Does using Adderall really make you smarter? Is it worth the risk for people who don't medically need the medication?

1. Nonmedical Use of Prescription Medications Adderall ® Is it Worth the Risk?

5. http://www.healthsquare.com/newrx/add1008_2.htm Ritalin and other drugs : http://www.wcdtf.org/education/drugs/stim.htm Adderall

7. Medical Aspects:

19. Legal Consequences of Nonmedical use of Adderall

21. What are your career plans?

23. Being convicted of a felony may limit your job opportunities, career choices, college options and even where you live.

27. Surveys, Studies and Reports

29. Of concern, 89.5 % of the college students who used Adderall® non-medically also reported past-month binge drinking, & more than half were heavy alcohol users.

30. Full-time college students aged 18 to 22 were twice as likely as their counterparts who were not full-time college students to have used Adderall® non-medically in the past year (6.4 vs. 3.0 %)

31. Full-time college students who used Adderall ® non-medically in the past year were more than twice as likely to use Marijuana ( 79.9 vs. 27.2%) & almost FIVE times more likely to use OxyContin ® non-medically (44.9 vs. 8.6 %).

32. 2008 DATA Rates of Emergency Department visits, by drug, type of use and age- ADHD Medicine College - Aged

37. Students Comments: “ It was just normal, you know, common.” “ Everyone is talking about it, so it was no big deal.” “ I can grasp everything so much easier…I feel like a genius on it.” “ I don’t use it all the time though sometimes you don’t have a choice. “ Cheap coke.”

38. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100254163 A Student Cautions Others: “ One college senior recalls using Adderall frequently during her freshman and sophomore years. ‘I started to notice my own addictive behaviors,’ she says, adding that she began using the drug more and more. ‘The more you use it, the more you want to use more of it.’ She knew she was becoming addicted and that she wouldn't be able to afford her habit. So she decided to stop using Adderall. ‘ It takes away your own coping skills and your own ability to evolve your own study skills and work ethic. So it's kind of an easy way out.’ And she says it made her feel ‘like a lesser person,’ relying on the drug to do well. During her last two years of college, she says, she's stayed away from Adderall — and gotten good grades.”

39. While students feel smarter and more intelligent, the use of stimulants doesn't make them "smarter" or "better", it just makes their body's organs worker harder and can actually lead to the inability to concentrate or think clearly for any length of time.

40. The CHOICES You Make Today

41. Will Affect Your FUTURE Forever.

42. For more detailed information about Rx drugs, the disease of addiction, the recovery process, literature, helpful links, legal aspect of misusing … Knowing the facts may save a friend’s life. [email_address]