Popping Pills a Popular Way to Boost Brain Power

(CBS)  If there were a drug that would make you smarter, would you take it? Today an increasing number of healthy people are using drugs without a prescription as a way to improve their mental function.

It's called neuroenhancement and if you want to find someone who's trying it out, just visit a college campus. That's where a surprising number of students are turning to drugs like Adderall and Ritalin, originally developed to treat attention disorders, to boost their brain power and help them make the grade.

Full Segment: Boosting Brain Power
Web Extra: Buying Adderall
Web Extra: Adderall Like Using Steroids?
Web Extra: Adderall & Academic Achievement
Web Extra: The Brave New World of Adderall
Web Extra: High Stakes Poker & Adderall

"How common is it to see friends just poppin' pills during finals?" correspondent Katie Couric asked a group of students.

"It's the norm. For sure," a student replied.

"Do you actually see them popping pills, or do they just say, 'I just had an Adderall so I'm ready to go?'" Couric asked.

"Either or," another student replied.

"I mean, if you're in the library you might see someone taking one or, you know, someone will come out and be like, 'Oh, I just took an Adderall and I just finished my five page paper in three hours,'" another student added.

These students are among the nearly 20,000 undergraduates at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. They range from a sophomore to a recent graduate but they all agree taking Adderall is common practice on campus when students need to pull an all-nighter to churn out a paper or cram for an exam.

"Everybody's trying to get an edge. And I mean, and if you can take a pill that will help you study all night to get that grade you need, I mean, a lotta people don't see why they wouldn't do it," a student explained.

Adderall is an amphetamine that came on the market in 1996. Along with Ritalin, another stimulant, it's prescribed to increase mental focus in people with attention disorders.

"I've taken them to study for tests and write papers and things like that. I mean, I've never even been tested for ADD but they do work," Lauren, a junior, told Couric.

She was the only student who told us she has taken the drug without a prescription. "If I've taken it, I can stay awake and I feel productive, I want to be doing what I'm doing," Lauren said.

"I understand that it can make boring work actually more interesting," Couric remarked.

"If I'm not on Adderall I'll read something and I'm not really interested at all, you're just trying to keep yourself focused, but then, you take an Adderall and you all of the sudden are just totally consumed in what you're doing," she explained.

"Does anyone think, though, it makes them have a better grasp or understanding of the material?" Couric asked the students.

"I'd say it's more…it makes you more detail oriented than anything else. If you're detail oriented and you're focused, everything becomes a lot easier to understand than when you're not on it," a student replied.

But is there science to back up their claims?

At the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, psychiatrist Nora Volkow is testing stimulants - in this case Ritalin - on a subject who's sleep-deprived, similar to a college student who's been up all night studying.

Dr. Volkow's study shows that Ritalin works in a healthy brain the same way it does in the brain of someone with an attention disorder. In areas of the brain, stimulants trigger an increase of the chemical dopamine.

Asked what dopamine exactly does, Volkow said, "Dopamine is like a messenger. It activates the rest of the cells in the brain to pay attention."

"They make you more alert, focused, interested, motivated," she explained.

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[CollegeStudent1011]

I have a lot of thoughts on this issue. First of all I consider myself an above intelligence student (I have a complete tuition scholarship plus some). I also am very conscious of what I put in my body and take care of my body.

With that said, adderall has undoubtedly helped my academic performance. I was found out about the drug in the later part of my junior year. After that semester I have not gotten below an A in any of my classes. Some may ask why "supplement" with addy? Well I am competing for a program with average entrance GPA of 3.8 (and these are science classes). When you boil it down, academic campuses are extremely competitive environments. Make the grade and your are accepted into a profession with high income. Don't make the grade and you're a 2.9 GPA Biology major with no options (since you really aren't interested in biology, you just majored in it for pre-health graduate schools)

Do I have an advantage over fellow students? Certainly. However, bear in mind that adderall does not make you "smarter". It simply enhances your focus. You are simply more efficient with your time. I am still making a conscious choice to study and learn instead of partying or whatever else sounds enticing.

Finally I believe that the dose makes the poison. I make an effort to use adderall intelligently. I try to use just 5mg, at which dose I still feel a significant positive effect. Compare this to people that I know have used 40 or 50mg. If you think about it caffeine could also be labeled as a "study drug" also and we are perfectly fine with it. If you ingest too much caffeine your blood pressure can rise and if you ingest extreme amounts, death is also possible. Almost any substance is dangerous is extreme amount, even water. However, like I said before the dose makes the poison.

I agree there is possible benefit to the wide use of "neural enhancers". However, it is a very slippery slope and would be hard to regulate. For me personally however, I want to gain admissions into my prospective graduate school and become the profession I aspire to. Unfortunately on college campuses and graduate admissions, it is survival of the fittest.

[UGATrevor]

This is certainly nothing new. Students have been taking Adderall as mental performance enhancers for years. What is more interesting is how these habits are graduating with them into the workforce... This new generation of young americans see Cognitive Energy Enhancers like Adderall as one of the keys to success (at school and work). There are also now products out there like PROFIDERALL that are positioned as over the counter, prescription free alternatives to Adderall. Either way, legally or illegally, the concept of people using drugs for mental performance enhancement is something that is not just prevalent... but only growing.

[shelfgray]

What has not been addressed in the prior comments, and certainly not in the 60 Minutes piece, is the affect on students with Real ADD/ADHD. Students whose parents have spent years and years and tens of thousands of dollars on Neurological exams, Cardio/EKG exams, Psychological Testing, Educational Testing, tutoring, private schools, books, seminars and dietary supplements, only to have them move on to college and be badgered by roommates, sorority/fraternity members and classmates to share their medications. When students with true ADD take their prescribed medication it doesn?t move them from a ?C - to an A,? but rather from reading a paragraph and not being able to remember its content - to being able to read and comprehend an entire book!

