said to be true. My grades shot from consistent Cs to straight As. My teacher praised me for being sharp. I finally managed to finish my homework and still have time to play outside.
But as those two months came to an end, so did the power of the pill. Once again, homework that should have taken an hour kept me up all night. Everything my teacher said in class went in one ear and out the other.
One day, as she observed me drifting off, my teacher asked, “Did you take your medicine today?” Sitting in the middle of the room, I noticed the eyes of twenty other students staring back at me.
For the first time in my life, I felt inferior.
I asked myself, “Why do I need this pill anyway?”
Coming home, I told my mom, “I’m not taking this pill anymore. I don’t need it.”
From that moment, I told myself that whatever I accomplished would be solely from my own merit. Keeping that goal in mind, I spent years training my mind to concentrate on finishing any given task, regardless of how painstakingly boring or difficult it may be.
Now, every time I see another student seek out the same medication I learned to live without, I cannot help but cringe. What sickens me is that most of these students have no need for such substances to begin with.
“When I first took Adderall, I found that my mind became sharp. I had tunnel vision focus,” said finance senior Shahram Ghassemi.
According to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, uses of Adderall and other forms of such drugs for non-medical purposes have risen by 67 percent among adults between 2006 and 2011.
And there’s a price to pay. The abuse of such drugs caused emergency room visits to rise from 862 visits in 2006 to 1,489 in 2011. That’s almost a 73 percent increase of visits in only a span of five years.
Just like any narcotic, these drugs seduce the user with a feeling of empowerment, which in this case would be focus. For some, this feeling goes from being a want to a need. In the end, drugs such as Adderall or Ritalin become addictive and detrimental.
Enchanted by short-term effects, many feel that such substances may be the best way to prepare for a test or finish a project. But, in the long run, these drugs might be just as deadly as some narcotics.
A study in the Journal of Attention Disorders found that students without prescriptions tend to take ADHD medication primarily to improve their academic performance. They use the drugs to improve their attention spans, creating the edge that allows them to achieve the level of success they desire.
In other words, these drugs are being used for the same reason an athlete might use steroids: to enhance performance.
When I was given a reason to use the pill as a crutch, I learned to deny the crutch and strove to better myself through my own will. Today, I see people who feel the need to use a crutch that was not designed for them in the first place.
It only shows how greedy people become for better results with minimal effort.
Opinion columnist Krishna Narra is a marketing junior and may be reached at [email protected]
That’s an absolutely atrocious headline. It implies a MEDICAL similarity between the effects of Adderall abuse and steroids, whereas in the article the only comparison made between the two is the fact that they’re both used to “enhance performance”. How did that make it past the editor?
I went through the same thing as the author, but for a longer term. I began taking prescribed medication for ADHD I was 3 years old, and I had to stop late in my high school career because I realized it was negatively affecting my personality, my social life, and most importantly my grades (that last one sounds counterintuitive, I know). I learned to cope without Adderall, and am doing much better without it now on all fronts.
While I can’t say I condone the non-medical use of Adderall and other prescription amphetamines, the author really stretches when she states that they “might be just as deadly as some narcotics” in the long term. Citation needed, Krishna. Adderall largely has the same side effects as any other stimulant. Insomnia, anxiety, increased blood pressure, and in some extreme cases heart problems. While I wouldn’t put it in the same class as caffeine (there’s a reason it’s prescribed instead of OTC), you’re embellishing the truth with that line.
There are honestly bigger fish to fry on college campuses than prescription amphetamine misuse. While those 1,489 emergency room visits in 2011 may sound like a lot, consider the fact that there were over 20,000 emergency room visits in the same year for caffeine overdose. Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/how-much-caffeine-before-i-end-up-in-the-er/267129/
That’s an absolutely atrocious headline. It implies a MEDICAL similarity between the effects of Adderall abuse and steroids, whereas in the article the only comparison made between the two is the fact that they’re both used to “enhance performance”. How did that make it past the editor?
I went through the same thing as the author, but for a longer term. I began taking prescribed medication for ADHD I was 3 years old, and I had to stop late in my high school career because I realized it was negatively affecting my personality, my social life, and most importantly my grades (that last one sounds counterintuitive, I know). I learned to cope without Adderall, and am doing much better without it now on all fronts.
While I can’t say I condone the non-medical use of Adderall and other prescription amphetamines, the author really stretches when she states that they “might be just as deadly as some narcotics” in the long term. Citation needed, Krishna. Adderall largely has the same side effects as any other stimulant. Insomnia, anxiety, increased blood pressure, and in some extreme cases heart problems. While I wouldn’t put it in the same class as caffeine (there’s a reason it’s prescribed instead of OTC), you’re embellishing the truth with that line.
There are honestly bigger fish to fry on college campuses than prescription amphetamine misuse. While those 1,489 emergency room visits in 2011 may sound like a lot, consider the fact that there were 20,783 emergency room visits in the same year that involved a caffeine overdose (58% of which involved no other substances). Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/how-much-caffeine-before-i-end-up-in-the-er/267129/
That’s an absolutely atrocious headline. It implies a MEDICAL similarity between the effects of Adderall abuse and steroids, whereas in the article the only comparison made between the two is the fact that they’re both used to “enhance performance”. How did that make it past the editor?
I went through the same thing as the author, but for a longer term. I began taking prescribed medication for ADHD I was 3 years old, and I had to stop late in my high school career because I realized it was negatively affecting my personality, my social life, and most importantly my grades (that last one sounds counterintuitive, I know). I learned to cope without Adderall, and am doing much better without it now on all fronts.
While I can’t say I condone the non-medical use of Adderall and other prescription amphetamines, the author really stretches when she states that they “might be just as deadly as some narcotics” in the long term. Citation needed, Krishna. Adderall largely has the same side effects as any other stimulant. Insomnia, anxiety, increased blood pressure, and in some extreme cases heart problems. While I wouldn’t put it in the same class as caffeine (there’s a reason it’s prescribed instead of OTC), you’re embellishing the truth with that line.
There are honestly bigger fish to fry on college campuses than prescription amphetamine misuse. While those 1,489 emergency room visits in 2011 may sound like a lot, consider the fact that there were 20,783 emergency room visits in the same year for excess caffeine (58% of which involved no other substances). Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/how-much-caffeine-before-i-end-up-in-the-er/267129/
That’s an absolutely atrocious headline. It implies a MEDICAL similarity between the effects of Adderall abuse and steroids, whereas in the article the only comparison made between the two is the fact that they’re both used to “enhance performance”. How did that make it past the editor?
I went through the same thing as the author, but for a longer term. I began taking prescribed medication for ADHD when I was 3 years old, and I had to stop late in my high school career because I realized it was negatively affecting my personality, my social life, and most importantly my grades (that last one sounds counterintuitive, I know). I learned to cope without Adderall, and am doing much better without it now on all fronts.
While I can’t say I condone the non-medical use of Adderall and other prescription amphetamines, the author really stretches when she states that they “might be just as deadly as some narcotics” in the long term. Citation needed, Krishna. Adderall largely has the same side effects as any other stimulant. Insomnia, anxiety, increased blood pressure, and in some extreme cases heart problems. While I wouldn’t put it in the same class as caffeine (there’s a reason it’s prescribed instead of OTC), you’re embellishing the truth with that line.
There are honestly bigger fish to fry on college campuses than prescription amphetamine misuse. While those 1,489 emergency room visits in 2011 may sound like a lot, consider the fact that there were 20,783 emergency room visits in the same year for excess caffeine (58% of which involved no other substances). Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/how-much-caffeine-before-i-end-up-in-the-er/267129/