In a global competitive market, the pressure is on to have the top scores you need for the future you want. Many students who feel that pressure from their family or peers resort to illegally obtaining Adderall or Ritalin to achieve the standards others have set for them.
Going into college is a step closer to adulthood, which means you have to make adult choices. If you feel that abusing Adderall or any performance enhancing drug is necessary, make an educated decision, know the risks you are taking, and understand what Adderall actually does to your body before you pop that pill in your mouth. If you know what you are ingesting, you will less likely overdose and die.
According to the Forbes article, ADHD Drug Emergencies Quadrupled In 6 Years, Says Government Report, “National data released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) show that Ritalin, Adderall, and other ADHD drugs sent almost 23,000 young adults to the emergency room in 2011, a more than four-fold increase from 2005, when just 5,600 such visits were reported. The population group studied was 18-34, but the rise was most dramatic among 18- to 25-year-olds, Federal officials say.”
Don’t be another statistic out of ignorance, make educated decisions about your future while you still have one. No one grows up to be an addict, the decisions that we make determines the quality of our future.
- Adderall shows up in drug tests as Methamphetamines:
Adderall and Ritalin are prescribed to those who have ADHD or ADD. If you do not have ADHD or ADD and are abusing the substance for personal gain, this is illegal. Unless you can prove that your prescription for Adderall is legit, your drug test shows you are a meth addict. Often times, Adderall abuse does not feel like doing illegal drugs because they are prescriptions, but this is not true and will show up in a drug test.
- Adderall decreases creativity:
Adderall abuse has been known to have a negative impact on the person’s creativity. It is true that when Adderall is consumed you are able to focus for an extended period of time, but it does not enhance one’s creativity. Many have found that their creative writing is just a series of tangents that can be unrelated or incomprehensible when reviewed.
- Adderall is bad habit forming, which may lead to addiction.
There is a lot of controversy about Adderall or any other ADHD medication being addictive to those who abuse it. Adderall is made of 4 different stimulants that are amphetamines:
- Amphetamine aspartate monohydrate
- Amphetamine sulfate
- Dextroamphetamine saccharate
- Dextroamphetamine sulfate
These types of amphetamines release dopamine into your body, a happy chemical that is difficult for the body to make on a molecular level. Because dopamine is so hard to make, people have noticed that Adderall does not work the same time every time. This causes the person to take more to get the same effect. This repetitive behavior can lead to a physical addiction, depending of the heavy usage. When someone begins to use Adderall for studying purposes and they don’t have ADHD, over time they begin to think that they must study with Adderall all the time or they are not as efficient. This pattern of thinking creates a mental addiction, as the person will begin to use Adderall for everyday studying purposes.
- Drugs and alcohol don’t mix, you can overdose or die from abusing Adderall.
It is very common for college students to take Adderall and binge drink. This causes serious problems for your heart and can cause an overdose or death. Please be careful about mixing drugs and alcohol together. Adderall is a stimulant and alcohol is a depressant, mixing the two always causes problems with the heart and the brain.
[progress_bar title=’2011 Emergency Room Cases Involving Adderall and Alcohol’ title_color=” title_tag=” percent=’30’ percent_color=” active_background_color=” active_border_color=” noactive_background_color=” height=”] [progress_bar title=’2007 Emergency Room Cases Involving Adderall and Alcohol’ title_color=” title_tag=” percent=’38’ percent_color=” active_background_color=” active_border_color=” noactive_background_color=” height=”] [progress_bar title=’2005 Emergency Room Cases Involving Adderall and Alcohol’ title_color=” title_tag=” percent=’22’ percent_color=” active_background_color=” active_border_color=” noactive_background_color=” height=”]“For example, of the 22,949 cases reported for 2011, 30 percent involved alcohol as well as stimulants, while 70 percent were stimulants alone. This percentage held relatively steady over the years, ranging from 22 percent of cases in 2005 to a high of 38 percent of cases in 2007 involving alcohol as well as stimulants.”
- Adderall has known to cause weird cases of psychosis and metal health issues.
Amphetamines are notorious for keeping you awake, they do their job so well, those who abuse Adderall find themselves sleeping less and less. Either they are cramming for an exam or taking more and more to stay awake. Sleep is very important for the body. Your brain spends the time while you are asleep to ‘organize’ memories, thoughts, and new information. Having an unhealthy sleep pattern while on amphetamines can cause serious psychosis, hallucinations, and other problems related to insomnia.
A testimonial shares a psychotic episode from Ritalin abuse, “I first tried Ritalin when I was in seventh grade. It was prescribed to me—they thought I had slight ADD [attention deficit disorder], because I pretended to so I could have an excuse for not doing well in school (I was just lazy). I never realized that I was getting myself addicted, and then I was no different than any other habitual drug user. I took about 40 mg a day and I felt it put me at the top of my game. I would stay up for days in a row, to the point I suffered a severe psychotic episode. It was terrifying! Everything seemed to be melting and morphing and I was terrified.”
