Exam time

*Some names have been withheld.

Final exams and term papers have again taken over VCU. With them come the modern rites of passage for stressed-out students: all-nighters, endless cups of coffee and for a growing percentage of crammers, Adderall.

“It is like the leprechaun with the pot of gold,” said Jason, a 21-year-old senior English major with an Adderall prescription. “All the kids are after me lucky charms. My lucky charms just happen to be amphetamines. Someone hears you have Adderall, and everyone becomes ravenous, clawing at you, trying to get you to give them some.”

Jason has taken the stimulant amphetamine for the past year, replacing a Ritalin prescription he took since he was a junior in high school. After each of the three refills of his 60-pill prescription, Jason said word got around fast. Each time about 15 to 20 people have asked him for pills.

“Everyone wants it,” he said. “The demand is outrageous.”

Originally prescribed as an appetite suppressant in the 1970s, Adderall is now typically used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. The drug works because it tends to enhance mental focus. Such focus, however, has made Adderall highly attractive to un-prescribed users for studying, perhaps even surpassing the popularity of more traditional stimulants like caffeine, which merely keeps its users awake longer.

Since the Food and Drug Administration approved Adderall for treating ADHD and attention deficit disorder in 1996, it rapidly became an underground college phenomenon. Studies have shown that by 2005, up to 20 percent of college students had taken Adderall or its older cousin Ritalin at least once for studying, writing papers or taking exams, according to The New York Times. Most of such use is illegal.

Jason said he thinks the true percentage of users is higher.

“I would say 50 percent of the college population has used Adderall or some other pharmaceutical stimulant like Ritalin or Dexedrine,” he said. “Even people who say, ‘I do not do drugs, I do not smoke marijuana’ or ‘I only drink occasionally’ will break the rules a little bit for a better grade.”

“Someone hears you have Adderall, and everyone becomes ravenous, clawing at you, trying to get you to give them some.”
-Jason, a senior

David Nelson, a physician with University Student Health Services, said much of the widespread abuse stems from the 500 percent increase in ADHD diagnosis over the past decade.

“There is more medication out there to be diverted away from its appropriate use,” Nelson said. “It is alarming.”

Despite his prescription use of the drug, Jason said he still felt it was risky.

“It is dangerous because it allows you to function at a high level,” he said. “You can go on with your life and actually do everything better and have more energy.”

Nelson said that because of the benefits, the drug can become psychologically addictive.

Jason agrees. “If you have a prescription, and you want to get something done, it is really easy to just grab a pill, pop it and shooo,” he said.

Getting things done faster, however, is not Adderall’s only effect.

“Taking it late, trying to study through the night for an exam or a paper, it tends to disrupt the sleep-wake cycle” Nelson said. “That is not a healthy practice.”

Typical side effects also include an increased heart rate, high blood pressure, nervousness and dry mouth, but sometimes the unintended effects can be more extreme.

Early in 2005, Health Canada, the country’s drug regulatory agency, suspended all Adderall sales in Canada after studies linked the drug to 20 sudden deaths in the United States from 1999 to 2003.

Studies by Shire Pharmaceuticals suggest 58 mg a day is a lethal dose of Adderall for a 140-pound person. Considering the common 30 mg-sized pills given with prescriptions, illegal drug sales could possibly lead to overdoses among those unaware of the side effects.

Although Jason said he warns friends about mixing Adderall with other medications, it is hard to ensure their safety. One night he gave six 30 mg pills to a student who immediately crushed and snorted them all at once.

“It is wild to me how crazy people go, saying, ‘Oh my God, people are drinking underage,'” Jason said. “But these same kids are on amphetamines. Because the results seem good and it does not hinder anything, though, usually people are okeydokey with it.”

While Nelson said there is a risk of sudden death – approximately five people out of every million Adderall users – the number of incidents is not high.

“It is not insignificant, but it is quite a small number,” Nelson said.

Through Dec. 19, James Branch Cabell Library will facilitate hordes of good-grade seeking students by opening its doors 24 hours a day on weekdays. Although Adderall does not seem absent from library-goers’ agendas, caffeine still appears to be students’ drug of choice.

Jillian, a sophomore anthropology major, said caffeine will be essential in the upcoming weeks as she worked Friday evening on a 10-page archaeology term paper at Cabell Library.

“I have three finals and two papers due next week, so coffee is what I am going to be living off of,” she said.

One security guard at Cabell Library said students always cheer when Red Bull promoters park outside during exam week and hand out free cans of the highly caffeinated beverage. Some students have been concerned about whether the Java 901 caf