(CNN) — Jared Gabay is like many other college students. When he has a big test coming up, he turns to what’s called a “study drug” for a little extra boost.
“I’m more driven. I don’t focus on anything else,” the Auburn University senior says about taking the drugs. “If I have a paper, that’s all I’m doing. No distractions, no socializing, just on with it. ”
Gabay takes the prescription drug Adderall, designed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. He doesn’t have ADHD or a prescription, but the drug is not hard for him to get. “It’s easy — not sketchy or perceived in a bad way,” he says. “Maybe a simple text or a phone call. ‘Hey mind if I get some Adderall? I’ve got a long night ahead of me.'” After taking the pill he hits the books in his fraternity house room, pulling an all-nighter studying.
It’s a scene that is playing out at college campuses across the United States.
Alan DeSantis, a professor and researcher at the University of Kentucky, has tracked study drug use there. “It’s abused more than marijuana and easier to get,” he says. DeSantis’ research found that 30% of students at the university have illegally used a stimulant, like the ADHD drugs Adderall or Ritalin. The numbers increase with upperclassmen. Half of all juniors and seniors have used the drugs, the study found, and 80% of upperclassmen in fraternities and sororities have taken them.
Adderall is an amphetamine and can be habit forming. The federal government lists it as a schedule II drug. Drugs in that category have, according to U.S. law “the highest abuse potential and dependence profile of all drugs that have medical utility.”
