Sitting in the dimly lit study room during finals week is a girl frantically searching through her bag, her brown hair falling in front of her face as she desperately empties its contents onto the table. She is looking for the one thing she needs to study: her pills.
Beyond those who need them, using and abusing these medicines has become the new'and dangerous'craze in UW-Madison dorm rooms and around study tables.
While over-prescribing doctors are certainly not helping the situation, it is the illegal bartering of pills for money on this campus that is enticing many and helping none.
For those with medical needs requiring Adderal, Zanax and Ambien, using prescription drugs is understandable. However, too many are buying these drugs from fellow students to enhance a Saturday night. They are then at risk of becoming dependent.
When asked about popping pills for the purpose of studying, one student said everyone has ADHD tendencies and, 'I do my best work on Adderal.'
According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, use of stimulants not prescribed to a patient can lead to 'irregular heartbeat, dangerously high body temperatures and/or the potential for cardiovascular failure or seizures. Taking high doses of some stimulants repeatedly over a short period of time can lead to hostility or feelings of paranoia in some individuals.'
On any given weekend evening, it is nearly impossible to walk down a dormitory hallway without hearing snatches of conversations including the slang terms for one prescription drug or another. Drug abuse increases during exam week.
According to a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the number of people 12 and older who had taken OxyContin'a.k.a. prescription heroin'for recreational purposes had reached approximately 2.8 million in 2003.
When students were asked about selling their prescription drugs for recreational uses, one central idea presented itself: Although it may be dangerous and 'not the most ethical,' it is also, as one student put it, 'their business if they want to do it; but there is always a risk involved because you never know if that person is on different medication.'
Our generation'or Generation Rx, as we are now being referred to'is replacing harder drugs like cocaine with the much easier to get prescription ones. When crushed and snorted, Adderal has virtually the same effect as coke.
The risk of dependency is a serious one. A lot of drugs are addictive and force users to take higher doses in order to experience the high to which they have become accustomed. As one student voiced concern, 'It makes me sad, I don't want to see a person lose control.'
Addiction is all too real and difficult to deal with. If the abuse of these prescription drugs does not come to an end, where will it stop? Is it so far fetched to imagine Starbucks one day converting from caffeine to Adderal if the population demands it (and the government allows it, of course)?
Several places exist for help in battling an addiction to prescription drugs. These include the counseling services at University Health Services and a more formal rehab program at Tellurian UCAN here in Madison.
Students are legitimizing the use of prescription drugs under the premise that because they are legal for some, they must be legal for all. This is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed now before the occasional story in the news becomes a regular occurrence.
