Prescription Drugs In College Students

Among college students, the overall use of drugs has significantly declined due to many laws and regulations that are enforced on the UF campus. Tobacco and smoking is prohibited. However, drug use off campus is not eliminated and may still cause problems with student learning capabilities. The most significant and commonly used drug by college students is marijuana. “Daily marijuana use among college-aged young adults is at its highest since 1980, surpassing daily cigarette smoking for the first time in 2014” (College).

According to Columbia Casa and University of Minnesota (2015), students are facing the demands of coursework, part-time jobs, internships, social obligations and more, many turn to drugs as a way to cope.  More students than ever are taking stimulants, such as Adderall, for example to help students stay awake long enough to study or complete assignments on time. All too often, these prescription drugs are obtained without a legitimate prescription or with legitimate prescription and are selling to friends and others. Students are now exploring many new aspects of their lives and wonder what could come their way. It’s not uncommon for that self-exploration to dip into drug experimentation. Students who are surround themselves with other experimenters that are trying recreational and performance-enhancer drugs are more likely to try these substances for themselves. These habits lead to a drop in a college students academic grade and has been proven to do so. (Addiction Center 2015) According to National Institute on Drug Abuse Young Adults ranging in age 18-25, the abuse of prescription drugs is second only to abuse of

One reason why students are not successful in college is that of drugs. When students leave their homes to go off to college they meet new people, and experience overjoy of new freedom. When students notice that they are experiencing new freedom, they try new and different things. One of the main things students try that are new and different, depending on where the student is from, are drugs. Students use drugs for a lot of different reasons. Students use drugs to cope with stress, try to maintain course load, and they are influenced by peer pressure. In college, drugs are taken too far once students start to use them. “Those who are enrolled in a full-time college program are twice as likely to abuse drugs and alcohol than those who don't attend college” (College students and Drug Abuse). The students who abuse drugs in college are the students that are normally not successful in college. The drugs take over the mind and students become unfocused and behind in school work, which leads to students failing out of college.

Today on college campuses, it is not possible to make it through college without knowing someone who has at least tried a prescription drug or recreational drug for either party uses, to help them study and keep up in school, or simply to help them get by day-to-day. Maybe you have tried them yourself? College students all across the nation are abusing substances such as Adderall, Vicodin, Oxycontin, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, etc. Those students who drink alcohol are more likely to use prescription drugs for non-medical uses than non-drinkers.

A drug is a substance that alters the mind, body or both. Drug use is an increasing problem among teenagers in colleges today. Most drug use begins in the preteen and teenage years, the years most crucial in the maturation process (Shiromoto 5). During these years adolescents are faced with difficult tasks of discovering their self identity, clarifying their sexual roles, assenting independence, learning to cope with authority and searching for goals that would give their lives meaning. Drugs are readily available, adolescents are curious and venerable, and there is peer pressure to experiment, and there is a temptation to escape from conflicts. The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer

Summary: This article covers a wide variety of factors that result from the over abundant use of prescription stimulants on campuses around the United States. This includes the consequences of taking said drugs, specifically the medical, mental, and academic effects of stimulants. The author also points out four main reasons behind stimulant use on campuses. The first being the pressure of college life. Many students come into college thinking that it will be simple like high

As the saying goes “Desperation can make a person do surprising things.” Not just in America but all around the world, getting accepted and attending a recognized college is almost impossible to achieve. In the United States College students have been subjected to an extremely competitive environment. The pressure to being successful can be almost unbearable because there isn’t a human being that’s perfect. Right now there are millions of students staring at their final exam review feeling hopeless due to the load of work. Willing to do whatever it takes to pass it. There is an alarming but popular trend among college campuses. It’s being used as today’s college steroid. According to a recent study from Brigham Young University, “Adderall is the most commonly abused prescription stimulant among college students” (Hanson et al.). A large number of students are wrongly using a very potent prescription medication called Adderall or known by students as the “study drug.” Adderall is well recognized drug or specifically known as a neuroenhancing drug which stimulates the brain to perform better. According to The Office of Alcohol and Drug Education at the University of Notre Damen, Adderall was first introduced around the late 90’s and approved by the Food and Drug administration as an alternative to Ritalin, another stimulant, which last twice as long than Ritalin.

