What can you do to push and motivate yourself?

[Suen2b]

Ritalin is a drug that is widely abused by law students.
  *It's possible*

....one could argue that Ritalin taken without a prescription is illegal.
  *Taking drugs without prescription AND medical indication IS illegal, no need to argue this*
 
Schools, particularly law schools, should be concerned if their students are breaking the law.
  *Yap, hard to practice what one doesn't preach*

Second, and more importantly, if students who illegally take Ritalin get an academic advantage over non-Ritalin takers, the law breakers are getting an unfair bump up in terms of law school grades and career options.
  *Well, remember here that there are people with medical need of these drugs, like narcolepy or ADHD. These are things that a health professional has decided is the best way to treat this person's problem, but I see your point.

Moreover, the existence of illicit Ritalin use puts pressure on non-Ritalin takers to use the drug, either through an illegal purchase or by faking symptoms to a physician to get a prescription. 
   **Healthcare personell like physicians are trained to recognize symptoms and see who is malingering or not. A physician that does not do so, is not doing his duties towards his patient. Medication errors kill thousands of patients every year and holding doctors accountable is a serious problem. Whether or not we should punish patients that fake symptoms to get a drug or not, I am against this for two reasons. First of all, it is almost impossible to prove intentions and actual decision to fake an illness, secondly many patients might have underlying problems that subconsciously drive them to fake symptoms. This is not only about Ritalin or not, but other drugs as well, when patient just believes getting a drug might be good and tells doctors what he/she saw in a TV ad.

   
 
 Because Ritalin can have adverse side effects in some people and has unclear long term health consequences, unnecessary Ritalin use is not recommended.
  *Like any other prescribed medications, I think Ritalin is one of the net drugs to become a class-action suit in a few years, as al the children of today on these drugs grow up and start complaining of side effects.*

 In short, to avoid unfairness and to discourage unnecessary Ritalin use, it seems reasonable to randomly test law students for Ritalin and the related drug, Adderall, and to take action against those students who have used the drug without a prescription.
   * I agree, and to take civil action against whoever gave them access to these drugs on false pretenses, should there be no medical reasons for taking them*


The situation seems to me to be similar to the one professional sports leagues face.  We know that steroids give athletes an unfair advantage and that steroids are illegal without a prescription. As a result, all major sports now prohibit athletes from taking steroids. Arguably, we should do the same when it comes to Ritalin.
    **Absolutely,but again; the people providing them with these drugs are really more guilty of breaching their duty as health provider than the person taking it. I agree that peer pressure is a stronger driving force than personal responsibility here. Best solution would be to punish the student disiplinary and take civil action agaist health care provider. *
 
Despite these differences with steroids, there seems to be a strong case for student Ritalin testing, especially given the fairness concern.
           ****I agree, this could be part of a physical offered each student.**
 

  The problem with drugs like Ritalin is that they are both performance enhancing AND illegal without a prescription. 
   ***Excactly, I personally drink at least 10 cups of coffee a day and smokes 1-2 packs also, both of them helping my memory before any test, but everybody can use these drugs and I know it helps me study better**

 Is it time we do something about it? Should we start testing law students for illegal Ritalin and Adderall use? And if so, what should the punishment be for violators? Expulsion? Reprimand with a report to the relevant bar association regarding illegal drug use? I look forward to comments.
      ***I think the main emphasis should be put upon the people that provide them with the drugs. Students are just in a situation where they think soemthing might help them out. As long as they obtained these drugs through a that has guaranteed their medical needs for these drugs, it seems unfair to hold the students.  They were just advised by people paid to take care of their medical needs. it doesn't matter or not if they wanted the drugs or not, since these drugs are prescribed by the physician and nobosy else. He/She therefore has the ultimate responsibility (and liability) when prescribing these.
    We did not prosecute people for taking Vioxx, despite the drug giving them heart attacks.

 

[primadonna greta garbo]

It also is nearly indistinguishable from the other exam week amphetamine of choice for law students:  Adderall.

LOL Leaf!

[12]

My motivation comes from the knowledge that the loans are building and are going to have to be paid off

Exactly! It is that knowledge that is motivating you to do drugs and much more!

[slacker]

I'm asuming when you say "motivating you to do drugs..." that you mean 'you' in a general sense and not for me specifically (since you're replying to my quote).

[lawher]

It also is nearly indistinguishable from the other exam week amphetamine of choice for law students:  Adderall.

