Caffeine was once the stimulant of choice for students to enhance concentration. Not any more. Cognition enhancing pills, most often prescription drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are the new study tool.
Sixteen per cent of US students and 10% of UK students say they use enhancers to boost academic performance, according to studies led by Cambridge University psychiatrist Professor Barbara Sahakian. It happens here too.
Cathal Ronan, a student welfare officer at the University of Limerick, and UCC student Brian Houlihan, say that while most undergraduates take coffee, caffeine tablets or the stimulant drinks, Red Bull and Monster, some use drugs as study aids.
“From what I hear, they use ADHD meds, but they do so in their own homes and never on campus,” says Cathal.
“I’ve heard they buy Ritalin and Adderall (stimulants prescribed for the treatment of ADHD) online, or source them from friends who have the condition,” says Brian.
Dr John Ball, spokesperson for the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), says that Irish GPs do not know the extent of the use of cognitive-enhancing drugs in Ireland. “Given their age profile, students are more likely to purchase these medications online rather than attempt to convince a GP that they have ADHD.”
Packages sent from online pharmacies don’t always reach their intended destination. According to a spokesperson for the Irish Medicines Board, 150 Adderall pills, 980 Ritalin, and 214 Modafinil were seized by Irish customs officers and Gardaí in 2011.
Buying prescription drugs over the internet is risky. Many online pharmacies are run by criminals distributing drugs that contain banned or toxic substances. Also, it’s a criminal offence to have prescription drugs without a prescription.
Students are not shy about asking for enhancers at student welfare centres, says NUI Galway lecturer, Dr Stanislava Antonijevic-Elliott: “I know of medical professionals at these clinics who are increasingly fielding requests for ADHD drugs from normal, healthy students pretending to have the condition.”
Source: Rita de Brun, Irish Examiner, 09/05/13
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