WASHINGTON — Coverage of the rigor of college academics often takes a back seat to reporting on the partying that occurs on some campuses, which includes the use of illicit drugs and alcohol. But some university health centers also find prescription-drug use for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, known as ADHD, medications also a problem, as students even without attention deficit, try to gain a competitive edge during college.
In one study of undergraduates at a large, public, Southeastern research university in the United States in the mid-2000s, as many as 34 percent of the 1,811 students surveyed reported the illegal use of these medications. The authors, whose work was published in the Journal of American College Health, reported that students used the drugs “in periods of high academic stress and found them to reduce fatigue while increasing reading comprehension, interest, cognition and memory, and that most had little information about the drug and found procurement to be both easy and stigma-free.”
Many students don’t realize the legal and physical consequences that can result from the abuse of these medications. Side effects of ADHD medications’ abuse can be mild, including headaches, stomach aches, difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite and increased irritability, but also can be more severe, in some cases causing palpitations, an inability to lower one’s heart rate after exercise and neurosis. ADHD medications can also react poorly with other medications.
Dr. David Reitman, medical director at the American University Student Health Center, said there are three illegal activities most commonly associated with ADHD medications: diversion, misuse and performance enhancement. All are “flatly illegal,” says Reitman. Misuse is when someone has a legitimate prescription for ADHD medications, but is abusing them, taking more than the prescribed dosage, or is giving them to a colleague. The most common use is for performance enhancement, when students without a legitimate need for the medications are taking them to focus for long study or work sessions.
The recent legalization of marijuana in the D.C. area may also lead to a rise in abuse of ADHD medications. “Even if you’re just smoking marijuana on the weekends with your friends, it’s going to remain in the fat cells of your brain and leech out over several days,” said Dr. Reitman, who holds board certifications in adolescent medicine, addiction medicine and pediatrics. “That’s going to take away motivation; it’s going to take away ability to organize, take away ability to focus. And then you’re trying to take these medications to try to compensate.”
This may result in students becoming locked into dependence on ADHD medications, as they need them in order to recover their mental faculties after recreational drug and alcohol use, even if only occasionally.