By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, October 25, 2004

Jamie Cafeo could not understand at first why other students wanted the prescription drugs she needed to focus in classes at Community College of Allegheny County. Classmates offered her $50 for her bottle of Adderall, a stimulant prescribed to people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. "There are a lot of friends questioning me if I'll sell it to them," said Cafeo, 20, of Bloomfield. "They can take it and write an entire paper without anything bothering them." With midterm examinations under way, drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall are the new crutch for kids who cram. That's because the drugs can give healthy people an almost super-human ability to focus for long periods, said Dr. Eric Heiligenstein, a psychiatrist at the University of Wisconsin who studies substance abuse.

The drugs also have unintended recreational uses. Crushed and snorted, they give a rush similar to cocaine, said Dr. Neil Capretto, medical director at Gateway Rehabilitation Center. "It's a double-edged sword," Capretto said. "It's become a popular drug of abuse among kids." Adderall, in particular, has emerged as the drug-of-the-moment, students and health experts said. "It's a huge asset if someone wants to spend 12 hours studying without fatigue," Heiligenstein said. "It's an academic steroid." Adderall is one of several drugs that calm attention deficit disorder patients by stimulating their brains. The drugs activate the frontal lobes of the brain, an area that monitors task performance, Heiligenstein said.

Shire Pharmaceuticals Group, a British company with its American headquarters near Philadelphia, manufactures and sells Adderall and Adderall XR, an extended-release version of the drug. Company officials declined to comment for this story. In a statement, the company warned that prescription drugs should be used only as intended and only under medical supervision. Sales of Adderall XR grew by 30 percent to $283 million for the first six months of the year, the company reports. Shire expects the market to keep growing, citing a 1999 federal study that shows that while 8.2 million American adults have attention deficit disorder, only 360,000 receive treatment.

Emotional, physical strains

For normal, healthy people who do not have diagnosed attention deficit problems, Adderall can cause emotional and physical strains by making them hyperactive, paranoid and delusional while putting them at risk for heart attacks or strokes, Capretto said. It also can cause non-prescribed users to crash into exhaustion as the drug wears off, he said. Because of that, people who abuse the drug can get addicted to the energy it gives them. Regular users will then seek stronger doses to maintain the high. Because young people often binge on the drugs, crushing them and snorting them to get an immediate rush, they run the risk of overdosing, Capretto said. The results of an overdose can vary by person. It can be fatal in extreme cases. "If you're tired, have a cup of coffee or tea," Capretto said he tells students. "(Adderall) shouldn't be thought of as a cup of coffee or Coca-Cola for energy."

[lawher]

Getting the drugs

Cafeo, a junior, wonders how many older students getting prescriptions for the first time really need them. She said she has fended off too many fellow students wanting her drugs and then faking the attention deficit symptoms. One friend started taking Adderall without a prescription and quickly ramped up to taking an entire month's worth of pills in about 10 days. When the friend could no longer find reliable sources for that much Adderall, she convinced a doctor to write her a prescription. "All you have to do is read a book on ADHD and you know what to tell a doctor," Cafeo said. "Now a lot of kids get it by saying they have a problem studying." Students who have tried the drug illegally will come in seeking prescriptions for it, said James A. Cox, director of the University of Pittsburgh counseling center. He typically refers them first to the Academic Support Center for help with time management skills and study strategies. Attention deficit disorder is generally associated with childhood, but some students don't realize they have problems until they reach college, said Anita Barkin, director of Student Health Services at Carnegie Mellon University. Living on campus and faced with more intense academic pressures, some students find they cannot control their environment enough to compensate for their lack of focus.

Tracking use

Few experts are tracking misuse of Adderall. The federal Drug Abuse Warning Network has seen an increase in emergency room visits involving dextroamphetamine, a main ingredient in Adderall, said Leah Young, spokeswoman for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. But the numbers, she warns, are too small to mean much to researchers. Hospitals often lump dextroamphetamine with other amphetamines and methamphetamines. Despite those limitations, the numbers of emergency room visits related to dextroamphetamine rose nationally to 1,355 in 2002 from 635 in 2000 and just 261 in 1999.

In all, there were 670,000 drug-related emergency room visits in 2002. Allegheny General Hospital, on the North Side, has treated two people in the past year for adverse reactions to attention deficit disorder drugs, said Dr. Fred Harchelroad, chairman of emergency medicine. Both patients came in with a rapid heart beat and an increased sense of anxiety. "They had gotten (the drugs) from friends who might have been a little more well-versed in using them," Harchelroad said. "They took one or two more than they should have."

Officials at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, Carlow College and Point Park University said they are aware of the potential abuse of Adderall. But no local college reported any overdoses. "Adderall and Ritalin are getting to be drugs of choice for students who believe they will enhance their performance on tests or help them study more effectively," said Barkin at Carnegie Mellon University. The school does not have any "hard or fast evidence" about students abusing the drugs, she said, but has heard enough rumors and anecdotal reports to know it's taking place. The university is conducting a survey of students' use of Adderall, Ritalin and other prescription stimulants, Barkin said.

