What substances technically fall into the category of study drugs? Does coffee count? What are the pros and cons of using artificial, medical stimulants to study more effectively? These are just some of the questions discussed in Wednesday’s forum on “Study Drugs in Academia,” which addressed the proliferation of study drugs on campus and nationwide. Entirely student-run, the forum lasted for an hour and was attended by over thirty students. Josh Pavlacky ’08, Hannah Masius ’10, Ari Tolman ’10, and Rebecca Allen ’08 moderated the event.
Pavlacky defined caffeine in contrast with Adderall, stating that the two operate so differently that one cannot liken caffeine addiction with Adderall abuse.
“They have very different effects, which is why we’re not treating them in the same way,” he said. “Adderall is an amphetamine; caffeine isn’t. The distinction is crucial.”
Pavlacky added that while it takes a full ten cups of coffee to trigger a panic attack, a single dose of speed can trigger the same effect.
Throughout the discussion, students touched upon definitions of study drugs and study drug abuse, often relating social definitions of both to questions of medical and pharmaceutical ethics. Masius stated that drugs prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are often over-prescribed, and stated that medical over-prescription of some kind has existed as a serious problem for decades.
“Our parents were over-prescribed antidepressants, and our grandparents were over-prescribed sleep meds,” she said.
Pavlacky explained much of this over-prescription as resulting from certain national traits, stating there has always been a strong emphasis on self-prescription and self-diagnosis in America—two practices that presage over-prescription and dangerous medication. He also posited that social factors play a larger role in prescription drug abuse than is usually assumed.
“The biggest indicator of whether or not you will take a drug is who you hang around with,” Pavlacky said. “It’s very hard to say equivocally why college students are choosing to take these drugs, because there’s a confluence of many factors.”
Isaac Boger ’09 commented on the personal responsibility involved in deciding to take a study drug.
“If others are willing to take the health risks, then they can use study aids,” he said. “It’s similar to the decision to pull an all-nighter—each student has to choose for him or herself whether or not the risks are worth the potentially higher grades.”
Study drug users are still in a small minority nationally, as only 6.9 percent of students use them. However, an enormous percentage of those users attend elite colleges in the Northeast. According to Pavlacky, this percentage doubles when the study pool only encompasses such selective institutions, and nearly triples when looking at colleges at the highest academic levels.
A 2005 report by the International Narcotics Control Board found that one out of ten American teenagers has used Ritalin and/or Adderall without a doctor’s prescription. The 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health states that six percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 abuse prescription medications for non-medical use.
While no hard data exists as to study drug prevalence on campus, Pavlacky claimed that study drug use is particularly high at Wesleyan.
Allen commented on the mindset that characterizes study drug users.
“People don’t really think about addiction when they need to take it for a paper,” she said. “They think of it as an aid on an assignment. It doesn’t strike them until after they’ve taken it many times that they’re in trouble.”
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