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The Clarion
May 4. 2012
from page 7
adderall abuse
“He didn’t verify anything,” she says. “He
gave me a ton of Adderall—over 90 capsules
at a time. It was a really ridiculous amount,
and I saved them all up.”
Soon Bianca found herself in a dangerous
cycle: a pill in the morning would prevent
her from sleeping at night, and she found the
only way to avoid being tired the day after
was to take more Adderall. When she came
to Harvard, she brought a stash of more than
100 pills with her.
She stopped taking them after her boyfriend
threatened to end their relationship if she
continued.
“There are days when taking Adderall would
be a smart choice for that day, when it really
would make me so much more productive,
but I think for me it has been a really good
decision not to take it,” she says now.
Bianca sold her remaining pills for $250 to
a fellow freshman—Jessica.
“It’s not something I use all the time, but it’s
there for me to fall back on,” Jessica says.
SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE
“There is a prevailing notion that since
doctors prescribe medications such as
Adderall, that they must be safe,” University
Health Services spokesperson Nanci Martin
writes in an e-mailed statement. But despite
this perception, Martin writes that stimulants
like Adderall can cause cardiac problems.
Harvard Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisors
outline further risks of stimulants like Adderall
on their website—including addiction, stroke,
psychosis, and schizophrenia.
But labels and doctor warnings fail to
prevent some students from popping pills.
Though statistics on Adderall misuse vary
widely, studies show that prescription
drug abuse occurs on campuses across the
country.
The 2009 National Survey on Drug Use
and Health found that 6.4 percent of full
time college students age 18 to 22 misused
Adderall that year. The number did not
include students diagnosed with an attention
deficit disorder, even though experts claim
that some students fake symptoms in order
to get study pills.
Closer to home, a 2011 survey by the
Boston Globe found that among an “informal
sampling” of students at four Boston-area
colleges, 15 percent admitted to taking
prescription drugs, most frequently Adderall,
for stress relief, increased focus, and other
unintended purposes.
Peter, a junior whose name has been
changed, worries that doctors might discover
long-term effects in the future, even though
his occasional use of Adderall has not
produced any immediate side effects.
“There is no way you can take a drug to
make your brain work at twice the speed and
intensity as normal without having some
consequences,” he says.
THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON
ADDERALL
Despite concerns about Adderall abuse,
Stanford law professor Henry Greely argues
that using prescription drugs to boost studying
should be as commonly accepted as drinking
caffeine.
Greely and his six co-authors said in a
2008 article in Nature that study pills like
Adderall have “much to offer individuals
and society.”
The article counters critics of study pills
who charge that they are “unnatural” by
pointing out that nearly every aspect of
modem life—food, shelter, clothing, medical
care—bears “little relation to our species’
‘natural’ state.”
These dmgs “should be viewed in the same
general category as education, good health
habits, and information technology—ways
that our uniquely innovative species tries to
improve itself,” says the article.
Peter disagrees. Even though he uses study
pills to increase concentration, he admits that
their use on college campuses gives students
unfair advantages.
“Adderall is absolutely cheating,” he says.
“Coffee and other natural stimulants keep
you awake, but Adderall keeps you focused.
I read an entire course’s assigned reading in
a five-hour period. That is not natural. That
was cheating.”
Jessica has a different take. “I don’t think
it’s cheating to take study drugs,” she says.
“But I do admit that I sometimes get annoyed
with people who fake a prescription. They get
extra time on tests, and 1 think a lot of people
get prescribed Adderall knowing full well
they do not have ADD.”
As Jessica knows from first-hand experience,
AdderalTs power to increase focus comes at
a mental as well as physical cost. The dmg is
known to impair creativity and alter thought
patterns.
“The papers I write on Adderall are nowhere
near the same quality as the ones I write not
on Adderall,” she says. “They are wordy and
convoluted. It’s like I can’t step back and see
the big picture, but at the time it feels like I’m
writing smart stuff.”
Yet time-crunched students juggling
competitive classes, leadership positions,
job and graduate school applications, and
social lives turn to study pills for an extra
edge anyway.
As Jessica puts it, “desperate times call for
desperate measures.”
From page 1
SGA
tant Dean of Students Megan Walters, who
helped facilitate the election process, ensuring
the voting went smoothly and helped in the
final counting of ballots.
Elections at Brevard College were not
always this way. Just three or four years ago,
elections typically took place over several
days, with guarantees of secret ballots by
candidates, preservation of voter integrity
(i.e., making sure each student voted only
once), and ample opportunities for voters to
learn more about candidates in The Clarion,
in candidate forums, and other informal meet
ings with candidates.
And the number of students who voted then
regularly exceeded 400 students, 60 percent
or more of the student body, according to Tra
vis Wireback, SGA president 2008-2009 and
editor in chief of The Clarion in 2009-2010.
Compare that number to this year’s tally
of 242 votes in a single day, which includes,
according to Matthews, only 21 commuting
students. Assuming a conservative estimate
of 600 eligible voters, that is a voter turnout
of only 40 percent.
THE Clarion
Senior Staff
Editor in Chief .... Park Baker
Managing Editor. . . Patrick Veilleux
Copy Editor Olivia Fawcett
Copy Editor Melissa Sullebarger
Campus News.... Cassie Smatana
Opinion Position Open
Arts & Life Alex McCracken
Sports Chantel Azevedo
Photography Thea Dunn
Layout & Design . . . Thea Dunn
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Other Staff
Carolina Anderson Elena Reynolds
Carly Callahan Josh Smith
Tyler Crotts Alisha VanderSyde
Juiia Glass Caleb Welborn
Josh Mower
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