Caffeine in the morning, guarine in the afternoon and amphetamine in the evenings—it’s finals week.
By the end of the semester, health can become less important while success remains a priority.
“People can be addicted to that feeling of being productive,” Brandon Gamble, a school psychologist and Cal State Long Beach professor of psychology, said. “So you [feel like you] need to find something that gives you that same feeling of productivity.”
Addiction to productivity can lead to substance dependency, Gamble said. Once the human body grows accustomed to functioning on a certain level built upon a substance, a focus-oriented task could be difficult to accomplished without it.
“There’s a fine line between addiction and acclimating to a certain lifestyle,” Gamble said. “Like not being able to … conceptualize a life waking up without it. Withdrawals have different components.”
Caffeine is one substance that is used widely by the people of the working world. However, once cups of Joe no longer do the trick, students may resort to stronger drugs to get through studying.
For over a decade since the drugs were introduced, at least one in three college students has casually used amphetamines and other prescription stimulants for according to the journal of Psychology, Health and Medicine.
These amphetamines are popularly known as “study drugs” when illicitly used, but are meant to for treating disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and narcolepsy. The active ingredient in Adderall, one of these prescription drugs, is called Dextroamphetamine, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
This is the same active chemical as methamphetamine, a highly addictive and illegal substance. Dextroamphetamine falls alongside cocaine and oxycodone as a schedule II substance, categorized under the Controlled Substances Act and capable of inducing severe psychological or physical dependence.
Dextroamphetamine, just like caffeine, is a psychoactive substance that stimulates the central nervous system. In doing so, it works on the dopamine receptors in the brain and facilitates the release of neurotransmitters, providing that intoxicating improvement of consciousness and mood, according to the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
CSULB alumna Jill Thoman said she used Adderall nearly every semester during finals week.
“I didn’t feel dependent, but I knew that in order to stay awake and continue working for three nights I would have to take it,” Thoman said. “It felt kind of like taking [MDMA] to me.”
Thoman, along with another student who preferred to remain anonymous, reported that the pill occasionally helps with focus, but always keeps them up all night, often without appetites. Neither Thoman nor the student has ADHD.
According to a book titled “The Facts about Amphetamines,” Adderall came from a 1960s weight loss drug called Obetrol. The pharmaceutical company sold the formula rights, and in 1996, the FDA approved Adderall for treatment of ADHD in children. Before that, according to the Centers for Disease Control, Ritalin was the first drug officially used for ADHD.
Although the disorder wasn’t widely accepted as anything more than “hyperkinetic reaction of childhood” until the mid-1980s, Amphetamines have been prescribed in one form or another since the 1930s, according to the CDC. Since the turn of the century, when ADD and ADHD were officially listed as disorders in the psychologists’ Diagnostic Statistical Manual, more people have been able to get their hands on the “focus” pill. The Journal for Addictive Behaviors reported that between 1996 and 2006, illicit use of prescription stimulants among college students had increased by six percent.
“It’s not hard [for someone] to go to a physician and say, [they are] having trouble concentrating and have doctor prescribe Adderall,” Dina Perrone, an assistant professor in criminology and criminal justice at CSULB said. “I think the U.S. does a very poor job at regulating prescription drugs.”
According to the Journal of American College Health in 2012, 2.5 times the amount of students who are diagnosed with ADHD and have a prescription for stimulants, are illicit users. The same study noted that illegitimate use of prescription medications in general came second only to marijuana as the most common form of illicit drug use on college campuses.
“[Those] who look to achieve more … tend to use some sort of stimulant to ensure that they succeed,” Perrone said.
Perrone, who has researched club drugs among youth in New York, she said that the use of Adderall in particular is more common among college students, especially those who are high achieving.
Drug use, whether it’s sugar, caffeine or prescription stimulants, is a product of a competitive culture, according to Perrone. For some students, college is just a string of all-nighters during which caffeine ultimately writes papers and takes tests.
“It’s not surprising that the library is open 24 hours,” Perrone said. “We shouldn’t be surprised at the culture, that young people are finding ways to get ahead in society. It’s a very cutthroat kind of world.”