Before I begin, I want to give a little bit of background information. For those of you that don't know, adderall is an amphetamine based stimulant prescribed for ADHD and narcolepsy. It is composed of 75% dextroamphetamine and 25% levoamphetamine. Once metabolized, the drug increases levels of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain giving the user drastically increased energy, focus, euphoria, confidence, and a general sense of well being. Now adderall use is generally considered to be safe and socially exceptable which isn't surprising seeing as how a majority of people prescribed this drug are children. However when we examine this drug on a pharmicutical level, the main ingridient 'dextroamphetamine' is almost identical to 'methamphetamine' which is considered to be one of the most dangerous drugs of all time. When both drugs are taken through the same route of administration and adjusted for potency, they produce nearly identical effects. I would like to add that the crystalized structure of street meth allows it to be taken in fast acting ways that increase its addictive potential. If you want to read a neuroscientist's in depth viewpoint on the two drugs, you can find it here: http://theinfluence.org/neuroscientist-meth-is-virtually-identical-to-adderall-this-is-how-i-found-out/ . Now besides children and adults prescribed this medication, there is a large demand for it in College students. It makes sense, considering that focus, energy, and persistance are the name of the game for getting a competitive edge in any college, thus there is a high demand. The typical peak of this demand is around finals or any other time a large amount if studying is required. However there doesn't seem to any correlation between taking adderall recreationaly in college, and long term health effects/addiction since the supply is limited. Meanwhile, children that started taking adderall early in life show increased rates of cardiovascular disease, drug abuse, depression, and lethargy as they grow older. The problem is that these kids are prescribed to take adderall on a daily basis. At the same time, their bodies adjust to the potency, and they require ever increasing dosages to achieve the same effects. So this begs the question, according to society the abusive, bad, and dangerous way to take adderall, is the college student taking it occasionally without a prescription. While the safe way is for children to take it every single day, as long as they have doctor approval. This is very disturbing to me, especially because from 2003 to 2011, the number of children diagnosed with ADHD has increased 43% (Note* you can find these statistics here, or on the cds's website http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/25/report-43-percent-increase-adhd-diagnosis-u-s-children-2003-2011/ ) and we just don't know how this is going to affect the future generation. Children are too nieve to ever quetion what their parrents or doctors tell them to take and I don't believe they're being fully informed on what they're signing up for. While adderall may very well improve the quality of life for some people, I don't believe its healthy to give young children amphetamines every day just to increase their school performance. Let me know what you think in the comments and thanks for reading.
