Rx and College Students with AD/HD

While engaging in my favorite morning ritual of drinking coffee, writing and listening to NPR, I heard this report, "More Students Turning Illegally To ‘Smart’ Drugs," on Morning Edition. I was not surprised to hear of the illegal use of Adderall and Ritalin by college students. I knew that this was occurring when I worked at Boston University. While I was not surprised, I was immediately concerned about how people would interpret this report, especially after hearing from a college senior with ADD, who had a monthly prescription for Adderall. He says that he rarely uses the 60 pills he gets each month, unless he needs to "pull an all-nighter." Instead, he says:"I usually just give it to my friends. I don’t really want to charge them for something that I’m  not even taking. It’s just like extras."

My concern, upon hearing this report was that people would question why he had a prescription if he "apparently" did not need to take the medication. Then they would possibly jump to the conclusion that ADD was not real. I have heard it all…

After all if it was real, then he would need to take his medication, right? Take the example of the abuse of prescription painkillers, which is just as widespread on college campuses. The fact that students do not use the prescription pain killers they receive subsequent to an injury does not mean that the pain was not real. Just as the young man in this story chose not to take his Adderall because he does not like the "side effects he experiences, such as insomnia and loss of appetite," students choose not to take their prescriptions for a whole host of reasons. So, here is my take on this report. Young adults may make poor decisions, like abusing prescription medication and giving their friends their prescriptions. This does not mean that ADD is not real or that they could not benefit from the medication. It just means that they made a choice…