Utilized throughout school for varying reasons, Adderall and its generic counterparts have a consistent, even regular, presence in backpacks.
Prescribed Purpose
The medical use of Adderall is to treat those students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
ADHD is considered common among a wide range of students, often discovered in students who shout out answers, can’t wait their turn and cannot act socially appropriate for their age.
“There are three sets of symptoms, two hyper, one of which is can’t sit still, fidgets and makes noise, and mostly just don’t slow down and think before you act,” child psychiatrist Dr. Scott Trail said. “Socially, with teenagers, one is a lot of stepping on other people’s toes and saying things that offend people, not realizing it, and arguing with their parents. The third symptom is just attention; how long can you focus?, can you retain what you’re reading?, that kind of thing.”
These symptoms were echoed by those that have been diagnosed with ADHD, their struggles focusing proving most prominent.
“I can’t focus on the same thing,” senior Corey Fox said. “Let’s say I’m doing research on the computer: I’ll open up a new tab and go to Facebook in 15 seconds.”
ADHD is a disease not commonly developed in high school but can be diagnosed at different times.
“Theoretically, it’s the way you’re wired from birth,” Trail said. “Depending on how bad the ADHD is, how much of a troublemaker you are in grade school versus just an attention problem, how smart you are to cover for your grades. A small percentage are diagnosed in high school, but most of them have troubles soon enough it’s before then.”
Adderall is a stimulant, a drug that increases activity in the brain, and works to treat ADHD through the brain.
“It’s supposed to increase dopamine levels, affecting the frontal lobes of the brain, which helps with concentrating, filtering incoming sensory information; it helps you focus on one thing instead of whatever else you see and hear,” Trail said. “And then executive functioning, which is the whole memory process of getting from hearing it to remembering it to getting it to long-term memory.”
Trail is familiar with Adderall and its generic versions, as eight to 10 out of the 15 kids he sees a day “are on ADHD medicines.”
Students who are prescribed the drug seem to feel its intended effects.
“It’s very difficult for me to stay focused, but with the Adderall, it stabilizes what I’m trying to think about,” Fox said. “It allows me to say, ‘I need to do this and I’m going to get it done.’”
Non-prescribed Use
Many take Adderall without being diagnosed with ADHD, most commonly in an effort to better focus at school or while doing homework and studying.
“It’s like steroids for school,” junior James Smith* said. “If you have a lot to do and you know it’s going to take all night, and you know you’re not going to be able to stay focused, you take Adderall and you stay focused through the night.”
Smith takes Adderall about three times a month, for reasons varying from studying for a test to actually taking one.
“On the ACT I didn’t have any time problems because I was never distracted,” Smith said.
Similar to Smith, junior Michael Taylor* takes Adderall as a way to stay focused on his work. Taylor tends to use it more sparingly, taking only two or three times every six months.
“There have been a couple times where I’ve really felt like I have too much on my plate,” Taylor said. “The nights I took it, whether I want to admit it or not, I got more done, and it showed on the results the next day. It’s beneficial for that reason.”
Both Smith and Taylor, along with sophomore Mary Lewis,* acquire the drug easily at school or find other sources.
“It’s kind of easy to get it around school, but I also have access to it at home,” Lewis said.
Similarly, senior Richard Reynolds* gets Adderall from his sister.
“My sister was prescribed Adderall because she has ADHD and when she took it, I saw her doing well in school and getting her work done,” Reynolds said. “It was my personal choice to use it and see if it could help me. Once I saw the positive effect it had, I kept using it.”
Trail does acknowledge the help the drug can provide, and cites times in which it is more helpful.
“If you need it, it’s smarter to do it whenever you’re studying,” Trail said. ”At least for school days, skipping weekends is OK, but I have kids who are resistant to using it and they try and pick and choose.”
While Adderall is meant for focusing, it is not intended for those students without ADHD.
“If you do that once every two months, it’s going to make you feel like you had two Red Bulls and help, but if you start to build tolerance to that, by not having ADHD, then it quits working,” Trail said. “Then you need bigger doses, and it doesn’t help anymore. It’s the wrong way to use it.”
Addiction and Abuse
Trail labeled Adderall as a Class Two restricted drug, the same class as drugs such as morphine, giving it the potential to be addictive. It can also be abused.
Some students with ADHD disagree with those who lack the disorder, yet take the medication.
“Anyone that is not prescribed Adderall is abusing it,” Fox said. “They don’t need it to study. Someone like me, if I have to study for five hours straight, I can’t. Someone who doesn’t have ADHD, it’s not a problem for them to sit down and study. They get an extra push that they don’t need.”
Students can abuse the drug in more than one way, though.
“People can use it like speed, just take six or eight or 10 pills, which is like trying to get high on speed,” Trail said. “The other abuse is just using it to try and study, using it for all-nighters. In general, we’re not writing more prescriptions than we used to. At the high school level, it’s probably not different than it was 10 years ago.”
Adderall’s presence in schools centers on transactions. Generic versions of the drug, for those who are prescribed, tend to run $30-$40 with insurance, according to Fox. These prescribed users are then able to sell it to any non-ADHD student who may want one. One pill, depending on dosage, may be priced at $4-$5 each.
According to Trail, a possible reason for its use in high school by those without a prescription could be due to modern pressures.
“I think today’s world is different as far as expectations,” Trail said. “Everybody’s expected to be college level, got to have grade point averages. Back in the old days, they didn’t pressure everyone to go off to college like they do now. When you fall behind, you get desperate.”
One example of pressure faced by high school students comes with the ACT, a test that is reviewed by universities prior to their acceptances of students.
“The score you get on the ACT will determine what you do the rest of your life,” Fox said. “And if a couple $5 pills can get you two, three, four or even five points higher, than why not take advantage of it?”
Trail cites the drug as a common excuse for high schoolers.
“It’s a trendy thing,” Trail said. “You’re in high school and your grades go down, ‘Oh, I must be ADD, so give me some medicine.’ Those are tricky to figure out.”
While Adderall’s intended use focuses students in the classroom, its side effects impact them outside the classroom as well.
“Messes with appetite, If you take it too late, it’s like caffeine, so you can’t sleep at night,” Trail said. “It can definitely cause moodiness and grumpiness and irritability and anger outbursts. Especially if somebody takes six or seven of them, abusing it, it can make them violent and unreasonable, even combative.”
With students continuing use of Adderall, questions regarding its addictiveness develop. Some believe that it is completely possible to become addicted to Adderall, while others simply find it to be less addictive than other drugs.
‘I think it depends on the person’s mindset, like do they allow themselves to get addicted?” Taylor said. “Or do they view it as a resource that they can take advantage of?”
Reynolds has a different opinion on the addictive qualities of the substance.
“I never saw any harm in it, and it’s not addicting or anything,” Reynolds said.
