Does Everyone Just Abuse Adderall?
Have you ever asked yourself this question? Think about it. Studying for finals, working a double at work, “popping an addy” before a road trip. These are all specific instances where I have known someone to abuse Adderall.
Did any of the above situations call to be medically prescribed Adderall? No, yet this is looked as normal behavior for many of our millennial and gen x society. Many of us as kids (and I am speaking for the millennials) had prescriptions for stimulants because through the 1990’s ADD and ADHD were main concerns of parents, God forbid your child acts up in school.
“Give them Ritalin!”
Doctors were prescribing more ADHD medication than ever before in the ‘90s and this continued and even surged in the early 2000s. So, most of the young adult population has known someone to be prescribed some form of a stimulant based drug such as Adderall, Ritalin and Vyvanse.
Many stimulant-based drugs are assumed by the general population to be harmless, because of course-who would give children drugs that would be considered dangerous right? Well, the general public could not be more misinformed. Adderall and many other stimulant prescription drugs also known as amphetamines are extremely close in
chemical make up to methamphetamine and cocaine.
A neuroscientist explains how he found out meth is almost identical to adderall
There have been many anti-drug campaigns for methamphetamine AKA meth. What the anti-drug campaigns highlight for the target demographic (children, teens, and young adults) is how drug use can turn to homelessness, prostitution and despair rather than actually showing the chemical makeup of these drugs. The FDA (Federal Drug Administration) has a big part to do with the general assumptions of these drugs by the public, because Adderall is FDA regulated, it is assumed to be safe. When you dig deeper into the effects that Adderall has on individuals you can see easily this is questionable.
Adderall is dangerous in many different ways. Most of the people you probably know do not need to be prescribed a stimulant medication. I know a good amount of people who have gone into the doctor and told them the generic ADHD symptoms to get prescribed a stimulant who have never had any of these symptoms in their real life. What is even scarier from amphetamine drugs is that withdrawal symptoms affect everyone and they are not pleasant.
Withdrawal happens after prolonged use is discontinued. This can happen in as little as one or two doses. After the high of adderall (especially for those who take the drug without an ADHD diagnosis) fades, most users become highly irritable. This can make it difficult for relationships, family, and work situations. For an individual to have constant mood swings people are going to start wondering what the issue is.
Adderall also is pretty unhealthy when it comes to your heart. It speeds up your heart rate and can even cause arrhythmia, which is life threatening. It is also bad for blood pressure and body temperature. Any amphetamine based drug is also an appetite depressor- in some cases of eating disorders young girls take the drug so they are not hungry. This is an extremely unhealthy practice that many who abuse Adderall or Vyvanse do on a consistent basis.
Sleep for the body is SO IMPORTANT
Adderall and any amphetamine keeps users awake. It decreases the need to sleep. This is a common reason why it is so heavily abused and you’ve probably heard of people considering it a “study drug”. Users take the stimulant so they can stay up through the night and work on projects or study. But sleep is so important. Our bodies need a minimum of eight hours of sleep per night in order to be considered healthy. When you start sleeping less, your overall health begins to fail.
Sadly, the abuse of amphetamines is common.
Adderall is highly abused, over 30% of students have admitted to abusing the drug at one point in their college career according to a University of Kentucky. Typically once a person abuses a drug, this continues. Many people I know who regularly abused stimulants in college are now working professionals doing the same thing.
Education is the key to halting abuse and letting the public know that these amphetamine based drugs are actually just as dangerous as Meth and should be treated that way. People should be more cautious to the substances they put in their body.
