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| Adderall XR |
There’s an old saying that claims time flies when you’re having fun. But nothing makes time fly faster than finals, in many New York University students’ opinion. Nearly everyone interviewed agreed: As work piles up, not all the hours in every day seem to hold 60 minutes. And, with papers to write and exams to study for, every student interviewed knew the importance of milking a day’s 24 hours for all they were worth. For some, this meant pulling all-nighters and settling in for the long-haul at NYU’s Bobst library. For others, however, prescription medication provided a quick fix. Costing as little as $2.50 a pop, Adderall, “the study drug,” was an easy solution.
“It makes more things possible,” said one NYU sophomore, 20, majoring in linguistics, “Like a Scooby Snack. You experience a linear path of thought, and it yields results the first time. You really start to think ‘I can’t do anything without taking this miracle pill.’”
Adderall, or a combination of dextroamphetamine and amphetamine, is a prescription drug traditionally prescribed to treat attention-deficit disorders and narcolepsy, according to the Mayo Clinic, a nonprofit medical research group. But for many NYU students taking these pills without a prescription, Adderall has easily become their illegal substance of choice. These students, however, don’t always pop these pills for the high. Focus is what these students are after, and euphoria is just a side effect.
“It’s amazing,” said one NYU sophomore, 19, majoring in English literature and earning a double minor in law and society and psychology. “I felt like I was the best version of me possible because, not only was I getting everything done, but I was doing everything faster and better.”
For this student, taking one 10 milligram pill of Adderall, a basic dose that cost her $5, made it much easier to finish the 800 pages of reading she was assigned on average each week.
“It was the quality of the work and the whole processing everything that made it awesome,” she said. “I would read something and I would just process it instantly, and I’d remember it the next day, too. That would never happen if I did my homework without Adderall. I was like superwoman.”
Other students agree: Adderall is a magic pill. Not only does it allow students to work faster, but it can actually make studying fun.
“It was weird,” said the linguistics major. “It made writing my paper euphoric. I wouldn’t stop revising it. I kept looking for more work to do.”
For another NYU sophomore, 20, majoring in politics and minoring in English literature, taking Adderall allowed for efficiency: It made her “meticulous” when doing her work.
“It makes you concentrate,” she said, “So you go through things faster. If you’re doing something else, like cleaning your apartment, you’ll be doing it for four hours. Adderall makes you a perfectionist.”
While some students taking Adderall without a prescription buy their pills through a third-party drug dealer, most find it cheapest to buy from a friend. Often, this friend will have a legitimate prescription and take Adderall to treat actual medical symptoms like ADHD.
“She legitimately needs it,” said one NYU sophomore, 20, majoring in psychology and minoring in creative writing, when talking about who he gets his Adderall from. “But her doctor gave her a bunch extra. Just in case, but she never uses it all.”
This student bought four 30 milligram pills off of his friend for $10. In his case, knowing someone clearly had its advantages. Students who buy from a third-party dealer can pay as much as $30 for a 30 milligram pill.
It’s a steep price, but many students find the A they earn on a paper worth the expense. In some cases, students are unable to work without taking a pill first. Because Adderall is addictive, many students build up a tolerance to the medication. After a while, the 10 milligram pill they were taking no longer provides the focus these students need. Often, instead of quitting, students simply up their dosage.
“When I try to write an essay or do an outline when I’m off it, I get really annoyed,” said the politics major. “It’s so much more comfortable, more fluid when you’re working on the pill. It puts you in a bubble and you don’t give a shit about anything else.”
When she started taking Adderall, this politics major initially took half of a 10 milligram pill. Now, she often needs the full 30 milligram capsule, which she buys from a friend.
“It usually costs about $5. Sometimes more if [my friend] is running low.”
For some students, however, the toll that Adderall takes is more than financial. Often, that A a student earned on a paper also comes with serious health risks.
Blurred vision, lack of appetite, anxiety, and an irregular heartbeat are just four of the 43 known side effects of Adderall listed on the Mayo Clinic’s website. Many students taking Adderall, however, prefer to remain ignorant of the risks surrounding this central nervous system stimulant. None of the seven students interviewed who took Adderall did any research before taking their first dose.