ADHD kids are being kicked out of colleges and high schools for submitting to the peer pressure of sharing their medications; while 60 Minutes basically glorifies the use and abuse by undiagnosed students, professors, the government and professionals.

Maybe, Katie should have interviewed an ADD student, one who gets hounded at exam time, or maybe a college administrator who sweeps this epidemic under the carpet, only to then demonize the students with valid ADD diagnosis.

I wonder if the intent of this segment was to justify the rampant use of these drugs, both prescribed and unprescribed, by journalists, professors, lawyers, doctors and countless other highly educated professionals. I wonder?

[draxdr]

If someone is having enough of a difficulty in concentrating on their schoolwork that they go in search of something to help, perhaps its because they have ADHD. What specific degree of not being able to concentrate qualifies one for that diagnosis? Is it black or white or is there a gray area? If someone feels that they need some help to learn, what exactly is the harm in that?
The reason that students turn to medication for help is because most of the college-age students are products of the self-medication generation. Society says almost anything can be cured with a pill, so why is this situation any different? If someones in pain, there's Motrin or Ibuprofen. Vitamins can be taken for symptoms of deficiencies or imbalances. I'm not really seeing a difference.
As for long-term side effects, the article states that these haven't been determined for people who do not have the condition. Newsflash, chances are they also haven't been determined for those who do and it will be a couple years or more before new studies find new problems. That's the way it always works.
If a student wants to take a pill to enhance their performance in school rather than snort some other drugs to stay up and party all night, why not? At the very least it's working toward a bright future rather than the alternative.
As for addiction, each individual person knows their own limits and its their own prerogative to take that risk.
The study failed to mention ephedrine which is also very effective and available to purchase legally in many states. It also works very well for late night study sessions.

[rasatl47]

I can't believe 60 Minutes did not discuss the FDA "Black Box" warning that's associated with these drugs. The drug companies and doctors have no "HOTLINE" when you have a psychosis or seizure. They don't want to know you or help. I took the drug for 6 day and had both. It cost me my family, my career and my quality of life. Its been 6 years and everyday I question myself "Why did I take that drug"?

BLINDSIDED!! It was a methanphetamine based drug. They started me at the highest dose 54mg (red flag). It was an overdose and my doctor never check me into the hospital. The next 90 days was the worst. I couldn't sleep, I lost 40 lbs, memory lost, paranoia. This reaction should have been treated like a "heart attack". I couldn't get the right help. The drug effects your Central Nervous System which controls everything in your body. When I called the Pharmaceutical company and reported the event, they had nothing in place to help. I'm struggling to put the piece of my life back together again. What hurts the most is it cost me my marriage and family. My situation is complicated to understand, but if I can save one person on the fence about taking this drug then I will share my story.

[jstiller34]

Professor Martha Farah just released a statement on her website about the show and the dangers of Adderall: http://neuroethics.upenn.edu

[alexa_87]

There is actually a thing called "state dependent learning" and if a person who is not prescribed to be taking the drug, they could actually forget everything that they learned while they were high if they were no longer in that state. On The other hand, you said that you are prescribed to be taking Adderall, so the same might not be true for you. State dependent learning goes into effect when you do not suffer from ADD or ADHD. So in truth, you are both right and wrong. Just because you would still remember everything doesn't mean somebody would.

[tedcohens]

To the hapless editors at 60M:

Katie Couric's story Sunday on college kids taking Ritalin and similar drugs talked about a controlled experiment under which some were given placebos to determine the real effect of Ritalin etc.

But Couric never explained the result of the experiement, leaving all your viewers wondering what the point of the reporting the experiment was since you never provided conclusory information one way or the other.

Incredible shoddy journalism and I can't believe how many sets of eyes failed to catch this huge hole in her story.

I discussed this with attorney John S. Campbell, a colleague who told me, yes, he too was left with the same impression.

Our perceptions are not coincidental.

There was a major flaw with Couric's piece.

How did you all let this get through?

because she is an incredibly shoddy journalist who gets by on looks rather than brain power...ironically.

[nanna1960]

I am shocked that this use and practice is being sugar coated because these are college students doing it. The students selling the pills are drug dealers and the students taking the pills are drug users. Just because they are taking the drugs as college students does not change the facts. If a regular person going through distressing personal problems gets stopped by the police for a traffic violation and the police find a half of a nerve pill on them that a parent gave them is now a convicted felon, then the same laws should apply to the college students. The law states that it is illegal to have or take prescription drugs that are not prescribed to you. Ritalin and Adderall are prescribed so people with ADD or ADHD can function in school and work like someone without this disorder. This is no different than athletes taking steroids.

[laurelleaf]

C'mon Katie - this is speed, just like what college kids were taking in the 70s when I was in college. Meth is the amped up version. For those who wonder about the side effects, check out "The Faces of Meth" here:
http://www.drugfree.org/portal/drugissue/methresources/faces/index.html -- the fast forward version of addiction to speed.

[ansongk]

This is cheating -- no doubt about that. I was absolutely appalled and extremely disappointed after watching the show for the following reasons:

Katie Currie never raised a question as to whether it is fair to other students who are not using these performance enhancing drugs, or not.

Some of these students are likely future law makers and Olympics dope testing officials to be -- how can they justify that it is okay to use performance enhancing drugs to outperform peers in school, but it is not acceptable in sports. This is a pure case of double-standard -- one for the rich, the other for the poor.

CBS must apologize to the general public for the shabbily job done.