Steroids Should Not Be Allowed In Schools

Difficulty meeting academic responsibilities is one of the most common consequences of drug use and abuse. The relationship between drug use/abuse and the academic performance of college students rises every year that causes a critical issue on Colleges and Universities campus. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Task Force on College Drug reports that about 25 percent of college students report academic problems caused by drug use, such as earning lower grades, doing poorly on exams or papers, missing class dramatically, and falling behind. However, the history of drug abuse has been rooted in the early stages of life. Drug use/abuse has been classified as a major problem of students as early as in the fourth grade. Consequently, it

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.

With the increased pressure to succeed and the chaotic collegiate lifestyle taking a toll on students, Adderall has evolved into the “go-to drug.” The Class II prescription amphetamine is intended to solely treat individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. The stimulant “works to enhance concentration by stimulating the production of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain” (Stolz 585). Recently, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of Adderall on college campuses to enhance academic performance and cram for exams through the over-stimulation of the brain, therefore “creating super-enhanced focus” (Stolz 585), deeming it the “smart drug.” Due to the fact that several students are not truly diagnosed with ADHD, a majority of this use on campuses is illegal; this has become a growing problem affecting the health of students and entailing “issues of competiveness and fairness” (Jacobs 1). In recent years, the abuse of Adderall has circulated hundreds of college campuses and even secondary schools.

The Intelligence Square U.S. held a debate about whether or not the government’s rules on performance enhancing drugs should be ban in professional sports. For the debate they had Radley Balko, Investigative Journalist, Norman Fost, Professor of Pediatrics and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin, and Julian Savulescu, Uehiro Professor of Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford argue for the motion. They argue the fact that the medicines we take on a daily basis from the pharmacy are also performance enhancers. This goes back all the way to the Romans who once used herbs to improve themselves for battle, making them believe that the only exception that separates this from steroids is that it is illegal. On the other hand, you have

According to a 2009 study, white students, Greek organization participation, students with low grade point averages and students who attend competitive schools are the most likely to abuse Adderall (Rabiner). In the same study at Duke University, about eighteen percent of students had taken Adderall at least ten times within six months (Rabiner). In general, these are students that procrastinate or have too much activity worked into their schedule. In a different study from the New Yorker, results showed that users of Adderall were ten times more likely to have smoked marijuana and twenty times more likely to use cocaine (Gillen). The students that take Adderall want to improve poor grades or allow more time to study.

Summary: This article covers a study that was done on Adderall over the social media site Twitter. The main purpose was to monitor the use of the word Adderall in discussions to see if there was any correlation with the use of the word and the time frame in which it was used in. More specifically, was Adderall mentioned more during peak times of stress in college life, such as midterms and finals. The locality of the Twitter messages monitored was also recorded to determine if they correlated with areas that had a major university or college. The content of messages was also recorded to determine the primary purpose of Adderall use among those that included it in their messages. Results confirmed that Adderall was mentioned during times such as final exams on a much more frequent basis. Messages also indicated that the primary purpose Adderall revolved around the context of studying. The quantity of messages based on location also seemed to indicate that the drug was much more popular in colleges in the northern and southern

The use of Adderall is steadily increasing everywhere and ex-specially in colleges. Students are continually pushed and pushed by the people and the things in their life’s that are driving them to be in school and to maintain certain grades to achieve their goals. With all this presser to do good in

Finally, students who use unprescribed Adderall have an unfair advantage over others and should be put into effect into academic integrity statements at colleges. In sports the use of performance-enhancing drugs is considered cheating and is a universally accepted rule. The Tour de France is a bicycle race that tests bikers’ abilities to bike around France without any outside help. Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven titles of the Tour de France when he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs. Similar reasoning should be applied to using neuro-enhancing drugs illicitly in college. The illicit use of Adderall has a negative affect not only on the user, but the academic community that they are in. A student who does not use Adderall may not gain admission into college because there are a finite amount of spaces and a user of unprescribed Adderall got in (Varga, 2012). Abusers of Adderall can also skew the percentages of “the ranking system of some standardized tests (e.g., LSAT)” (Varga, 2012). The increase in standards puts many students at a disadvantage who do not participate in the illegal use of Adderall. The higher standards and expectations are for students the more students are put at a disadvantage. Higher expectations put students under more and more pressure, which could lead them to feel as though they need Adderall to keep up. Many individuals who are personally prescribed Adderall consider taking the drug without a prescription as cheating since they

Out of 7 million Americans who abuse prescription drugs about 1.1 million of those people abuse stimulants such as Adderall (Sciuto, 2013). In 2005, it was found that 2.3 million teenagers abused prescription stimulants, which means drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin (Prescription Drug Abuse Statistics, 2015). This is an extremely large number of people who abuse this drug and who may suffer many of the negative consequences of abusing a stimulant. Although it is hard to find statistics on deaths on statistics only based on Adderall use and abuse, there are many deaths associated with prescription drug use and abuse of stimulants. In 2005, out of the millions of drug-related hospital visits there were almost 600,000 visits associated with prescription drugs (Prescription Drug Abuse Statistics, 2015). Prescription drugs that year were also responsible for more deaths than many street drugs combined (Prescription Drug Abuse Statistics, 2015). Prescription drugs, such as Adderall, cause many deaths and the use of drugs such as prescription drugs may also increase the risk of

College students usually take prescription stimulants orally and illegally. College students are usually stressed out about getting the best grade they can possibly get in a class. Students usually don't get enough sleep because of the constant need to finish papers and/or he or she is procrastinating. There aren't as many college students who are experimenting and getting high nowadays rather, the motives for taking these prescription drugs is so that one can have more concentration while studying because their future rides on how well they do in college. More of adolescents are the ones who are experimenting and taking drugs that have not prescribed for them, just so they can achieve or experience a certain feeling (Hamilton, 2009).

The study titled “Illicit use of Prescription ADHD Medications on College campuses, by DeSantis, Webb, & Noar, (2008) from the Journal of American College Health,” is both quantitative and qualitative in design, because the authors used mass surveys to gather statistics and in-depth interviews to collect personal information.

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”).

In today's society, it is over ran with drugs, sex, illegal use of weapons, and many other cynical actions. A lot of this is happening in our schools. There has been many mass shootings in schools, tons of drug busts, and students with failing grades do to laziness and drugs. Many schools are wanting to be able to search students and their property if they suspect any suspicious activity. However, many people believe this is an act against privacy of students. Even if that is so, the school should be able to search students property and their bodies for any abuse of substances.

The researchers also found that college students who had been prescribed a prescription painkiller while in elementary school were more likely than others to abuse painkillers in college; for example, about 14 percent of the men and 16 percent of the women who reported past year illicit use of pain medications had been prescribed painkillers in elementary school. The researchers state: