Summary Of Psychostimulants

“Substance use disorders” or “substance-related disorders” are intended synonymously and are used interchangeably when referring to the broad category of addiction to psychoactive substances. Additionally, the word “drug” should be considered in the context in which it appears and can refer to alcohol specifically and/or other psychoactive substances such as cocaine or heroin etc. Again, this is because of the large overlap within the broader category of substance use and the high prevalence of polysubstance use. For the sake of clarity, “drug” as used in North America to generally refer to any illicit or controlled substance has been avoided. Instead, “medication” will be used to denote a prescribed substance used to treat physical symptoms. However, many legally prescribed medications (such as morphine) can and are abused and have addictive quality, making them just as devastating as “street drugs” or alcohol (Compton & Volkow, 2006).

In a society where quantity of work overpowers quality of work, there is no wonder why "neuroenhancing" drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin are on the rise of consumption. As more people adopt the idea that these drugs are cognitively beneficial; the more they secretly use them for non-medical reasons. Margaret Talbot, a writer for The New Yorker, looks more into this problem in her article, "From Brain Gain: The Underground World of "Neuroenhancing" Drugs". Throughout this article Talbot focuses on a new trend of drug use, such as Adderall and Ritalin, for non-medical intentions. She focuses mainly on the increase of drug use by scholars and public intellectuals throughout her article. Talbot successfully proves to her audience that non-medical

Christopher Wanjek, author of Smart Pills: The Truth About Cognitive Enhancing Drugs, a columnist for Live Science and a health and science writer informs readers over the strict and malicious side effects of smart pills. Throughout the article the author illustrates the merit and ethics behind the use of a drug that can become a popular norm further in the future from advocates, such as college students. However, the author feels very appalled by this and continues to further elaborate on this by exclaiming that,“Ritalin is riddled with side effects, such as heart problems, and Adderall adds all the more to the mix, such as the risk of chemical dependency”( Christopher Wanjek, December 9, 2008, Para.2). In addition, to harmful affects the

Stolz explains that college students across the U.S. are taking advantage of the black market from the stimulate and using it as a study drug (2012). With easy access, students have no issue finding a source, whether it’s illegally from someone willing to sell their own prescription for quick cash, or getting it wrongly prescribed from a clinic (Stolz, 2012). Health clinics in colleges are a convenient source of medical care, but they are also providing an effortless opportunity for any student to obtain a prescription through misdiagnosis. Stolz (2012), discloses that students in college are able to simply walk in without an appointment, mention a few key symptoms such as trouble focusing and conveniently acquire a prescription for Adderall. The on-campus clinics eliminate the need for appointments and advanced prolonged testing with psychiatrists allowing the students to receive an ADHD diagnosis easily (Stolz

Nearly five years ago, Kyle Craig, a well-rounded and bright student at Vanderbilt University, took his life at the young age of 21. Kyle was described to be a “confident, but not arrogant” young man. He had a solid 3.5 grade point average and was extremely active in his fraternity. His parents said he was, “…a thrill a minute, focused, happy, achieving and social” (James). Kyle, in short, seemed to have it all together. What no one knew is that Kyle illegally looked to Adderall to keep up his “I’ve got it all together” act. Adderall is a stimulant prescription drug for those with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, also known as ADHD (FDA). Kyle took Adderall illegally and abused it much too often just to perform better academically and socially. While abusing the drug, Kyle slowly began spiraling into a dangerous state of psychosis that no one seemed to catch on to. That dangerous spiral led Kyle all the way in front of a train, taking his own life (James). Kyle is not the only young college student to suffer from the effects of stimulant or amphetamine drugs like Adderall. Almost 1,000 cases of psychosis were found to be linked to medications such as Adderall or Ritalin between the years 2000 and 2005 (FDA). Stimulant and Amphetamines are also known to heighten or produce suicidal and depressive thoughts (FDA). With all of these unsettling facts, 1 in 5 college students abuse these drugs and use them as study aids (CBN News). For the last

This distinction, between the legitimate use of psychoactive medicines and the sub rosa use of drugs, is more vexed than ever. We have seen nearly 45 years of the War of Drugs… outcries about the safety of our children and accompanying uproars about nicotine in e-cigarettes, caffeine in energy drinks, “synthetic marijuana”, and heroin… club drugs, designer drugs, experimental drugs, homemade methamphetamine… We have pharmaceutical commercials on TV…to the point that any thinking person would be forgiven for questioning the

Pharmaceutical drug dependency is not a new craze sweeping the nation. Although it has progressed, it is something that has been a noticeable issue since the early twentieth century. For starters, there is a pill for everything; pregnancy, being over-weight, pain, sneezing, and much more. When you have a variety like that, it’s hard not to take the easy way out. The latest generations of prescription drugs compensate conditions such as depression, gynecological disorders, hyperactivity, impotence, sleeping problems and more. We are waist deep in a pill culture. According to Tennent, a reason for this up-rise in patients being so eager to take up prescription drugs is that new and more sophisticated drugs have reduced the severity of accompanying side-effects. (Tennent) However, this is a gamble and something one could not be sure of. There are medications prescribed for less

Historically speaking, according to Narconon (2015), the issue of prescription drug abuse began in the 1800’s when consumers could self-prescribe medications such as cocaine and morphine. In the 1900’s, the Pure Food and Drug and Harrison Narcotic Tax acts were put into place as measures to control the sale and distribution of these substances (Narconon International, 2015). Today, the prescription drug problem continues to be a growing issue that has many consequences in our society.

