Finals week remains a stressful time for college students. A student may have three to five tests in a matter of four days. However, these tests, unlike most, can be worth up to twenty percent of a semester grade. That is a great amount of pressure on a student. With about six hours of sleep a night, eighteen hours of study never seems like enough. Then again, there may be a solution that allows the student to focus on the study so eighteen hours is enough. Better yet, maybe sleep is unnecessary. This is a reality for the 6.4 percent of college students that use unprescribed Adderall. College students all over the country take Adderall everyday to improve performance in school.
College can be a challenge with endless papers, tests, and other tasks. A pill that allows extreme focus helps accomplish necessary tasks. Adderall is a prescription medication given to patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Jaffe). However, this drug has become known as a “smart drug” around college campuses (“Daily News & Analysis”). About 6.4 percent of college students have taken Adderall without a prescription (Carver). At more competitive schools, about twenty-five percent of students have taken Adderall (Pantovich). Students take the drug with hope to improve a grade. However, in the long run, the student only hurts himself or herself.
Adderall can have serious side effects if taken without a medical reason. Adderall is a Schedule II drug, which means there can be a strong chance of abuse and dependence (Pantovich). The abuse of Adderall can be compared to the addiction people receive from the use of cocaine (Pantovich). The drug can cause lack of creativity (Pantovich). The use of Adderall is intended for patients with a disorder...
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...gical or physical dependence. Once injested, Adderall inhibits the function of monamine transporters by lodging into the transmitter and blocking it off. The main function of these monamine transporters is the re-uptake and recycling of catecholamine neurotransmitters. If these transporters are blocked, dopamine is unable to leave the synaptic cleft and becomes trapped. This prolonged presence of dopamine in the cleft causes the emotional and physical effects to become long term. Having these affects long term will cause the patient to become tolerant to Adderall. Tolerance is dangerous because a higher dosage will be needed in order for the effects to be felt. This is also dangerous for addiction because by having these effects long term, a person will get use to feeling a certain way and they will believe that they cannot function without taking Adderall.
Another persuasive technique we used was appealing to dramatic benefits of the post-treatment of adderall by having a student imitate exaggerated behaviors of short attention span and impulsive nature that resulted in poor grades. Then after the same student takes adderall, he portrays a completely different character and becomes very attentive and productive in his studies, which results to an A in his next assignment. This is critical in Singh’s “Not Just Naughty: 50 years of stimulant drug advertising”, as he emphasizes how drug advertisements commonly present a post-treatment normal reality of highly idealized “portrait of an ideal family—bright, at...
In a 2012 study published by the Journal of American College Health, by senior year, Adderall and other prescription stimulants are offered to two-thirds of college students. Furthermore, about 31 percent are taking the drug in hopes to enhance their concentration to get better grades (Zadrozny 2013). Students who take Adderall that don’t have ADHD report that they have a increased sense of focus, motivation, and concentration, which are all the ingredients you need to have for a successful all-nighter to help on providing an added boost before an exam. With characteristics such as difficulties in focusing, reasoning, problem solving and planning, ADHD is a neurobehavioral-based disorder and is associated with an insufficient amount of dopamine (Student Health: Drug & Alcohol Abuse among College Students 2015). Adderall is enticing to students because they believe it can help them perform enhance their academic skills. On the other hand, some students abuse the drug because simply for the high it gives
In quite a few lower-class communities, phrases like “your mom is a crack head,” or “shut up crack baby” are said jokingly to make fun of someone during what we call a “rip session.” Although said as a joke, some are very offended by the comments. Why? because for some, crack addiction hits too close to home for comfort. Seeing how easy it is obtained in lower class and poverty stricken neighborhoods, many find themselves falling victim to the powerful substance, crack cocaine. Low sociable economic systems are just one of the many factors that can lead to the use, and addiction of crack cocaine, others include movies, music, peer pressure, alcohol and cigarette ads. In this report I will discuss the effects, consequences, and possible treatment for crack cocaine addiction.
According to the current President of Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA), the medication prescribed by a doctor cannot lead to drug abuse and addiction.
But Brown is not part of this 3-5% of the population. For Brown and others without the disorder, ADHD medications increase dopamine levels in the brain, giving the user a sense of euphoria similar to cocaine. Students at Northeastern University as well as other campuses are consuming these drugs for better academic performance and a cheap high on the college party scene. Students are taking Ritalin, Addrall, and the newest drug on the market, Conserta, either orally or crushing and snorting them to study, party, or lose weight. In some cases, kids are melting them down and shooting them up. According to Northeastern students, the drugs are very cheap and very accessible.
