The dollar pitchers just ran out. It is 9 p.m. when Brent and Henry exit the bar to get a dose of much needed energy. The night started at 7 p.m. and with the help of little blue pills it will not end until 3:30 a.m.
“It peps me up a little, I’m on my game,” Brent, who requested his real name not be used, said 45 minutes after popping the pill. “It counters the depressive effects of alcohol.”
Despite drinking heavily for nearly six hours, the duo remains awake and alert. The pill combating the slowing effects of alcohol is the attention deficit disorder drug Adderall.
“You can drink like Superman because you’re up for so much longer and the alcohol doesn’t affect your motor skills,” said Henry, who also requested his real name not be used.
Abusing prescription drugs such as Adderall has been on the rise during the past five years, said Curt Haywood, substance abuse specialist at the Younkin Success Center.
“Students are talking to each other and saying ‘try this out,’ it’s word of mouth as something you can get high on,” Haywood said.
Adderall affects the sympathetic nervous system and speeds up the heart, giving the user more energy, said Tom Pepper, medical director for Talbot Hall and Ohio State University East Hospital.
“If you drink (alcohol) it tends to bring you down and slow you down but if you take a stimulant you can get drunk and stay energized,” Pepper said.
Drinking with stimulants is nothing new, Haywood said.
Consuming alcohol in conjunction with drugs such as No-Doz has been around for years.
“Students definitely will use to enhance and prolong the party but their blood alcohol content is continuing to go up and up, and instead of packing it (up) and going home they are continuing to drink and their BAC is going higher and higher and higher,” Haywood said.
The trend of abusing pharmaceuticals is something that started along East Coast preparatory schools, said Louise Douce, psychologist and director of Counseling and Consultation Services for the Younkin Success Center.
“Because alcohol is a depressant and Adderall is a stimulant the ways that alcohol makes you slow down the stimulant would delay,” she said. “(But) when you start mixing Adderall and alcohol you are asking for other problems that can be very dangerous.”
Long term Adderall abuse can result in increased blood pressure, heart damage and even psychosis, said Dr. Eugene Arnold, a child psychiatrist and professor emeritus of psychiatry.
In addition to the effects that Adderall abuse can bring in and of itself, drinking alcohol along with it can lead to a number of other problems, he said.
“They are doing themselves in by drinking more,” Arnold said. “The system has safeguards to tell you that you had too much to drink so that you stop and rest. But if you overcome that it would be like taking a bunch of analgesic it go out play football to bang yourself up other than what you could tolerate. I think that it is a very stupid thing to do.”
Henry said he has not noticed any negative effects of his Adderall use besides feeling a little strange the next morning.
“(The next morning) is different from a regular hangover,” Arnold said. “My head feels real slow. After riding so high you have to crash down.”
Adderall abuse can potentially lead toward the use of more powerful stimulants, Haywood said.
“I think if someone is taking Adderall to enhance their party experience and they see how much that works then they may be more apt to pick up another stimulant such as cocaine or methamphetamines because they are getting more and more used to experiencing stimulant sensations when they are partying,” he said.
Henry and Brent said they both believe they will neither get hooked nor move onto harder drugs as a result of their Adderall use.
Henry is a senior in computer engineering with a grade point average of about 3.6. He got his start using Adderall for recreational purposes when he broke his finger last year.
The doctors gave him a prescription for the painkiller Percocet that he gave to a friend in exchange for Adderall.
“(When) I started up I took too much,” Henry said. “Doctors recommend starting at five milligrams. The first time I took 20 milligrams – I didn’t fall asleep until 4:30 a.m.”
He has taken Adderall around 20 times during a period of five to six months, he said.
Brent, a senior in photography, said his first time taking the drug was more than three years ago. He found out about it through high school friends.
“It was pretty sweet – a euphoric sensation. Granted, it was mixed with quite a few drinks of alcohol,” Brent said.
Brent, like Henry, said he gets his Adderall through friends who have legitimate prescriptions.
“I (trade) anything from money, gifts or bartering,” he said. “It’s a good economy.”
Brent said he takes the drug while drinking in order to remain more alert throughout the night.
“It definitely helps you to be more alert and kind of polarizes your thoughts which is always good when drinking alcohol,” he said.
Adderall is also used by those without a prescription as a means to help them study, Douce said.
“I think there is some who may use it for midterms and finals who want to pull an all nighter,” she said.
Brent said he has taken the drug when he was facing a mountain of school work.
“If you are given an assignment you just jump into whatever you are doing,” he said.
Dr. Roger Miller, assistant director for clinical services at the Wilce Student Health Center, said he recognizes that drugs such as Adderall are becoming more popular but feels there are safeguards to prevent the drugs from getting into the hands of those who do not have a prescription.
“Someone can’t walk in and say ‘I’m out of my Ritalin can you give me a refill?,'” he said. “With these drugs you want to see written proof of previous testing and you want to be sure you’re giving it to someone who really needs it. And in that case you are going to be giving it to them in small quantities and encouraging them to come back and visit.”
Douce agrees with Miller and said doctors do rigorous testing before handing out prescriptions but realizes there are other ways for students to get their hands on the drugs.
“Certainly on this campus we have educated the physicians at the health service and they will not prescribe it without a good diagnosis for someone with ADHD,” she said. “Are there students who are getting a prescription they need and selling part of it? Probably. It’s drug dealing and it’s very unwise.”
