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The Smart Drug

Being a college student in this day in age it seems for some, is full of challenges and pitfalls. For me, the last couple of years have been the most rewarding of my entire life. I realize that it’s different when you’re an adult, because when you go to class, it’s because you actually want to, and not because your parents told you to. You don’t skip classes, because you understand the value of a dollar, and every penny you earn is an investment in your own future. And the best part of being a mature student, the level of respect that you can yield from professors that otherwise wouldn’t see if you were just a faceless first year, straight out from under mommy and daddy’s wing. As an adult student, I had already spent a decade out in the workforce, done a significant amount of travelling and brought a certain sense of maturity and wisdom to the classroom. A mature student doesn’t sit there in the classroom wondering “what can I do with a political science degree“, they already know, which is why they’re there in the first place; It’s about making your dreams materialize.

Something else that most mature students don’t struggle with is the pressure to take drugs to get themselves through a semester. I recently read an article about parents worrying about their children binge drinking and experimenting with hard drugs, when they should really be concerned with prescription drugs. College students aren’t necessarily looking to take drugs to get high, they’re taking drugs to increase their learning capacity, they’re taking drugs to be smarter. Yep, that had me scratching my head too. Taking drugs to get smart, hmmm. Well it seems that Adderall seems to be the drug of choice for college students trying desperately to hold on to your their scholarships or to make sure they stay on the Dean’s List. What’s disturbing about this particular drug is that it’s usually prescribed for things like Attention Deficit Disorder and Narcolepsy, and like most prescription drugs, it has a laundry list of side effects that most college students ignore completely.

College students that take Adderall claim that it allows them to function at a level that they never have before. It can help turn an 8 hour day into a 14 hour day, and it can actually help to stave off sleep so students can maximize the amount of time they have to study. The danger in that of course, is that the body can only go on for so long before it starts to shut down. Trust me, sleep starving your body spells disaster for your immune system. What these students don’t realize is that this particular drug is almost no different than taking Speed, and some of the side effects include mood swings, panic attacks, and depression. I don’t know about you, but depression is not exactly something I would want to be grappling with while I was dealing with the stresses of an overwhelming semester. I would want clarity.

Doing this drug more than once puts you at risk for addiction, and this is not something you want to get hooked on. Look, school may be difficult, but there are millions of other students that went through college before you, received their diploma and degrees, all without putting some foreign poison in your body. If I can work a forty hour work week, and go through  university full time, and maintain a relationship and social circle, than absolutely anyone can do it.  When I’m conducting research, working on a term paper, or studying for a final exam, I want to feel clear and lucid. Drugs are individuals who are sick, not those looking to get ahead.