The Drug Diet

Ashley Smith takes Adderall, prescribed to control her impulsive urges, short temper, and daydreams.

The Writing & Rhetoric senior was diagnosed four years ago with combination Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder when her doctor noticed classic symptoms like any distraction and impatience that often come with it. With a quick scribble, Ashley’s doctor handed her an illegible script, giving her access to one of the most controlled legal substances on university campuses.

Adderall is the study drug of choice for college students across the country. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.4 percent of college students between ages 18 and 22 have used the drug recreationally.

Smith is prescribed to both instant and extended-release Adderall tablets, where her dosage is 5mg per day to 60 mg. The drug contains amphetamine and dextroamphetamine; amphetamine helps to treat your attention deficit disorder and dextroamphetamine helps narcolepsy. Both of these stimulants work in your nervous system and goes to the brain to help hyperactivity. Students using this drug say that there are benefits for using this, but drugs have a short time processing in your body.

“Adderall helps me focus and helps my memory,” Smith said. If Smith does her homework without taking Adderall, she feels that there is a 90 percent chance she would not remember anything, sometimes this can be a 50/50 chance for everyone because they can have days are better than others.

Once you take your prescription, you get the munchies and it can make your stomach crave junk foods.

The Get Down

There are students who do not use Adderall but use other substances. Marijuana is a big one, students use this as a stress reliever, smoke when they want to ‘chill with their friends,’ or use it for fun. Token Spliph, an economics and music junior, uses weed in his daily routine. “It’s been in my life for a long time, through really good times and really bad times, but also as a good substance and a bad so I’ve used it for just about anything,” Spliph said. Marijuana can have positive or negative outcomes, but for Spliph, it’s “mainly been a facilitator for creativity and a great one for that.”

Spliph knew moving into his freshman dorm that there were drugs on campus. “I definitely noticed kids using drugs when I came to ‘Cuse but I was unphased,” Spliph said. “Freshman year, all I feel we were mainly exposed to was weed so since I already smoked a lot, it wasn’t very different.” Spliph was accustomed to the drug culture at SU, seeing other students experimenting with them, but it is how they get access to them is the big part.

Drug Zone

There’s limited access to drugs on campus. You have to know a personal drug dealer so they can cop the good stuff. It is not that easy to find someone you can personally trust. Sometimes, when you know a friend who smokes weed is friends with a dealer, that is your alternative access. Everyone knows Adderall and its help for college students to stay awake for the entire night, but there is also Xanax and Vyvanse. These two controls your anxiety and attention deficiency.

Xanax is a prescription drug that treats anxiety disorders. Vyvanse also treats ADHD and binge eating. These two are more dangerous than Adderall because of the ingredients. Vyvanse contains lisdexamfetamine, which is salt converted to dexamphetamine. Xanax has alprazolam. These two are both addictive and deadly at the same time. Vyvanse can cause a rapid heartbeat that can lead to heart failure. Xanax can get your paranoid, then slows your breathing and leads to death.

Spliph has ADHD and his doctor prescribed him Vyvanse because he didn’t like Adderall. Then, his doctor gave him a prescription for Concerta, but this gave him no luck. He finally switched to Vyvanse, but the prescription drug was more expensive than Adderall, the average cost of a Vyvanse prescription is $280 but Adderall is around $60 — $100.

Taking these drugs affected his academics and social life. Spliph was a personable guy, easy to get along with and very respectful. Once he took Vyvanse, this made him a nasty person. He constantly had fights with his closest friends and family on a regular basis. On top of this, there was a lot of commotion dealing with a family illness, relationship issues, and a depression mode in him. A moment happened where he confused on what to do because anxiety taking over his life. His family didn’t know what person he was becoming, eventually, his mother talked him to go see a therapist, who suggested he needed to stop taking the medication. It was a tough mental process for Spliph, but he’s a better person today. “I almost never use Vyvanse anymore but when I do use it, it definitely still affects me.”

Smith once used Xanax when she went through a terrible breakup. “I was having an anxiety attack and couldn’t calm myself down or stop crying,” she said. The benefits of Adderall and Xanax is they are “both good at clearing the mind and allowing a person to think more rationally in times of stress,” Spliph said.

According to a study on the Jawbone website, Syracuse University is the most sleep-deprived schools in the nation. A school where their strong academics make us study countless hours; teachers are killing us with high amounts of projects and exams, and Greek life taking over our lives. To think we are 35 out of 100 sleep-deprived schools in the nation, our sleeping schedules don’t stop us partying at DJ’s, Lucy’s or Chucks on a Thursday night, or flip-night at Faegen’s. Students think it is necessary for them to use these types of drugs for their final projects, papers, and exams, but they need to realize how these can affect their lives externally.

*Names changed for protecting privacy.

*Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.