In the article “Brain Gain: The Underground World of “Neuroenhancing” Drugs” (Yorker 2009) Margaret Talbot discusses the misuse of prescription drugs that enhance academic performance at the college level. First Talbot introduces readers to a young college history major at Harvard University named Alex who receives a description of a demanding, busy life which seems impossible to control without the safety unapproved adopted use of a drug named Adderall. After that Alex’s dependency on the prescription drugs cognitive enhancers is described when he asks his doctor to increase the amount of intake and the listing of his daily routine on using Adderall during a week that required him to write four term papers. Next Talbot describes a personal
Margaret Talbot's "Brain Gain" first appeared in The New Yorker. In this essay, Talbot aims to get the point across to her audience that neuroenhancers are used frequently by college students. Adderall and Ritalin are drugs that are designed to help adults and children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which are now being abused by individuals who are undiagnosed, who are taking these stimulants for, "non-medical" purposes (Talbot 701). Talbot’s essay targets people, who do not believe in using the neuroenhancing drugs without a prescription. Talbot achieves these goals by interviewing a former college graduate from
Ice, crank, meth, crystal, tweak, go fast otherwise known as Crystal Methamphetamine, in the United States is at epidemic levels. 1
According to Benedict Carey, taking pills to enhance performance in academia is flourishing. Throughout his argument he talks about how individuals are using pills such as Adderall or Provigil to help boost one’s abilities. In his perspective he sees taking stimulants as a horrendous problem within the academic field. The problem with his argument is he is not staying open minded; he stayed in a complete narrow mindset weakening his argument against pills being taken to improve academic success.
As a college student, the amount of students on powerful meds for ADHD and ADD is shocking. It is a topic seen in every classroom and heard in many dialogues. Conversations can be overheard frequently about how easy meds are to get and how effortless it is to receive a diagnosis. However, while I know that a vast number of students are taking prescription drugs for ADHD, I don’t think that I ever realized the full extent to which this disorder was effecting America’s youth. It wasn’t until I spent my time volunteering as a paraprofessional in a fourth grade classroom that I felt I truly understood the weight that the number of ADHD diagnosis’s were having on our nation’s children. The supervising teacher I was working with told me that in her classroom of 22 children, six of them were on some sort of prescription medication for ADHD, and many parents that I spoke to tended to blow off the risk factors involved, remarking that the drugs improved their school performance. I was shocked at this figure, especially because after working with the children, even on the days that they forgot to take their medicine, I found that by using different methods of instruction, many of the children didn’t seem to have much less trouble focusing than the children who did not have ADHD. So when we were assigned this paper, I set out to disprove the myth that children who act out in school have must ADHD and need to be put on prescription drugs in order to do well in school.
Drug abuse is part of everyday life, most of us know someone who is or was abusing drug at some point. A way to simplify a difficult time in our life, we find an exit in a product that numbs our brain to the surrounding. People find addiction through drugs, activities and action that creates chemical reaction within our bodies. Whether you love jumping off the empire state building or inject yourself with a drug, you are looking for a high that your body enjoys. The body creates chemicals which stop our self-control. According to the CDC website, “Deaths from drug overdose have been rising steadily over the past two decades and have become the leading cause of injury death in the United States.” (Birnbaum HG, web).
In the United States today, drug use, substance abuse, and addiction are consistently growing dilemmas! At a young age we are asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Answers vary from doctor, police officer, astronaut, etc.; it is hard to image an individual saying, “I want to be addicted to drugs.” However, society witness’s individuals tumbling into drug addiction or other forms of addiction daily. This, in consequence, can cripple and prevent any person from accomplishing their childhood dreams. Addiction has many forms; this is evident in Requiem for a Dream, Darren Aronofsky’s critically renowned film, centered on the effects of drug use and misuse. The film conveys how quickly an individual can transition from recreational use to a drug addictive lifestyle. The film also addresses the pressing question, “Are legal and illegal drugs equivalent in terms of addiction?” Contrary to popular belief, drug dependence is not at all exclusive to illicit drugs and the “addicts” which confide in them. This is conveyed in the film through the evolution of Sara Goldfarb’s (Ellen Burstyn) character. A widowed mother, who becomes physiologically consumed on diet pills in hopes to be in peak condition when appearing on a game show. This molds another compelling topic: to what degree do drugs alter an individual’s physical
Research shows that sleep is a necessity in order for someone to be able to perform at their maximum potential. College students are no exception to the rule and are often at a greater risk to suffer from conditions that accompany sleep deprivation. Regardless of the time period, a college student must be well rested in order to perform at his or her best in terms of physical performance, memorization capabilities, and test-taking abilities. Also, without adequate sleep, the person will be more susceptible to illnesses, both mental and physical. In conclusion, I believe that sleep deprivation among college students is extremely common and has a direct effect on how well that student will perform or feel.
Amphetamines are typically used to provide the same effect that pure adrenaline does. The drug is specified for people with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity as well as narcolepsy, although if you decide to abuse the drug and use it for recreational purposes you may start to feel paranoia and nervousness. Using amphetamines can also put a strain on the circulatory system by causing the user's blood pressure to increase suddenly. (Amphetamine) Long term psychological effects of the drug can cause something called amphetamine psychosis which is much like paranoid schizophrenia. This could lead towards hallucinations, paranoid delusions, and obsessions. (Amphetamine)