Was Tom Cruise Right?

Attention Disorder Drugs Are Abused As Campus Study Aids

(CBS) 
Abuse of ADHD medication can also begin even earlier than college. Jeremy Wayne Swanson, a 21 year-old from Hudson, Wisconsin began abusing Ritalin in Junior High School. Jeremy is part of another group of prescription stimulant abusers -- those who obtain the drugs legally with a physician’s prescription to treat their ADHD. "I started not to like the feeling I got taking it normally. I felt like a walking zombie," he said. "I would put it in my mouth, walk out of the nurse’s office and then take it out of my mouth, walk into a bathroom, and snort it."

Jeremy also sold his medication, making up excuses as to why he needed frequent refills. "I was supposed to be doing 4 a day, but I was snorting about 10-15. People would come to me at all hours of the night and say ‘just give me some, please, please, I’ll give you anything’."

For Jeremy, Ritalin was a gateway drug that he believes opened the door to cocaine and methamphetamine addictions. After being caught at school with cocaine, Jeremy entered rehab and then a halfway house. He has been clean since 2003, and is now studying to become a drug counselor for others with drug addiction problems. When asked what he would say to students now abusing ADHD medications, Jeremy says he would "try to completely steer them away from it. You think of it as harmless, but it’s really not."

Abuse of prescription drugs among teenagers, however, is on the rise nationwide. A new report by the National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found that teenage abuse tripled between 1992 and 2003. "They’re easily available," says Joseph A. Califano Jr., chairman of the center and former U.S. secretary of health, education, and welfare. "They’re in every medicine cabinet in the country; they’re in every town in the country."

The problem is likely to get worse. "As more and more kids are diagnosed with ADHD, not only children but also young adults, there are going to be more of these drugs available for college students to get a hold of," says Dr. William Frankenberger, director of the Human Development Center at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Many students believe these drugs help them focus on their studies, but there is doubt as to their actual academic advantages. "People are better able to pay attention for prolonged periods without getting tired and fatigued. That is true for everyone," says Dr. Frankenberger. But this does not necessarily indicate improved performance, he warns.

As stimulants, Adderall and Ritalin may interfere with normal sleep. Students often feel like they’re better prepared, but don’t do as well. This is also true for patients who are prescribed the medications by physicians, and there is some indication that children on ADHD medications may actually fall further behind, says Dr. Frankenberger, perhaps due to sleep interference.

So what is the harm of using Adderall and Ritalin? If it helps everyone focus, at least in the short term, then why not make it over-the-counter?

Amphetamines are highly addictive and easily abused. "The longer you take them," says Dr. Frankenberger, "the more problems are associated with your use, and the higher dose you take, the more prominent the side effects become."