4 Facts about Adderall and Ritalin Abuse among Students

With the excess of anxiety and stress among today’s younger generation, it is not all that surprising to find that many students turn to drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin to help them focus.

These drugs are intended to treat disorders such as ADHD, but are often abused by students without the disorder who believe that the medications will improve their focus. Without adequate knowledge about the effects, students continue to harm themselves by abusing these drugs.

1. Stimulants Do Not Make You Smarter

According to NCBI, students will hear positive sounding labels and benefits attributed to stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin, and assume that it means those drugs can benefit anyone in a similar way. While these drugs may offer temporary benefits, they are not responsible for raising IQ or providing long-term cognitive enhancements.

College students who abuse stimulants generally have lower grades than those who don’t.

However, many students continue to take these drugs to help them prepare for tests or studying, without even considering potential consequences. If you have questions about how stimulants actually work, please call 800-953-3913 (Who Answers?) with your questions.

2. Stimulants Pose a Potential Threat to Individuals Without ADHD

Taking these drugs without a prescription presents a great chance of harm to an individual’s health, and it can even cause sudden death. The drugs change the chemicals in your brain and can present serious side effects if those changes aren’t in your favor, as they would be for someone with ADHD.

Side effects may include anxiety, insomnia, agitation, and an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature. You also face the risk of developing an addiction to the drug being abused, as it changes your brain to rely on the effects that it provides.

3. Misuse of Stimulants Can Lead to Other Forms Substance Abuse

According to NIDA, students who abuse Adderall and Ritalin are more likely to abuse alcohol and other illicit drugs. Apart from the side effects presented by the stimulants, they will also be vulnerable to further harm from the other substances they abuse.

What started out as an attempt to focus more in school can spiral into a drug addiction that requires professional treatment and therapy to overcome. Students taking these drugs may not realize the long-term effects that could occur and where this path may take them.

If you have found yourself starting down this road, call 800-953-3913 (Who Answers?) to speak with a specialist who can answer your questions and assist you in getting help.

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4. Prescription Stimulant Abusers Get Lower Grades

NIDA reports that students who abuse prescription stimulants won’t even benefit in the way they are hoping, as their grades are typically lower than students who don’t abuse stimulants. This may be due to overestimation of how much the drug can help them, and giving the stimulants more credit than is due. While Adderall and Ritalin may help you focus, they don’t automatically make you know the test answers or understand the content. The knowledge and comprehension is still up to the individual student, and those who abuse stimulants may feel more relaxed about learning the content, and thus find themselves slacking off. So the risk that they took by taking prescription drugs doesn’t even pay off in the end.

If you or a loved one are struggling with an addiction to prescription drugs, call 800-953-3913 (Who Answers?) for more information and advice on what your next steps should be.