Americans are generally unaware that some of the most frequently prescribed drugs are nearly identical to illegal street drugs. For instance, Ritalin, or methylphenidate, is prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Ritalin, like Adderall, is a stimulant that produces virtually the same effects as amphetamines. Now, Americans consume approximately 90% of the world’s Ritalin. Certainly, there are children that seem to benefit from these drugs, but there’s clearly a profit motive that results in unnecessary prescriptions. Some studies estimate that as many as 1,000,000 American children are

The illicit use of prescription stimulants, such as Adderall and Ritalin, by college students has been very well documented over the past years (Babcock Q & Byrne T, 2000). Although data is somewhat limited in variety and lacking concentration on specific populations, this substance abuse concern has been studied for well over a decade (Teter, 2006). A prevalence of more than 10% of college students, within the United States, self-report misusing prescription stimulants; it is apparent that these levels are the highest they have been in over the past decades (Kilmer at al, 2015). The United States has been suffering from a devastating prescription drug abuse epidemic, as declared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Given the staggering numbers of not only prescribing practices of prescription painkillers and other such medications, increases of prescription stimulant medications follow the recurrent trends of excessive prescribing. An accumulative number of Adderall, and similar prescription stimulant medications, used to treat Attention Deficient-Hyperactivity

More psychostimulants and drugs for chronic diseases are being diagnosed today than ever before. Simulants are also prescribed in the United States more than in any other country. According to the numbers, there seems to be a growing number of mental disorders and chronic diseases in the U.S. When analyzed more carefully, there is a growing number of diseases and disorders diagnosed but the larger problem is that the amount of medication being prescribed is accelerating out of control. Overmedication for psychological disorders and chronic diseases is becoming a widespread crisis with largely unknown effects; however there are many solutions that can be implemented to correct it.

Americans have become a pill-popping, overly-comfortably-numb society. Many Americans that seek care for their “ailments” are seeking for a prescription for a pill that will wipe their maladies away. This mentality of “there is a pill for everything”, along with the reckless prescribing of psychotropic drugs, has led America(especially its youth) to become largely overmedicated. This overmedication is ironically not curing the problems that the patients are seeking to be solved. They are rather masking the problems(be they depression, anxiety, Attention Deficit Disorder, or other psychological problems) and causing a medley of other problems for patients(such as drug addiction, liver problems, and others)

Adderall is a drug used to increase the focus and concentration of someone with a mental disorder such as ADHD. Although illegal, these drugs are often used without a prescription by students. At one American university, 6.9% of students had admitted to using Adderall at least once in college (Desantis and Hane par. 4). This same study found that 81% of participants think that illegal use of Adderall is “’not dangerous at all’ or only ‘slightly dangerous’” and 0 of the 175 participants admitted to the knowledge that stimulants posed a significant health risk (Desantis and Hane par. 6)

Today, people are likely to take prescription medication to cure illness. Instead of taking alternative methods to reduce the desease symptomes, many people are relying on drug and are even overusing it without carefully considering. In the article “ Medicating Ourselves”, the author, Robyn Sarah discusses how today’s people excessively use medication to alleviate depression or mental disorders. The author shows that not only the adults use drug to cure mental illness, but the children are recommended to take drug, like Ritalin, to calm them down so they do not trigger actions that disrupt the classroom. The author states that, since people are overusing the medication to reduce the psychic pain, they do not know what are the root reasons that

The season is finally here, many college students are making their way into the library and cramming information left and right for finals in hopes of not failing. With scholarly grades, comes hours of study sessions and hard work which results in an tremendous amount of stress put on an individual. As a result, many students resort to a different route and illegally acquire cognitive enhancements drugs in hopes of balancing their education and personal life. My first experience with these “Smart Drugs” was during finals week in my senior year of highschool, I was given several adderall pills from a close scholar friend and he briefly explained how these pills would aid me greatly during this stressful time. The first pill I took, I felt a great euphoric feeling within minutes and I knew this wouldn’t be the last time I would take this. Education in today’s society can be perceived as a competition between students as employers are searching to recruit the top students out of college. Therefore, students will do anything at any cause to be categorized as the top of their class. With all this in mind, it becomes apparent that college students find the need to use cognitive enhancing drugs to gain an edge among their education due to the superior benefits gained through the use of it.