7:00 a.m. and the alarm goes off. A student’s bag is packed as full as possible with papers and notebooks for a few classes, a change of clothes for going to the gym, a server’s booklet for work that evening, a laptop for a study group at 10:00 p.m. and a few granola bars to keep them satiated. The student rushes to get ready, brushing their teeth and running fingers through their hair. On the way out the door, there’s just one more essential they make sure to grab: a small bag filled with little orange pills.
Adderall: the prescription and nonprescription use of this drug by students is something that’s been socially normalized for years. Often for many drugs and opioids, a stereotype will come hand-and-hand and force the drug to be divided amongst specific social groups that fit that now associated stereotype.
This opioid, however, is especially pervasive, being used by students of all types.
A study done by the University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center found that approximately one in every four colleges had a prevalence of 10% or higher for non-medical use of prescription opioids (such as Adderall) in the past year.
Research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health looked at Adderall usage between 2006 and 2011. The study found that in that time span, Adderall usage rose 67%, and the drug was mainly taken by 18 to 25-year-olds – the main age group of those attending college.
At the University of Colorado Boulder, the use of Adderall is nothing new. According to the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment from 2013, stimulants account for 14.6% of student drug misuse at CU Boulder.
In 2014, two students at CU Boulder were found to be dealing Adderall to other students. Christopher Valentine and Graham Hankin were arrested for selling the drug for $4-$5 a pill. The two faced charges of distribution of a controlled substance and Hankin was also charged with possession with intent to manufacture or distribute and possession of a controlled substance. All charges against the two students were Class 3 or Class 4 felonies.
Even with the threat of serious criminal charges, jail time, and massive fines that come along with illegally selling or possessing Adderall, many people, including students, have a more relaxed attitude about the drug.
Adderall is considered a stimulant and is a mix of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine. The drug is grouped with other drugs with similar effects, such as cocaine and methamphetamine. All of these drugs are listed as Schedule II substances by the Drug Enforcement Administration and are classified as having a high potential for abuse. Though it has effects on people that some would compare to the effects of cocaine, students don’t seem to hold Adderall in the same regard.
Maxwell Stokes*, a senior at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been selling Adderall for the past several years. He was first prescribed the drug for his ADHD, but his relationship with the drug went from personal use to business opportunity.
Stokes was first diagnosed with ADHD as a junior in high school. At first, Stokes enjoyed using Adderall because it helped him get better grades. He also began selling his Adderall to fellow students.
“I started selling Adderall to my friends my senior year of high school,” said Maxwell Stokes. “They got wind that I had a prescription and started asking me if I could give them some.”
Stokes’ selling of Adderall became much more than casual, and the prices per pill were fairly substantial for a high school student’s side job.
“Seeing the demand for it I was selling at $10 a pill and since it was all profit I was making really good money,” said Stokes.
However commonplace this opioid might seem, a lot of the long-term effects of Adderall are less commonly known. The American Addiction Centers have stated that an individual who heavily uses Adderall can experience depression, lethargy, sleep issues, panic attacks, hallucinations, heart disease, and tremors.
Roughly six months of daily Adderall usage later, Stokes began to notice several negative side effects.
“After about six months of using Adderall, I began to lose a ton of weight. I simply couldn’t eat while on Adderall and lost almost 20 pounds,” said Stokes. “Even though I liked the effects of Adderall I knew it wasn’t sustainable.”
A major reason for the spike in unprescribed Adderall use is the availability of it to youths. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 6.1 million children ages 4-17 were diagnosed with ADHD in the year 2016. These people were then also prescribed some sort of medication to help them with some of their ADHD symptoms.
With so many adolescents being prescribed a control substance and even more who are willing to pay top-dollar per pill, the redistribution of pills only increases. The thing about this side job, however, is that the customers eventually keep coming back out of necessity.
As Stokes stopped taking the drug, he began getting refills of Adderall just for resale and profit from it. Soon after high school, he took his side job into a new tier of major profits.
“When I got to college, instead of just my friends wanting to buy pills, everyone wanted some,” said Stokes. “Through living in the dorms my freshman year, I was making very good money selling them for only $5, which gave me a ton of demand.”
While still on his parents’ health insurance, Stokes can buy a bottle of 100 pills for $20 from a pharmacy, and easily turn that into $500 of profit. With a profit margin like that, it’s no wonder so many students would want to keep re-selling the prescription.
“By college, I had completely stopped taking Adderall because of the negative effects of the drug on my body, but I kept getting prescriptions to make money,” said Stokes. “As a broke college kid, this really helped me financially.”
Students like Stokes who use Adderall as a fast way to make a few extra dollars only increase with the rate at which the prescriptions are being handed out and the addictive quality of these pills keep business constantly booming.
Jamie Wilcox is a student at CU and was previously prescribed Adderall. She began her relationship with the drug roughly eight years ago.
“When I was younger, my parents thought that I had ADHD,” said Wilcox. “I always had a difficult time focusing in school so when I got to high school, they decided to get me prescribed to medication.”
As many users of drugs will confirm, the allure of the drug often overcomes the potential risks. Even while starting at a low dosage, Wilcox found that the more she took it, the more she grew to need the prescription.
“The truth is, when I first got prescribed, I really did need it. I felt completely overwhelmed by everything going on around me and I had no ability to concentrate on anything,” said Wilcox. “I couldn’t stay awake during class, I couldn’t write a paper, and I could barely make it through a day without having an emotional breakdown.”
As she continued her prescribed dosage, she quickly noticed the positive changes in her mood, her productivity level, and her overall mental state. But in a few short weeks, she was beginning to see the negatives growing day by day.
“It took me a little under a month to get hooked,” said Wilcox. “I remember the first few times I felt symptoms of withdrawal. I had clammy hands, dry mouth, and was nauseous most of the day.”
After a close examination of her relationship with Adderall, Wilcox realized that she was addicted to the drug. She went through the withdrawal period and now recounts that her addiction was truly all-consuming.
“It’s important that people are aware of the dangers of drugs, even the ones that they are prescribed to,” said Wilcox.
With doctors handing out prescriptions like lollipops, students desperate to get more done than ever before and profits to be made, it’s no wonder this drug has been such an issue on campuses.
At CU, there are resources for those who feel the pull of addiction to Adderall, or any other drug. Counseling and Psychiatric Services, located in Wardenburg Health Center, can offer therapy or refer students to community resources. The Collegiate Recovery Center can introduce students to support groups and meetings and offers live support for students who are interested in recovering from drug addiction or are in the midst of recovering from an addiction.
* Name changed for anonymity.
