The Adderall Invasion - Final Speech - Charlie Grimes

As I sat down on the night of Tuesday, December 9 to begin writing this speech, I began feeling the first sense of urgency to make progress in preparing for the December 14^th deadline. Ready to produce my inspiring, eye-opening speech, I opened Microsoft Word and made my first attempt at an introduction. Then my phone lit up. “No big deal,” I thought to myself, “I’ll just quickly check to see what these people are saying and get right back to the speech.” Then it occurred to me: I was taking my driver’s license test the next morning, a frightening thought after already failing it once and facing the ruthless comments of my peers. Then I realized something else: I had a math test the next day as well that I had completely forgotten about! But wait… the speech. I had to focus on the speech, yet everything in the world seemed to be preventing this from happening.

We live in a time where distractions are everywhere we look. The digital age has brought about an onslaught of often irresistible notifications, and there is more pressure than ever on students to perform in this intensely competitive environment. With the rise in pressure and distractions over the years, we have also seen a significant rise in the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD. According to TIME Magazine, nearly 12% of US children from ages 4 to 17 have been diagnosed with ADD, resulting in a 41% increase in diagnoses in the last decade. Recent statistics from the CDC show that 15% of high school age children are on medication for ADD. The statistics are startling.

The first question I will pose is “Why is this happening?” With the increasing number of distractions and “symptoms” being felt by American students in today’s world, an unacceptable amount of ambiguity and uncertainty has arisen in the diagnosis of these students. Whereas once an ADD diagnosis was more clear-cut and justifiable, it has become less and less clear in many kids’ cases as to whether or not a person is experiencing an actual disorder of the brain, or simply the side effects from living in an increasingly distracting world. As many medical professionals and TED Talks’ Stephen Tonti suggest, it could sometimes be a case of having a “difference in cognition.” On top of these environmental factors, aggressive drug companies can sometimes influence the medical world and push for more diagnoses to boost sales of their products. These problems have created a situation where obtaining a prescription to Adderall, Ritalin, and other powerful medications has become scarily easy.

The well-known effectiveness of these prescription medications, particularly Adderall, amongst ADD/ADHD patients has led to a dangerous attitude towards these drugs, an attitude that could very well lead to very hazardous health problems amongst non-diagnosed users of the drugs. This attitude involves Adderall being painted as a “study drug” that increases your academic performance through powerful stimulation of the brain – And, to be entirely honest, this has some truth to it. After both VICE news and TIME Magazine interviewed many university students around the country, they found an overwhelmingly positive sentiment towards the drugs. Students had high praise for Adderall after it had provided them with a heightened amount of concentration and efficiency in completing their work. As a result, usage of Adderall, Ritalin, and other related prescription stimulants are very prevalent in colleges in the US, as well as many high schools. But there is a notion that illicit use of ADD/ADHD medication has relatively few health risks - that it’s “not that dangerous.” This notion has to be stopped.

Several studies have shown the short-term and long-term effects of Adderall being eerily similar to those of Methamphetamine. Yes, Meth. After all, both Adderall and Meth are amphetamines. Sleep difficulties, headaches, irritability, and damaged teeth are among the less the serious side effects, yet more serious, intense side effects also exist. Dangerously high blood pressure, tremors, hallucinations, and feelings of intense depression can also result from usage of these stimulants. And on top of all of this, you have the inherent dangers of physical dependence on the drug. Now, excuse me for momentarily sounding like a drug commercial, but the dangers of these medications are REAL. By not immediately addressing this issue, we are creating an academic environment where students taking Adderall and other prescription stimulants without a prescription have an unfair advantage over students who choose to refrain from such behaviors. In fact, these medications have been described before as “academic steroids.” We are also letting thousands of otherwise healthy students be exposed to drugs that have serious health risks, and can be more harmful than helpful. The mere fact that it is illegal to obtain and take these drugs without a prescription isn’t stopping ANYONE, similar to the way that the drinking age has little to no effect on alcohol consumption amongst college students. However, the case of Adderall is different in a very important way. Our society has been successful in acknowledging the dangers of other substances like alcohol. Students know the risks, and know what they are drinking when they are drinking it. Adderall; however, doesn’t seem to have this awareness surrounding it. Thousands of prescription-less college students are consuming Adderall in high dosages without a prescription, with little to no thought about the potential harmful effects.

Despite the potentially damaging effects of taking Adderall without a prescription, I would like to make it clear that for people with serious cases of ADD, Adderall is a wonderful thing. It brings these patients’ brains back to functioning at a normal level, and greatly helps compensate for their neurological disadvantage. It is simply unfortunate that with the significant increase of ADD cases in recent times (many of which are questionable), it creates a situation where people are generally less sympathetic to the disorder as a whole, which is unfair for those who are truly struggling with it.

This issue is not being resolved right now. In fact, looking at the statistics and personal accounts from college students I know, and based on interviews by multiple news sources, it seems to be getting worse. More diagnoses are made every day, and more college students continue to mindlessly consume what they believe to be a miracle drug. So what can we do? Well, as Will McAvoy, a character in HBO’s The Newsroom states, “The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.” And that is exactly what needs to happen here. Both parties have to stop taking the easy way out. Doctors can no longer prescribe Adderall to our youth simply because it is the easiest thing to do at the moment, and our healthy students can no longer feel that the only solution to their tower of work is Adderall. The longer we let this trend continue, the more we perpetuate our student’s growing reliance on potentially harmful medication to stay on top of their work.

WORKS CITED

Mitchell, Philip B. "Bipolar Disorder: The Shift to Over-diagnosis." Canadian Journal of Psychiatry (2012): n. pag. Kentucky Virtual Library. Web. 7 July 2014. <http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.kyvl.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=47749f15-a783-4235-915e-165f8e94d390%40sessionmgr4005&vid=5&hid=4111>.

Tonti, Stephen. “ADHD As A Difference In Cognition, Not a Disorder.” TEDxTalks. 10 April 2013. Web. 7 July 2014.

Gray, Katti. "Are We Over-diagnosing Mental Illness?" CNN. Cable News Network, 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 07 July 2014.

Moynihan, Ray, Jenny Doust, and David Henry. "Preventing Over-diagnosis: How to Stop Harming the Healthy." The British Medical Journal (2012): n. pag. Web. 7 July 2014. <http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e3502>.

The Editorial Board. "An Epidemic of Attention Deficit Disorder." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Dec. 2013. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Hennessy, Angela. "Adderall Can Really Fuck You Up | VICE | Canada."VICE. N.p., 25 July 2013. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.