“It was my first paper for [my philosophy class],” said the linguistics major, recalling his first time taking Adderall. “It was my first essay of my freshman year, and I was scared as shit. Someone told me there was a magic pill, and I figured ‘Why not?’” “I knew it was given to people with ADD,” he continued, “And I knew you weren’t supposed to take it past 5 p.m.”
What he didn’t know, however, was that Adderall would make his heart feel like it was beating outside of his chest.
“I felt like I was going to die,” he said. “My body wanted to shut down, but my brain wouldn’t stop.”
The euphoria from working, however, canceled out any major concerns that he had for his health at the time.
“I knew something wasn’t right, but I just kept working. I couldn’t sleep. It was probably one of the worst experiences of my life.”
Since then, the linguistics major has not taken Adderall again. “It was my first and only time,” he said.
Other students, however, are willing to put up with the heart palpitations, a side effect experienced by all but two of the students interviewed who had taken Adderall.
“It’s not good for you, and I know that,” said a NYU sophomore, 20, majoring in journalism and Middle Eastern studies. “But it helps. You take it, and you want to do your work so badly. For me, it’s a last resort kind of thing. But it’s nice to know that there’s an option.” “It’s not a good option,” she later admitted, “But it’s there.”
Along with the heart palpitations, this student had also experienced a loss of appetite after taking Adderall. “Some people don’t eat when they’re on Adderall, and that makes their crash worse.”
For many, the crash that ends every high from the pills is the worst side effect.
“You just don’t want to work anymore,” said the journalism and Middle Eastern studies major. “You go from very, very high to very, very low really quickly.”
Other students have experienced headaches and mood swings that often range in the extreme.
“I feel like it takes a toll on my social life,” said the student majoring in English literature. “When I have the lows and the crashes, I isolate myself. I get really moody and reclusive and snappy. There was one week where I didn’t even see anyone because I just wanted to sit in the corner and cry.”
In this student’s case, one 10 milligram pill of Adderall can sometimes lead to a week of depression.
Other students supplement Adderall with marijuana to deal with the crash.
“Weed makes you mellow,” said the philosophy major. “It balances out the low you feel when coming off of Adderall. It makes it easier.”
Health risks aside, there is also the ethical question for taking Adderall to help with academics. Taking Adderall without a prescription is illegal, and some students think that it gives others an unfair advantage.
“I think it’s unfair,” said a NYU student studying international relations who preferred not to be named because friends of hers take Adderall. “It’s almost like taking steroids, and that’s illegal.” “We all have focus issues,” she added, “But I don’t take anything to get my work done.”
Many students, however -- even those not taking Adderall -- are hesitant to call this self-medication cheating.
“I don’t think it’s cheating,” said John Wang, a junior at NYU studying finance. “Taking steroids is more like cheating because it magnifies the amount of work you put in. Adderall doesn’t magnify your intelligence, it just helps you work faster. It’s abuse, that’s for sure. But I wouldn’t call it cheating.”
All of the students interviewed who take Adderall agreed. No one felt smarter after taking Adderall, just more productive.
“Your ideas are still your ideas,” said the politics major. “It doesn’t put them in your head. It doesn’t make you smarter. It just makes you focus.”
Other students are quick to point out the similarities between Adderall and caffeine.
“There are some people who will chug seven 5-hour ENERGY drinks and be up for three days. It’s pretty much the same thing,” the journalism and Middle Eastern studies major said. “Adderall just gives you the motivation and the extra push that you might not have on your own. It’s not an intelligence thing, it’s a will-power thing.”
Another NYU student majoring in Spanish and Russian who asked to be called Alexandria said that taking Adderall was like drinking coffee. “They’re both stimulants,” she said. “Does that mean you’re cheating by taking coffee before a morning class? With Adderall, you’re still doing the work of your own volition.”
Students not on Adderall agree: If taking a stimulant is cheating, then there probably shouldn’t be a Red Bull car parked outside of Bobst the Saturday before finals week.
“You just have to do whatever you need to to get through this,” said Dawoon Lee, a political science major, a cup of coffee in hand. “They’re taking a risk taking those pills. There are side effects. There are consequences. And they know that.”
