Brain Candy: Can Ritalin turn you into an A student?
Thousands of students are using the drug illegally—but are they on to something?
To improve their chances of being accepted into university, students rely on a variety of tactics. Some do charity work. Some play on sports teams. Some turn to tutors or learning centres. Dale Jones tried a different approach: he took drugs.
Dale (not his real name) was in Grade 12 at the time, and he wanted to go to university. But the Calgary, Alta. native was struggling in school. He was bored and wasn’t applying himself. Looking for ways to raise his grades and ensure university admission, Dale discovered Ritalin—a prescription drug that stimulates the central nervous systems and is used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Many people believe that it can also be used by everyone else to improve concentration and focus. Dale decided to give it a try. Getting the drug was surprisingly easy: he says he researched the symptoms for ADD on the Internet, walked into a doctor’s office, regurgitated those symptoms—and within minutes walked away with a prescription.
Over the following months, whenever Dale’s high school workload swelled and he needed to concentrate for an extended period of time, he would cut a 10 mg pill in half and pop it in his mouth. Then he would sit down and study, with what he claims were remarkable results.
“I felt like I had binoculars on and nothing could distract me,” says Dale. “I went from basically doing nothing to performing at honours level.” By the end of Grade 12, Dale held a 90 per cent average in a number of classes and was on his way to the University of Victoria. He graduated in 2008 and now works in banking.
Dale’s story is apparently not unique. According to the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, thousands of high-school students are taking prescription drugs like Ritalin, Adderall and Dexedrine for non-medical reasons. The 2007 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey found that about 1 per cent of Ontario high-schoolers (nearly 10,000) reported using ADHD drugs for purposes that included staying awake and improving focus.
A study by the province of Nova Scotia and Dalhousie University found five per cent of high school students using methylphenidates (Ritalin) for non-medical purposes, and four per cent using amphetamines (Adderall). A Quebec government survey in 2002 pegged the number of high-schoolers experimenting with amphetamines at seven per cent. And Last October, a survey by the B.C. Centre for Social Responsibility found that about one-third of students at two B.C. universities were misusing prescription drugs, with the most popular being opiates and stimulants.
The practice may not even be all that new: a decade ago, McGill University’s director of mental health services told the Montreal Gazette that he believed that five to 10 per cent of the university’s students were using Ritalin to help them study.
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I occasionally use Provigil for times when I have a high workload and really need to focus. My doctor has no qualms about prescribing it saying it is routinely used by combat pilots on missions. It is safer than Ritlin apparently but not quite as effective. Caveat: Take it early in the morning! Even half a 200mg pill will keep you “wired” until late evening. Your tolerance may vary! Also I had some mood changes after 3 straight days of use. I don’t recommend taking it more than one day in a row.
Ritalin is not a wonder drug that makes you smart. What it does is wake you up temporarily when you’re tired.
Unfortunately, many students (and people in general) do not make sleep a priority. When a student is overtired, concentration, memory, and motivation are diminished.
Rather than taking drugs to stay awake, there should be a focus on sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene means waking and going to bed at the same times each day, allowing sufficient time for sleep, and avoiding alcohol and caffeine when possible, especially at night.
If you’re having difficulty concentrating, chances are you’re tired. Take a short nap (20 minutes or so), take a little walk, stretch, and perhaps have a snack. Chances are you’ll find yourself much more attentive when you resume studying after this break.
For more information on sleep, visit the Sleep Wake Disorders Association of Toronto web site at http://www.geocities.com/swdatoronto .
Using Ritalin at McGill as a study aid dates back more than a decade. In 1961 I was cramming for finals when a fellow student told me that he was using it, obtained without prescription from a pharmacy a few blocks from the campus. Several of us ended up using it for a few weeks. Unfortunately, at best I think that all the benefit I got from it was a placebo effect, and my buddy claimed that he blanked out in one exam that he had overdosed on the night before.
Great piece. I had no idea such drugs were so prevalent. Is it cheating? I’d say so.
I definatly don’t think this would be cheating, because you still do the work yourself, it’s just that you are more effective in doing so.
It is in a way cheating. I know people at my university who take Ritalin and adderal in order to help them write papers and they have seen remarkable improvements in their marks. It is the same case as with professional athletes that do not use steroids…how are they to compete with their juiced up colleagues?