Many students struggle to keep up during the school year, especially around midterms and exams.
While some rely on all-nighters and huge helpings of caffeine to help get them through, others are turning to prescription drugs, such as Ritalin or Adderall, to help them concentrate on their studies.
The drugs, commonly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are often obtained illegally without a prescription and have come to be referred to as ‘academic steroids’ or ‘smart drugs.’
The common effects of these drugs are higher alertness, lowered fatigue and increased attention span.
As these drugs have gained more exposure as study aids, questions have been raised about the legality, safety and morality of their use.
In fall 2010, a group of students at Wesleyan University in Connecticut campaigned to have the drugs banned as a violation of the school’s honour code.
A statement from David Pesci, the director of media relations at Wesleyan, said the school “does not condone any form of illicit drug use,” and the school’s student code of non-academic conduct had already reflected this before the student campaign began.
The academic integrity policy posted on the Carleton Student Affairs’ website does not address the issue, although the student rights and responsibility policy states that students shouldn’t “be in possession of, furnish to anyone, or consume, controlled substances.”
Luke Smith, a second-year political science and human rights student, said he felt these drugs are a violation of academic integrity.
“If I draw a comparison to the athletic field, there are so many sports where you can have nothing in your blood, and it, just then, boils down to pure skill, and I think that academia should be tested the same way,” he said. “Your academic results should rely on your own personal skill, not on supplements you can take.”
Although Smith said he would support a ban on the drugs at Carleton, Patty Allen, a health educator at Carleton’s Health and Counselling Services, said it would be hard to catch students breaking the rule and that students often take the drugs without knowing they are “dangerous or wrong.”
“What we tend to do here is take a more proactive, educational kind of view about it. ‘Let’s let the students know that this can be detrimental to them, let’s educate them it’s not a good idea to do this,’ ” she said. “But I don’t know of any Canadian university that makes this illegal.”
A 2009 Maclean’s article stated students can get these drugs without a prescription over the Internet or from classmates, and despite the fact that it is illegal to obtain the drugs in this manner, Allen said people are rarely punished for it.
“As you can imagine, it’s not something that ends up in court, because usually people are sharing with their friends and family,” she said. “Often, people are just not knowledgeable, they don’t know that it isn’t okay to do that, it could be really dangerous to do that.”
A product information document about Ritalin obtained from the Health Canada website warned that people should consult a doctor before taking the drug as it could cause complications in people with bipolar disorder or heart problems.Academic steroids could also carry negative side effects such as headaches or irritability if taken with other stimulants like coffee or cough syrup, Allen said.
Overall, she added, relying on these drugs as study aid may be counterproductive.
“You could probably get away with taking one, but if you’re going to do it on a regular basis, or a few times, it could be detrimental,” she added. “Not long-term for your health, but it could be detrimental for the exam that you’re about to write that you’re trying to stay up to study for.”