That one little pill will propel Hampton through the rest of her day, whether there are class projects or a study session she’s trying to tackle.

It’s a drug the MSU student started using sporadically while taking college classes as a high school senior. It’s something she’s continued to use as a new Spartan this year — Adderall.

Hampton, who asked her real name not be used because of potential legal ramifications, doesn’t have a prescription for the drug, but said taking Adderall isn’t a big deal for her.

“I get shaky sometimes,” she said. “But it doesn’t freak me out; it’s normal. It helps me focus, read more in a shorter amount of time and retain things better.”

Hampton’s not the only MSU student using the drug to get an academic edge.

More than 13 percent of MSU students reported illegally using Adderall or other unprescribed stimulants within the past year, according to a spring 2010 study by the MSU Office for Survey Research.

First approved by the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for pediatric use in 1996, Adderall since has become a common medicinal control for those diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

As of 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated more than 4 million children and adolescents had been diagnosed with ADHD and millions more had been prescribed Adderall to help control their condition.

And this kind of distribution has opened up the perceived wonders of the pills to virtually anyone who wants them, Hampton said.

Active ingredients

An amphetamine-based drug, Adderall works by affecting dopamine levels in the brain, said Matt Cabrey, a spokesman for Shire, the global pharmaceutical company that first introduced Adderall XR in 2001.

Initial versions of the drug required users to take the drug twice daily in order to control ADHD symptoms, Cabrey said.

But with the introduction of longer-lasting Adderall XR and the generic versions that followed, patients were free to take their medication only once a day.

This freed up nurses and counselors needing to administer the drug and saved students from awkward questioning by peers, Cabrey said.

“Amphetamines are, for the most part, stimulants,” he said.

“They’re classified as Schedule II controlled substances by the (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration) and are a very serious medication. Adderall is powerful — powerful and dangerous if not used according to prescription labeling.”

And yet the number of students abusing prescription drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin increased by 93 percent between 1993-2005, according to a national study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

Listed with drugs such as morphine, cocaine and oxycodone, Adderall is a Schedule II drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, standards.

Schedule II drugs are those that have an approved medical use in the U.S.

But they also are associated with high abuse levels; they also have the potential for users to develop a psychological or physical dependency.

The drug even can be classified as what some call “speed,” DEA spokeswoman Barbara Carreno said.
“Speed is a street term people use for amphetamines,” she said.

“Adderall is an amphetamine and as such, somebody might call it speed.”

Although safe and effective treatment for those with prescriptions, Cabrey said Adderall should not be taken by those without a prescription.

“It’s against the recommendations of Shire, the FDA and it’s against the law,” he said.

“The perception out there is that it’s safe to (take it without a prescription) and the reality is, it’s not.”

Ask your physician … or your neighbor

Despite warnings against unprescribed use, Cabrey said Adderall is effective in helping those who take the medicine to concentrate and stay more focused, one of the most common effects being wakefulness.

“People have trouble falling asleep,” he said.

And that’s precisely the reason students, such as MSU student John Victor, are at times in pursuit of the drug.

Victor, who also asked that his real name not be used because he took Adderall without a prescription, took the drug and became addicted to it during a six-month period.

First taking the drug for academic purposes, Adderall soon became a recreational drug for Victor, along with Ritalin and other prescription drugs.

“I wasn’t paying for it because I lived with people who had prescriptions,” he said. “It was kind of unlimited, like living in a pharmacy. It was bad.”

Victor said snorting the drug was his method of choice because Adderall worked much more quickly if taken that way.

“It became an experimental drug thing,” he said.

“I went to see a counselor about it and they offered to give me a prescription for it, so I could do it legally, but I thought it wasn’t the best thing. It was definitely addictive.”

After talking to his parents and mentors, Victor said he eventually got straightened out.

“It’s really twisted and shows how backwards things are,” he said.

“I went to (the counselor) to tell them I had a serious problem and they pretty much gave me the pick of a prescription drug.”

Students such as Kate Cross, who also asked for her real name not be used because of illegal use, had a different experience. Cross said she disliked the drug’s effects from the very beginning.

“I bought some off of my friend once freshman year because I thought, ‘Everyone’s trying it and telling me it’s amazing for studying,’” Cross said.

“I took a 20 milligram one and it kept me up for two days straight and didn’t help me at all. I haven’t used it since.”

Rebecca Allen, the alcohol, tobacco and other drugs health educator for Olin Health Center, said she rarely is asked about Adderall.

“The most common comment I get from students regarding Adderall is that it is the most used substance on campus, which is false,” Allen said in an e-mail.

But Cross said many of her friends and classmates use and abuse the drug, including those who have prescriptions and some who don’t.

It’s a drug that’s widely available at MSU through those who have legitimate prescriptions, Cross said.
She said that Adderall usually is sold for $5 per 30 milligram pill and for $2 or $3 if the pill is a smaller dosage.

“It depends on the person,” she said. “If someone’s prescription needs to be filled soon, the price goes up.”

Although she’s never seen the drug on campus or used Adderall, nutritional science sophomore Andrea Bennett said she hears about Adderall all the time.

“It’s not that hard to find on campus, if someone wanted to find it,” she said.

Allen said abuse of the drug is a matter of concern for the university.

“For those who are using the substance frequently and who are suffering the negative side-effects, it is a problem,” she said.

“If a student is bound and determined to try it, do so with great caution. Use the substance in small doses and make sure all the other areas of your life are well-balanced. Ingest it, do not snort it.”

Side effects may include …

Regardless of its availability and effectiveness, students can face academic, health, legal and financial ramifications if caught with Adderall and no prescription.

Although taking the drug might help a student get through an exam or two, Allen said Adderall can be counterproductive to long-term academic success.

“The long and short of it is Adderall will give some students a short-term advantage, but ultimately that advantage is short-lived,” she said.

Using Adderall without physician approval opens students up to health risks, Cabrey said.

Some students, for example, could be completely unaware of an underlying cardiac condition, he said, leaving them wide open to a potential adverse cardiovascular event caused by the stimulant.

“There is a misperception out there that prescription medication must be safe because it comes out of a clean, manufacturing facility that’s been FDA approved instead of a less than sanitary manufacturing facility in a warehouse or someone’s garage somewhere and that’s simply not true,” he said.

Almost 8,000 drug-related emergency department visits in 2004 in the U.S. involved either methylphenidates or amphetamines, like Adderall, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Services Administration’s Drug Abuse Warning Network.

That number most frequently represents nonmedical use of the drug, the network found.

If students are caught with an unprescribed medication like Adderall, they can face misdemeanor charges, Carreno said.

Students caught selling the drug face felony charges, she said.

Beyond that, Carreno said students should be careful because using the drug illegally can put their financial situation at risk.

“Students should know that they can lose their eligibility for federal college loans if they have convictions on these drug violations,” she said.

Students have better options to succeed academically than taking Adderall, Allen said.

“There are substance abuse services available at the (MSU) Counseling Center free of charge to MSU students,” she said.

“I would strongly encourage students who are concerned about their use of any substance to contact the Counseling Center for assistance.”

Although he’s tried a bit of everything, Victor said he doesn’t recommend students get wrapped up in taking Adderall frequently.

“Obviously, be very cautious of your actions and if you’re thinking it’s the easy way out to help you study it can be very addictive,” he said.

“Be careful.”