The Risky Study Buddy

With finals week just around the corner the mounds of studying and stress are starting to build. The pressure is building to pull off those good grades. While college campuses do what they can to offer 24-hour coffee shops, for some students caffeine is just not enough.
Students are turning to the prescription pill Adderall to get through the weight of a semester. Legally, the drug is prescribed for children and adults with Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADHD who have difficulty focusing or controlling actions.
The pill is also used to treat the sleeping disorder narcolepsy. Known as a central nervous system stimulant, it works to change the natural chemicals in your brain. Amphetamine is known to be highly habit-forming and leads to dependence if used improperly. Mix that with college students under pressure and it can be a dangerous assortment.
With so many side effects and risk of addictions, what is drawing students to “the new party drug?”
The sharpened concentration is a start. But adderall also has the ability to keep an individual alert; so alert it keeps you from sleep.
Adderall also contains an appetite suppressant, which makes eating much difficult. For college students, particularly girls, this means a new diet pill–another means of abuse among students.            
Adderall abuse alters the brain. For those with a disorder, adderall can work effectively when overseen by a physician and distributed in the proper dosage.
For those buying the pill regularly for $5 off a friend, the abuse can be fatal. With any medication, there is a risk of overdose.
Long-term abusers of Adderall can develop psychosis, a loss of contact with reality and delusional development, which can lead to an accidental overdose. 
A 2009 report in Scientific American suggests that despite the short-term benefits of the drug, long-term use could change brain function enough to depress mood and boost anxiety.
Young brains are particularly vulnerable because they are not fully developed until the mid-20s. When asked why she thinks students are taking Adderall, Alley Dicapo, a communications junior replied, “A majority of the people who take it do so to be able to study for large amounts of time and to pull all nighters.”
So how does the nation  combat the drug for overachievers? While Adderall is classified as a Schedule II stimulant, it is punishable by federal law if taken or sold without a prescription from a doctor.
Unfortunately the Federal Drug Administration isn’t hanging around college campuses today and the dealers are harder to catch because they tend to be our own peers. In the 1990s it was Ritalin, today it’s Adderall, what does the future drug hold?