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Posts Tagged ‘Abuse of Prescription Drugs’

The days leading up to an exam can be excruciating. The pressure mounts, and with your entire workload, you constantly feel your future is on the line — hanging in the balance of passing or failing this one test. Alarmingly, students are turning in increasing numbers to dangerous and potentially lethal combinations of harmful and illegal substances in order to power through those all-night cram sessions, increase mental alertness, retain more material and effectively compete.
One Washington, DC university student gave a gripping and graphic account of campus life in a report by Washingtonian magazine, when she recalled that during finals week, her school was more like a “drug den” than a top-tier U.S. educational institution. “Everyone from a cappella singers to newspaper writers become addicts, while anyone with a prescription and an understanding of the free market becomes an instant pusherman,” she said.
The founders of BrainEffect confirm this student’s account. On a recent trip to the United States, they couldn’t help but notice that students were desperate for pharmaceutical assistance, AKA “chemical energy,” to improve their mental and physical performance. To be sure, working adults seek the same quick fix every day when they stop by the local coffee house to grab their morning coffee and munch on sugar-laced confections for an afternoon pick-me-up.
At issue is not the legitimate need for a mental boost. The problem is one of degree. Some students can go too far. Dorms, quads and yards are overrun with students taking or looking for prescription amphetamines like Adderall, Ritalin and Concerta. These drugs classify as psychostimulants under federal law, and selling or distributing them outside of a medical/pharmacist setting is a crime.
Besides legalities, there are dangerous side effects to contend with when taking drugs of this nature, such as pounding heartbeat, increased blood pressure, restlessness, paranoia, dizziness and fainting, blurred vision, insomnia, chills, dryness of mouth, skin rash, stomach cramps, diarrhea or constipation, panic attacks, persistent crying and unusual sadness. Impotence and other changes in sexual function are reported side effects as well. What’s more, there is no definitive evidence that these drugs work in terms of helping you study.
It’s hard to get a handle on illegal drug use and abuse of prescription drugs by college students. Few are lining up to report themselves. Research supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, using the 2004 Monitoring the Future survey of college students and adults, reported that about 7.4 percent of college students admitted using painkillers like Vicodin without a prescription, and only 4 percent confessed to using “other opioid medications, stimulants, and sedatives.” Stimulant use ranged from a hardly surprising 0 percent to 25 percent. More recent surveys of individual colleges put stimulant use in the range of 25 to 35 percent. Even if they aren’t popping pills, 51 percent of students have at least one energy drink per week, according to a report in the Nutrition Journal.
The statistics are staggering; as many as one in three college students is putting his or her health in jeopardy and risking legal consequences by taking illicitly-obtained prescription drugs to pass an exam. Academic stakes may be high, but no grade is worth risking your life. There are ways to effectively calm your test anxiety, naturally sharpen your focus and improve your memory and concentration without ingesting harmful drugs. Click [here] to learn more.