The prevalence data cannot paint the entire picture of Adderall abuse on college campuses without accounting for correlates that change the frequency of Adderall use. One study performed by Sean McCabe et al., identified two links between the frequency of Adderall abuse and the university a student attended. The first association found by McCabe et al. was a connection between the admission criteria of the university and the frequency of Adderall abuse that was present. The study found that the past-year abuse rate of Adderall was 1.3% at less competitive universities, 4.5% at competitive universities, and 5.9% at the most competitive universities (McCabe et al., 2005). These results led McCabe and his colleagues to conclude that there was

What are the effects of the use of adderall on college campuses?: A research bibliography

Illegal drugs such as Heroin, Cocaine, and Meth, along with countless other narcotics place a heavy burden on the population of the United States, with an emphasis of distress on the youth. These drugs are extremely deadly. In 2014, 17,465 people died from overdoses in the United States alone. These drugs are illegal, and evidently for a very good cause. Transition The only problem is that there is an even deadlier factor that exist in today 's modern society, and that problem exists in the form of prescriptions written to millions of people each year from certified and legal doctors. In 2014 the same year stated above, 25,760 people in the United States died from overdoses from drugs that they received legally and often with good intentions, from family doctors that they know and trust (Bellware). That is over 8,000 more people dying from prescription drugs compared to illegal drugs. Prescription drug abuse is a problem in the United States and it is fueled by famous individuals, promotions by pharmaceutical companies and by doctors.

On a college campus, it is a well-known fact that drugs are readily available in this day and age. If a student wants to get his hands on any type of drugs, there are ways he can do so. Drug use among college students may happen for a number of reasons. There is a lot of pressure that comes with having to perform well on exams. Some students will eventually break under this pressure and look for an outlet to ease their anxiety. One of these outlets could be common street drugs, it would allow them to escape the reality they are in and give them a short term sense of freedom. Free from their obligations and worries. Another reason may be because they want to fit into a certain social group and are being pressured to do so. Drugs are an addictive substance; after someone uses them once, it may be too late to turn back. Having a drug addiction is dangerous as it can damage many vital organs in your body and impair brain functions. Abusing drugs can be a life threatening issue and therefore should be taken seriously. If you believe a loved one or friend is having drug problems but doesn’t want to tell you, there are a few ways to find out for yourself.

The authors of this study used quantitative and qualitative methodologies to investigate the college student’s perceptions and use of illegal Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) stimulants. There are important differences between a qualitative research design and a quantitative design. Qualitative research is conducted in a natural setting seeking to understand a certain complex human behavior and then presenting a narrative description of that behavior. With a quantitative research design the gathering and analysis of data is expressed in statistical form. Both have their places in research and the characteristics of each are unique to the effort. This study was conducted with participants from fall 2005 through fall 2006, and the authors used 1,811 undergraduates from a large, public, southeastern research university in the United States. Many different ranges of upper class and

In an age where a college degree is becoming more of a necessity, the high stress levels and competitiveness experienced by students at colleges and universities can become to much to bare. In turn, certain individuals seek the help of study drugs, also known as nootropics, “refer to the out-of-accordance use of prescription stimulants like Ritalin, Vyvanse, and Adderall to increase mental focus when studying. These drugs are commonly prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) patients and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD) patients. When used without a prescription, however, they can be dangerous. But despite the risks, 1 in 5 college students use study drugs to get a short-term energy boost to plow through the dreaded all-nighters” (“Study Drugs”).

1. Sub Point: Baylor University does a nice job of summing up student motives of such drastic behavior in its 2005 article “Study Drugs Still Popular despite Health Risks”.

College students are more likely to have problems with alcohol abuse or with alcoholism rather than with drug abuse or dependence; however, drug abuse is also a problem for many students. Some students are illicit abusers of prescription drugs, while others use illegal drugs: marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other drugs. Peer pressure and/or loneliness or other factors may lead college students to substance abuse, although some students had previously abused alcohol and/or drugs in high school.