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Some SIUC students will probably look beyond their favorite latte for help surviving midterms this week, according to a Student Health Center official.
The abuse of Adderall, a prescription medication often used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, has become more prevalent on college campuses in recent years, said Ken Culton, alcohol and drug coordinator at the Student Health Center.
Adderall can increase alertness, improve task performance and decrease fatigue in its users, according to WebMD.com. Culton said students use the drug to stay awake and remain concentrated for long periods of time.
"It's not so much that the student is motivated to get good grades," he said. "It's more often that a student wants to get good grades within the context of heavy drinking or not sleeping enough or being overwhelmed in their life."
The abuse of prescription stimulants is most prevalent among whites, members of fraternities or sororities and students with poor grades, according to a report released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
One of the biggest concerns associated with the abuse of Adderall is dependency, Culton said.
"When will it stop?" he said. "When you get on the job, your rationale will be 'I need Adderall to function better or to meet my deadline,'" he said.
Adderall is sometimes used with alcohol to help the user stay alert or stay awake longer to drink, Culton said. He said mixing the two could cause respiratory failure and death.
Adderall tends to be more popular than other drugs, most likely because of the drug's availability, Culton said. He said the rate of abuse at SIUC is no higher than at other universities of its size.
Renee Krynski, a junior from Bartlett studying social work, said the abuse of Adderall is prevalent at SIUC. She said she doesn't use the drug, but most of the users she knows use it when studying for tests, writing papers or attending class.
Krynski said most of the users she knows are aware of the health risks.
"It does not faze them," she said.
She said most students that abuse Adderall are doing so to catch up on work they put off.
"They're usually party animals - people that wait until the last minute to get things done," Krynski said.
Stewart Phillips, a junior from Marion studying radio-television, said he doesn't take Adderall but understands the temptation to deal with the demands of student life by taking a pill.
"Like me, they have other stuff besides school going on, like work, and it's hard to stay up and cram it in," he said.
nirvjec@siu.edu 536-3311 ext. 259