Some students at the University of Pittsburgh said they know of people who use Adderall in crunch times. The university, like many others, conducts anonymous surveys about whether students are abusing alcohol and drugs. It declined to provide the results. "We're not seeing it as an issue on this campus," said Marcee Radakovich, director of Student Health Services.

Trying stimulants

A survey of students at the University of Wisconsin's Madison campus found 20 percent of the students with Adderall prescriptions had abused the drug, shared it with friends or sold it, Heiligenstein said. A quarter of college-age students, meanwhile, have tried stimulants such as Ritalin or Adderall without prescriptions, said Dr. Tim Wilens, a psychopharmacologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Wilens recently finished a research paper that cites a survey of undergraduates at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, finding that 4 percent had abused amphetamine compounds, 7 percent Ritalin and 24 percent both.

The federal government does not survey students on Adderall abuse, but has followed non-prescription use of Ritalin by high school and college students in recent years. Nearly 5 percent of college students in 2003 said they had tried Ritalin without prescriptions in the previous 12 months, according to the annual, federally financed Monitoring the Future study conducted by the University of Michigan. Abuse among college students was nearly twice that of non-students of the same age.

Younger users

There's also anecdotal evidence of Adderall abuse starting at a younger age. Bethel Park police arrested eight high school freshmen and a sophomore in February for trading Adderall and two other prescription drugs. A teacher caught one of the students snorting a crushed pill in a school bathroom, said Jim Modrak, a school resource police officer. Students are not supposed to carry even their own aspirin on campus, Modrak said, but the ADHD drugs are so prevalent it's hard to keep them out of the wrong hands. "With students having a legitimate access to this medication, there is going to be plenty of opportunity for misuse and possible illegal use of the medication," Modrak said. On college campuses where students typically maintain their own prescriptions, it can be difficult to uncover abuse, experts said. "It's virtually impossible to police that," the University of Wisconsin's Heiligenstein said. "As with other prescription medicines, you don't have to go to a seedy part of town to buy it."

ADHD drugs

Who's abusing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drugs? A quarter of college-age students have tried stimulants such as Ritalin or Adderall without prescriptions, said Dr. Tim Wilens, a psychopharmacologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Four percent of college students have tried amphetamine compounds, 7 percent Ritalin and 24 percent both types in a survey of undergraduates at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. A fifth of the students prescribed Adderall abused the drug, shared it with friends or sold it, according to a survey of students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Nearly 5 percent of college students in 2003 said they had tried Ritalin without prescriptions in the previous 12 months, according to the annual, federally financed Monitoring the Future study conducted by the University of Michigan. Abuse among college students was nearly twice that of nonstudents of the same age.

Andrew Conte can be reached at aconte@tribweb.com or (412) 765-2312.

[dft]

funny stuff

How about wide-eyed, anxious appearance, abnormal dilation of your pupils, nystagmus (involuntary jerking of eyeballs), rapid speech?

That just sounds like about 1/2 the students and a noticable percentage of the faculty.

My motivation comes from the knowledge that the loans are building and are going to have to be paid off.

[dft]

Cocaine is not technically an amphetamine (it has some narcotic properties as well), but it's close enough.

They are both stimulants though -- that would be the more accurate term.

It also is nearly indistinguishable from the other exam week amphetamine of choice for law students:  Adderall.

On the original topic, personally I find fear to be a fairly effective motivation.  Seems to do the trick!

[cherry coke]

How about wide-eyed, anxious appearance, abnormal dilation of your pupils, nystagmus (involuntary jerking of eyeballs), rapid speech?

That just sounds like about 1/2 the students and a noticable percentage of the faculty.

My motivation comes from the knowledge that the loans are building and are going to have to be paid off.

funny stuff

Which one? or both of them?

[Suen2b]

It also is nearly indistinguishable from the other exam week amphetamine of choice for law students:  Adderall.

By Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, October 25, 2004

Jamie Cafeo could not understand at first why other students wanted the prescription drugs she needed to focus in classes at Community College of Allegheny County. Classmates offered her $50 for her bottle of Adderall, a stimulant prescribed to people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. "There are a lot of friends questioning me if I'll sell it to them," said Cafeo, 20, of Bloomfield.

 hehe, I am sure she is "surprised". LOL

     20 years and so out of touch. I don't think so. Adderall surely helps with studying, but I prefer loads of coffee to taking it. For once, it is cheaper and you never know what situation you might end up in that might warrant drug test. Only good thing with Adderall is that it doesn't stay in system long compared to Marijuana for example (not that THAT is a great study-aid).
         I prefer my Colombian coffee.