Active Abuse
Some students use Ritalin despite not having prescription

By Chrissy Braden
Staff Reporter

Some students have found a way around the commonly-known side effects caused by caffeine when trying to study until the wee hours of the morning.

These students use Ritalin, a drug often prescribed to highly active people and those with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, to help them stay awake and focus when studying for tests.

One student, who wished to have her name withheld, said she uses Ritalin, the trade name for methylphenidate, when she wants to stay up through the night studying.

“You have to take one to understand it,” she said. “It just lets you really focus, and it doesn’t make you nauseous or jittery like caffeine pills.”

She, like others using the drug to study, has not been diagnosed with ADHD, nor does she receive Ritalin by prescription. She gets the drug from a friend who has a prescription.

One student, who also wished not to be identified, said he gets his Ritalin prescription at the Health Center or from his private physician at home. He said he then sells each pill for $2 to $3.

“I’m willing to do it every so often for a friend,” he said. “But I don’t want to be known as a supplier.”

Dr. Burton Schwartz, a physician at the Health Center, said he refused to discuss testing procedures for diagnosing ADHD or to provide the number of prescriptions for Ritalin the Health Center fills.

“We do handle and are aware of (the drug abuse),” he said. “And when medication is used, we spend a lot of time going over proper use with the patient.”

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has strict controls on the manufacturer, distribution and prescription of Ritalin because it’s a stimulant and has the potential for abuse, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Web site, (www.nida.nih.gov/Infofax/ritalin.html).

According to the Web site, illicit methylphenidate appears to be more available in Texas and Michigan than anywhere else in the country.

Staci Walters, a pharmacist at Walgreens on Oak Park Lane, said Texas may have a higher use of illicit methylphenidate because of the willingness of doctors to prescribe it.

“We fill an awful lot of prescriptions for Ritalin,” Walters said. “Doctors don’t have a problem prescribing it.”

Walters said doctors risk being audited for prescribing large quantities or a lot of prescriptions of Ritalin to the same person.

“It’s really closely regulated,” she said. “It’s a drug people can become highly dependent upon, and it has a high percentage of abuse.”

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Web site, Ritalin stimulates the central nervous system, with effects similar to, but less potent than, amphetamines. The effects, however, are more potent than caffeine, according to the Web site.

“(Ritalin) has a notably calming effect on hyperactive children and a focusing effect on those with ADHD,” according to the Web site.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that Ritalin can cause liver tumors in male mice, but the FDA also notes that this cancer is extremely rare in humans, and its occurrence is not increasing as Ritalin becomes more popular.

Walters said people should be careful not to abuse the drug, even if long-term side effects have not been found.

“Ritalin is a drug that has to be introduced to the body,” she said. “Taking it sporadically can be really hard on someone who’s not used to it.”

Walters said she doesn’t think Ritalin will ever be prescribed as a study aid, because doctors don’t want to jeopardize the drug’s reputation.

“There could be doctors doing that now, though,” she said. “They have a legal right to prescribe drugs off the record.”

Chrissy Braden
l.c.braden@student.tcu.edu