Adderall misuse:
access and consequences
Written by Sophie Bates, Dylan Goetz, Andrea Perlberg and Zackary Boyer
Bay City senior, 21
Breeann
Le Tourneau
Uses Adderall without a prescription.
Frequency of use: Often.
“Adderall, when I take it, makes me feel really focused and very motivated. It makes me want to go out and do things.”
Reed City senior, 23
Logan
Jones
Uses Adderall without a prescription.
Frequency of use: Once.
“The college culture around Adderall is more related to the pressure to do well and I think people turn to Adderall because it’s an easy way to help them focus and do that they need to do.”
Vassar sophomore, 20
Delany
Raymond
Uses Adderall without a prescription.
Frequency of use: Less than five times.
"The first time I took Adderall was last semester around finals [...] I think I took ot mostly because it was offered to me and I had never tried it before and I was super stressed.”
During her freshman and sophomore years at Central Michigan University, Bella Robles, a 21-year-old senior majoring in criminal justice, from Fontana California, was struggling to balance academics, her social life and playing for Central Michigan University’s softball program.
​
“First, I came into the Academic Center and was having a lot of problems with just school and being able to focus in on exams, or trying to get work done,” Robles said.
​
Robles went to Jennie Walker, one of the academic learning specialists available for student athletes, for help. Walker sent Robles to Student Health Services and recommended that she be evaluated by a counselor.
​
“I talked to them about my problems that I was having and then they were able to run tests for me,” Robles said.
​
The tests had questions about why she couldn’t focus, what she was thinking about and if she was going through any other stressful issues. She then set up multiple face-to-face appointments with counselors in hopes of helping them to understand what was going on inside her head.
​
Shortly after, Robles was prescribed Adderall.
Robles is among 1.7 percent of young adults who have a stimulant prescription, according to a study published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. However, other research indicates that the number of young adults who use stimulant drugs, most specifically Adderall, is much larger than that.
In 2018, approximately 11.1 percent of college students used Adderall without a prescription, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. These numbers vary by demographics, with about 14 percent of college males misusing Adderall and only about 9 percent of females misusing Adderall, the research states. However, Adderall misuse among college students is difficult to track and statistics vary between 5 and 35 percent.
Not only is Adderall difficult to track, though it is believed to be widely used, it is also not a focus for police. Law enforcement usually prioritizes cracking down on hard drugs, so Adderall often gets forgotten in discussions of campus drug abuse.
College students who misuse Adderall often obtain the drug through friends or acquaintances who have an Adderall prescription. Students with prescriptions are usually diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD, though Adderall can be used to treat narcolepsy and other psychiatric disorders.
The DSM-5, the standard manual used by physicians to diagnose ADHD, describes the condition as, “A persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development.” The same manual dictates five criteria patients must exhibit to warrant an ADHD diagnosis.
Once students are diagnosed with ADHD and acquire an Adderall prescription, some give or sell the pills to others for usually between $4 and $7 per pill, students said. A 2018 survey of 1,300 college students by the University of Michigan student newspaper, the Michigan Daily, found that 37 percent of college students with an Adderall prescription had either given or sold the drug to another student. The survey also found that of the 25 percent of college students who said they had used Adderall for school work or exams only 8.95 percent had a prescription.
Christopher Arhcengeli, an assistant professor at CMU and the program director of the Associate Child Psychiatry Fellowship, said he is well aware the Adderall he prescribes may be given to students who don’t have a prescription.
“It is certainly on the minds of most doctors who prescribe Adderall within this population,” Arhcengeli said. “People who get it from friends or buy it are frequently misusing it in some other way — increasing the dose, snorting it, etc. And they don't know if the medication could be dangerous for them. Also, it ends up making it harder for the people who actually need it to get it.”
When prescribing Adderall, Arhcengeli and doctors like him warn students not to give their pills to people who don’t have a prescription.
“In specific populations, such as college campuses, stimulant misuse can be a big problem,” he said. “We shouldn't have to tell someone — college students are smart enough to know that they are breaking the law by doing so [selling Adderall].”
​
Amphetamines, like Adderall, are classified as a schedule II drug by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency because they are highly likely to be abused and can lead to a physical or psychological dependence. In Michigan, possession of Adderall without a prescription is punishable by a $1,000 fine, up to one year in prison or both. Selling or possession with intent to sell an amphetamine is a felony.
However, because of Adderall’s harmless reputation as “The Study Drug,” both users and the people who try to stop illegal usage usually don’t view the drug as being dangerous.
Louise Harder, a higher education coordinator with the Prevention Network, a federally-funded state resource for drug use prevention in Michigan, explained that despite Adderall being used illegally, it normally takes a backseat to alcohol, marijuana, vape and cigarettes. Harder said that most of her work is focused on the big three — alcohol, marijuana and vaping, or the use of nicotine; Adderall often gets lost.
The drug is most typically used at the end of the semester. There is a correlation between marijuana usage among college students at the start of the semester and Adderall usage at the end of the semester, according to research from the Coalition to Prevent ADHD Medication Misuse.
The same research noted that students’ motives for use were most often for academic reasons. Things like concentrating while studying, the ability to study for a longer period of time, not get tired and increased alertness are some of the most popular motives for using Adderall illegally.
Since it isn’t thought of as dangerous, those who have a valid prescription also feel pressured to share their medication. Well over half of students are approached by others looking to misuse their medication, the research states.
​
Not only is Adderall not thought of very highly in the eyes of law enforcement, but it is overshadowed by more problematic forms of drugs that ravish college campuses. Because of that, the 11 percent of students who use Adderall don’t need to be cautious about their dealings.
​
According to the article “Study Drug” Abuse by College Students: What You Need to Know by Simon Essig Aberg, the mindset of parents, students, college administrators and law enforcement towards Adderall abuse have been uncertain. Since it’s used for studying the drug is often presumed to be just a little different than caffeine.
“However, if students have serious attention issues, they should see a doctor for a medical diagnosis instead of asking a friend to illegally use Adderall or other prescription stimulants. At the very least, students need to be aware of the serious risks that can occur,” Aberg said.
While Adderall can help students struggling with focus or academics, for Robles the drug’s side effects weren’t worth its benefits.
“I kind of just chose to get off of it just because I felt like it was kind of addicting to be on, and I felt that if I kept using it — it just wasn’t good,” Robles said. “I would stay up super late, even when I didn’t have to; and it was just kind of something that I relied on at that point and I started to realize it, and that’s why I got off of it.”
Video by Andrea Perlberg, sidebar photos by Sophie Bates, graphics by Dylan Goetz.