Adderall as a drug menace?
Just say yes? The rise of
'study drugs' in college
By Arianna Yanes, Special
to CNN
updated 8:58 AM EDT, Fri
April 18, 2014
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/17/health/adderall-college-students/index.html?hpt=hp_bn13
Teens Taking ADHD Drugs to
Get Good Grades: How Big a Problem Is It?
Students have been taking
stimulants to get ahead since the 1930s. Is there any reason to believe the
problem is bigger today than ever before?
By Maia Szalavitz, TIME
magazine
June 11, 2012
There's some
stuff that CNN isn't telling us in the story and their "framing" of
the issue is a pretty good example of how the media - maybe well-intentioned
and inadvertently - reinforces beliefs about things that are inaccurate,
biased, and promote judgment rather than understanding.
Adderall is an amphetamine, a stimulant, which has been and is widely used to
help with mental alertness and concentration. Amphetamines are a curious class
of drugs insofar as the motivation to take them and their effects on our minds
and bodies is different from other drugs. So rather than simply giving a user a
sense of euphoria it makes people work harder and longer. And because of this
we find it has "legitimate" uses. But the legitimacy is also
different. These are not medicines used to sedate or relieve pain. Instead
amphetamines have long been given to those in jobs requiring people to stay
focused and on task - young children and fighter pilots. College students’ use
it similarly as the story illustrates. And there are real risks in its use.
Notice, however, that the story isn't reporting new information. Rather it’s a
story that is generated by the calendar, not by any turn in events. As the
school year winds down, especially in college, students experience considerable
stress to complete their work. The workload and the stress increase demand for
anything that can help. Sadly, too much caffeine gives them the jitters. And it’s
not like these students are seeking out some other homebrew. Instead of another
illicit form of speed – meth, Adderall is a legal commercial pharmaceutical
product. Students are using it because it’s available legally albeit not in the
ways intended by the law or prescription. And CNN's story glides by the fact
that most students using Adderall are just that - occasional users and not
addicts. Are they abusing the drug? The problem is that this is an issue of
'only when I say so.' I think young adults nowadays recognize the contradictions
here. Are they making informed decisions? Are their informed decisions any less
so than the public who are fed stories like this. And most of the time we as
audiences, viewers, or readers are given our 'fix' of the news telling us that
our fears and worries are okay. But are they a menace in our classrooms, the
monsters under our beds, or the anxieties in our closets?
Wouldn’t you
know it. There’s a pill for that.