SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2015
PART 1 IN A SERIES ON WAYS STUDENTS CHEAT
HIGH
ANXIETY
PRESCRIPTION STIMULANTS SERVE AS NEW AGE STUDY DRUGS
E
STORY BY ITZEL QUINTANA
xams, quizzes and papers are among the many responsibilities students have to balance halfway through the
semester, and it only gets harder as final exams approach.
With busy lives it is easy for students to procrastinate
and wait to study until the day before a test.
While choosing not to sleep at all may seem like the most
logical solution to cramming, 6.4 percent of full-time college
students ages 18 to 22 reported the use of Adderall as a study
aid, a national survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Administration found in 2009.
Full-time students are twice as likely as part-timers to take
Adderall, the survey revealed.
For students facing the pressure of maintaining competitive
GPAs caffeine might not be sufficient. Many students opt for
stronger stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin. These study
drugs boost energy and increase focus, according to students
that take them.
Adderall and Ritalin are prescription amphetamines that are
used to treat ADHD by helping users decrease hyperactivity
and maintain concentration and focus.
While the drug acts to calm down those with attention
disorder, it stimulates those who otherwise don’t need it, triggering the brain receptors responsible for focus, alertness, and
clear thinking.
If not taken in the proper dosage, as prescribed by a doctor,
the user can become addicted and experience serious health
issues such as irregular heartbeat, anxiety, depression and
possibly psychosis.
Adderall and Ritalin are classified as Schedule II Substances
by the Drug Enforcement Administration, alongside cocaine
and methamphetamine. Schedule II drugs have a high potential for abuse.
The DEA classifies drugs, substances and chemicals into five
schedules, depending on the drug’s accepted medical use and
potential for abuse and dependency.
Despite the stimulants requiring a prescription, it isn’t hard
for students to get their hands on them. Student users often
fake symptoms in order to get a prescription or buy them
from a friend, said Sandra Alfaro, a SAC psychological services intern.
“Students seem to think they know how to take Adderall but
they don’t understand that just taking it doesn’t work,” said
Billie Ganong, a staff nurse at the health center.
“I doubt any of the students that did take them did any
better on any test.”
Arguments questioning the ethics of students using stimulants as an easy option to boost their GPA have been brought
up at college campuses across the United States.
“I think using drugs to enhance focus should be considered
cheating because students aren’t really doing any of the work
themselves,” said Alejandro Covarrubias, a mechanical engineering student at SAC.
Some students and staff compare the use of Adderall and
Ritalin in order to get better grades to athletes using steroids
in order to perform better on the field.
“I can see the connections between performance drugs used
by athletes and prescription stimulants but I don’t know if I
would call it cheating, because there are students with those
medical issues that need the drugs,” Alfaro said.
Arguments against classifying the use of study drugs as
cheating brings up the consumption of coffee, Red Bull and
other energy drinks by students in order to stay up later and
increase focus.
Others say that Adderall and Ritalin have no real affect on
people that use them without a prescription. They argue that
instead of helping students stay focused they only intensify
exam day anxiety.
“There is no magic pill that is going to help you get better
grades. The best thing for students to do is consistently study
and get a good night’s sleep,” Ganong said.
NEWS 5