Business student Travis, who chose to keep his last name and year in school private, said he uses Adderall without a prescription to help him stay awake.
James Galligan, professor of pharmacology and toxicology and director of the Neuroscience Program at MSU, said Adderall is usually prescribed in the form of an extended release tablet.
“This means that there is not a high concentration of the drug in the blood at one time,” Galligan said. “The concentration is lower and at a stable level.”
However, some college students might crush the tablet and use the powder directly.
Travis said he will sometimes take the powder from the tablet, put it in water and drink it.
Galligan said what Travis does isn’t as bad as snorting the powder directly.
“When you take a tablet and snort it to get high and to party, the drug is not going through the GI tract,” Galligan said. “It is going through the nasal mucosa and straight into the bloodstream. This makes the concentration of the drug in the blood increase quickly.”
This increases the risk of running into adverse effects and overdose, Galligan said.
Adderall, along with drugs like Ritalin and Concerta, are commonly referred to as “study drugs” by students and universities alike.
Travis said he occasionally uses Adderall as an energy boost, even though he is not prescribed the drug.
He said he is able to obtain Adderall from his close friends who are prescribed the drug for their ADHD.
“I take it after I have a huge test, and I was up until 4 or 5 a.m. the night before,” Travis said.
He said he takes it so he won’t fall asleep in class.
“I took it once recreationally, but not to party,” Travis said. “I took it to stay up and play videogames. I was never one to try to get high for parties or do dangerous mixes of drugs.”
Though Travis used Adderall more than once, he admits that he doesn’t know the effects the drug can have on his body.
“I know it is a stimulant,” Travis said. “I am not sure of the complete medical effects ... but I don’t take it every day.”
Adderall is an amphetamine, an addictive drug that can potentially be dangerous.
It affects the dopamine reward circuit in the brain, which causes the “rush” associated with addictive stimulants.
“All addictive drugs act on that system,” Galligan said. “Someone who doesn’t have ADHD and uses the drug can change how their pathway works. Now, in order to feel normal, you need the drug.”
Though Travis said he doesn’t know all of the effects Adderall can have on him, he thinks it is important for people to know.
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“I think people should know what could potentially happen,” Travis said. “I think people should know what it does to them. When I take it, I feel like I have a lot more energy. It makes me feel a lot more social around people, it heightens me being an extrovert. I am a lot more alert and aware of my surroundings,”
Though Adderall is known as a “study drug,” it does not improve memory or learning in any way.
According to a 2011 study published in “The Journal of Neuroscience,” repeated exposure to amphetamines showed significantly impaired decision making skills and cognitive and emotional processing.
“If you are not prescribed Adderall, I don’t recommend you to take it to increase your performance,” Galligan said.
