A growing number of college students are turning to prescription drugs to help them cope with demanding schedules. The problem is, some of these students do not have prescriptions for the drugs they are taking. By Jennifer Hundley, Alabama Public Radio
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Aderol Becoming Choice Drug of College Students
Tuscaloosa, AL – A growing number of college students are turning to prescription drugs to help them cope with demanding schedules. The problem is, some of these students do not have prescriptions for the drugs they are taking. Jennifer Hundley talks with three college students who use a drug called Aderol, which is prescribed to people with Attention Deficit Disorder. For people with the condition, Aderol calms them down. But, for those without ADD, the drug acts as a stimulant. All three students wish to remain anonymous and have been given false names.
"I care a lot about my grades and its almost easier to go ahead and find some and take it to study knowing I'm gonna be up all night studying. It'll be easier to take it than to just wing this one on my own"
Rachel is a 22 year old senior at the University of Alabama. She says she takes Aderol every time she studies for a test because it gives her extra energy. She is not alone.
"Huge percentage of everybody on campus has a prescription to it, so I really don't have a problem finding it."
Haley is also a senior at the University of Alabama. As a college freshman, she fell asleep in class and her mind often wandered. Instead of getting more sleep, she began taking Aderol.
"So I went to my doctor and I told her my teacher said I didn't concentrate as well as other students did, and they didn't ask me any other questions, and they gave me a prescription to it."
Legally, Haley should not be able to get a prescription for Aderol because she has not been formally tested for it. Neither has Rachel. Jackson Como is director of drug information services at UAB hospital in Birmingham. He says Aderol is rapidly becoming a drug of choice among college students.
"If you and I were to take it, or people who don't have attention deficit disorder, what it does to us is stimulate us. It is a form of the street drug speed. So it is very much an upper or stimulant"
Rachel says this is exactly what happens to her. She says one 20 milligram pill is enough to keep her awake for 15 hours straight.
"Anything that's going on in the background, constant noises like water dripping or it?s messing up your studying. It messes your heart rate up a bit, if you smoke cigarettes, you end up smoking a lot more than normal."
However, one of her friends, Amber, was diagnosed with ADHD -- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. She has a prescription for Aderol and can take up to 90 milligrams a day.
"I'm prescribed to 90 just in case the days I do need that much, I have that much. But, I've been taking it so long I know my body well enough to know how much I need."
Amber does not need the drug for stimulation. Aderol calms her down. Jackson Como explains:
"What's interesting is that someone with true ADD, the drug doesn't have the same stimulant property. It actually slows their mind down to where they can pay attention."
If Amber does not take her medication, she says little things in her environment become big distractions...
"I can't, like....I can't sit still, like I have a hard time finishing a sentence. Like, I get distracted that easily and it's so frustrating. You don't finish a thought process. Like going to the bathroom to brush your teeth, If something distracts you on the way to the bathroom, it may be thirty minutes before you remember you were going to brush your teeth."
Rachel and Haley say they want to take Aderol, even though they don't need it. But Amber says she hates it because she doesn't feel like herself when she's on it. So, Amber doesn't always take all of her medication. What she doesn't use, she sells to people like Rachel who don't have their own prescription.
"Every now and then I will. It depends on if I do have a lot left over. I don't like to give it away free because I have to pay 90 bucks every bottle for it, so if someone needs it, I will charge about five dollars a pill."
Aderol is a schedule two narcotic, which means it can become addictive. Again, Jackson Como.
"The highest schedule is schedule one. Those are heroine, marijuana, and things like that that you can't typically get for legitimate medical reasons. Schedule two would be those strong opioid drugs like morphine, and the stimulants like dexteramphetamine which is what Aderol is."
Rachel says she's aware Aderol ranks just below addictive drugs such as marijuana and cocaine. Both Rachel and Haley say coming off the high they get from Aderol is not pleasant. In fact, Haley says she doesn't take Aderol anymore because she says it made her feel "cracked out."
"I always got nauseated, because when you're on Aderol, you're not hungry. If you ate Aderol all day, ended up staying up all night, the next day you are so hungry, yet it's past the point of eating, you're just nauseated, you just want to sleep. You get headaches. You just feel like you've been up too long. You know, just like you've hurt your body."
Jackson Como, director of drug information services at UAB hospital in Birmingham, says Aderol is a serious threat to people who don't use it properly.
"Danger for most people is the effect on your cardiovascular system. It increases your heartrate, sometimes dramatically. It increases your blood pressure. And in some people, to very dangerous levels."
But despite knowing the risks, Rachel says she and many of her friends will continue to take the medication to study.
"I don't consider it a big problem right now, especially since it's being used mainly for academic purposes. I don't see what the big deal is, as long as nobody is getting hurt."
For Alabama Public Radio, I'm Jennifer Hundley.