Editor’s note: Student names have been changed to protect students’ identities.
Patrick Griffin is a senior in the School of Engineering and he's Greek. He takes Adderall, legally, for his ADD. He's also sold Adderall to friends.
Griffin estimates 10 percent of the undergraduate population at Vanderbilt take Adderall illegally on a regularly basis — and he may be underestimating. In a survey conducted by The Vanderbilt Hustler and InsideVandy.com, exactly 20.0 percent of 268 randomly selected respondents said they had taken Adderall illegally.
Vanderbilt is not alone. Using data collected from the 2001 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, University of Michigan researcher Dr. Sean McCabe estimated 4 percent of college students had used Adderall or Ritalin to study. The rates rose into double digits at competitive schools.
Many college students' familiarity with the drug started years ago, back in middle school when many children are prescribed the medication for ADD and ADHD.
Griffin received his first Adderall prescription in the seventh grade at age 13.
“I went through a bunch of testing, and they said that my IQ was higher than I was performing and that I was ADHD," he said. "The doctors said (Adderall) would help.”
Jeff Wherry, a transfer sophomore who, like Griffin, has sold Adderall to friends, received his ADD diagnosis in the first grade.
“I was a typical hyperactive kid who was crawling under desks and talking to other students, and that was weird, apparently, and they weren’t tolerant of it,” Wherry said. "My parents, being responsible parents, had me tested, and I was put on Ritalin and have since been on a variety of stimulant medications throughout my life."
Although Michael Schaefer has now legally been prescribed Adderall, he first used the drug illegally before he pursued medical testing to obtain a prescription. Schaefer is a junior in the College of Arts and Science and is Greek.
Though they carry the diagnosis for problems with concentration, Griffin and Schaefer may match the larger profile of an Adderall user. In their research, McCabe's team also compiled an average profile of the Adderall user: male, white, Greek and earning a GPA of 3.0 or lower at a competitive college. The Adderall user was much more likely to smoke cigarettes, smoke marijuana and 20 times as likely to report past-year cocaine abuse compared to non-Adderall users.
“I have always thought I had ADD, so I thought I would give it an experimental shot to see if it helped me, and that prompted me to go get testing,” Schaefer said. He first tried the drug his freshman year of college during exam time.
Selling the Drug
Griffin, Schaefer and Wherry have all sold Adderall, usually to friends.
“I have given it to other students, but I’m reluctant to do that because I grew up with the drug, and I don’t like the idea of it,” Wherry said. “I don’t like the idea of people getting stuff that they don’t need; they think this will solve their problems, and they get in the habit of doing it." He can count on one hand how many people he has illegally given the drug to over the past four years.
Griffin expressed similar restraint.
“I only do it for friends who I feel like I’m helping out," he said, "I don’t sell it to people who have never taken it before — I would instruct them to go somewhere else. So I sell it to very few people, probably the same group of five people."
“When people come to me and ask me about Adderall," Griffin added, "I always tell them that it’s really stupid to take for the first time for a test, because there is a very good chance you will blow that test because you will have very negative side effects and won’t be able to study."
“I don’t make money off of it," Schaefer said. "It’s just to subsidize the cost of the drug." He said he has only sold the drug a few times and only to very close friends.
Griffin said he doesn’t think most students realize the consequences of selling the drug, even the students who actively engage in the illegal exchange of the drug.
“Adderall is a class II drug, which means it is the same as cocaine, and selling Adderall can have the same punishments as selling cocaine, and it is punished with a felony,” he said.
Legal obtainment can be difficult because of the drug's classification. The Zerfoss Student Health Center, like student health centers nationwide, tightly controls prescriptions for Adderall, according to Dr. Louise Hanson, director of student health. Prescriptions cannot be called or faxed into a pharmacy, and refills cannot be written by doctors at the health center.
“We make people jump through hoops, not because we’re trying to be difficult, but because we want to make sure we appropriately prescribe,” Hanson said. “I think we’re just a lot more worried about it, because we see the abuse side of things more than a pediatrician would."
Still, the illegal exchanges are happening all over campus.
“People pretty much know who has prescriptions. You usually know a friend or one of your friends knows a friend, and that’s how you find it,” Schaefer said.
Griffin agreed. He thinks most students have at least one friend who takes it — usually the source of illegal procurement. He said some people are more willing to give or sell pills to friends, usually depending on how much of the prescription they use. “I’m sure there are people out there who get a prescription just to sell it,” he said.
There appears to be somewhat uniform pricing for the drug on campus. According to Griffin, street prices range from 20 cents a milligram to 40 cents a milligram, the latter being a price during a period of high demand, such as finals week.
“Twenty-five cents per milligram is pretty normal,” Griffin said. “I have prescriptions for 20 milligrams, so that’s $5 per pill. Pills will go anywhere from $3-10 here."
“I know kids who have bottles of this stuff in their room,” Wherry said. In his experience, Adderall pills generally sell for $10 a pill, but kids who are over-prescribed the drug may sell it cheaper, like for $3-5 a pill. Wherry also observed price increases during finals, or small spikes for individuals whose grades will be determined by a single paper or final.
“I don’t think (students) really go looking for it on a day-to-day basis," he said, "but during exam time when they have neglected two or three weeks worth of reading and studying and feel the need to cram."
“It’s definitely prevalent," Wherry said. "Prevalent to the point where I don’t have to go out of my way to know kids exchange it amongst each other and buy it from each other."
Katherine Miller contributed reporting to this article.
