It was impossible to miss, appearing on the front page of the New York Times: a healthy, promising student – dead by his own hand, after a history of Adderall abuse.
I imagine you have read the story of Richard Fee, and if you’re a parent of a tween, a teen, or a college student, then you understand my fear.
I have two sons in rigorous university programs. How would I know – really – what they are or aren’t doing? What is “business as usual” on campus, when it comes to pulling an all-nighter, or several in a row?
How would I know what the adolescent or young adult might justify when there is easy access to a legal substance?
Addiction to Study Drugs: Brain-Doping
Reading about the Adderall abuse and death of Richard Fee was heartbreaking. It was also deeply troubling.
Like most parents, I worry about my kids. In some ways, I worry less because they’re no longer under my roof. In other ways, fully aware of the pressures they’re under and the sense of immortality we tend to feel at 18 or 21 or 23, I worry more. What teenager or even young adult isn’t tempted to experiment – especially when away from home?
Dr. Todd Essig, writing for Forbes, addresses the complexity of these addiction issues in a way that feels informative and pragmatic. I read his coverage in two parts, “When Study Drugs Kill,” and have been thinking about it since. He writes:
Part 1 of “When ‘Study Drugs’ Kill” included the story, originally told in the NY Times, of a talented young man who used the now typical college student study strategy of taking Adderall to boost performance. Tragically, his story led to a fulminating addiction to stimulant medications that only stopped with his suicide.
But Dr. Essig goes beyond rehashing this story. He addresses specific means to cope with brain-doping in this context. To me – and here I am speaking purely as a parent – his approach seems both practical and realistic. He does not downplay the dangers; on the contrary. But Dr. Essig provides suggestions to the user, like “off time” from the drugs, and trusting someone with the truth of their usage.
Performance Enhancement
We no longer live in a society in which there is a level playing field. You may say we never did: the privileged experienced one set of options, and everyone else, another.
Ethnic, racial, gender and other divisions are impossible to ignore. Age – especially for women – is an increasingly tricky balancing act, as many undergo whatever procedures they can afford to hang on to the appearance of youth. This is more than a matter of self-esteem. It’s about competing, and for some, surviving.
We take or create an edge wherever we can. Are we really surprised at Lance Armstrong’s deception? And the pressures on athletes to push their bodies beyond extraordinary limits? Adderall or other drugs to amp up focus and pull off incredible feats of academic performance? Is this the society we’ve become?
So it would seem, at least in some circles.
Chocolate, Caffeine, Exercise, Sex
What’s your poison – or your pleasure?
We might argue that chocolate, caffeine, the gym or Zumba – not to mention a few rounds in the sack – are all good, healthy, wonderful ways to keep us feeling up and subsequently productive. I would agree, wouldn’t you? The problem is one of excess, preoccupation, and obsession.
Most of us sense when we’ve crossed over a line.
I can learn from Dr. Essig’s words, knowing myself to be all too reliant on black coffee late at night, and too little sleep, much too often. Then there are those occasional bouts of chocolate as another means to keep going, keep going, keep going – until I’m ready to drop. This is not the same situation as a chemical addiction, but these sentiments feel applicable all the same:
While drugs can make a task easier, especially when feeling over-burdened, they do not make success possible. You do. Always remember that success is the residue of good design, hard work, and talent. Success comes from what you do and who you are instead of what you take.
I am also considering Dr. Essig’s advice when it comes to any substance or set of behaviors that may seem “harmless,” and yet become necessary to propping us up. I’m asking myself if I can do without, even during “off-time,” and if their presence in my life is something I’ve trusted to a friend.
Doped or Duped?
We could argue definitions of addiction or leave that to the experts, yet I can’t help but note the increasing number of advertisements for pills and products that fill our airwaves and flash across our displays. I can’t help but think of our easy acceptance of pharmaceuticals as the answer to all ills from the blues to shyness to a few extra pounds around the middle.
Is there legitimate need? Of course.
Is supply driving demand? That, too, but with alternatives – lifestyle or natural alternatives for many of us – as I look to my own medicine cabinet, my fridge, my routine, my bad habits as well as the good, and realize I can make changes for the better.
And still, like most parents, I will worry for my children.
* * *
The full text of the Forbes article appears here: When Study Drugs Kill Part 1 and When Study Drugs Kill Part 2.
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Someone very close to me fell into the cycle of stimulants and anti anxiety drugs to bring her down – all prescribed by a friendly guy. But it led to isolation, depression, hospitalization.
Yes, the playing field is uneven, but perhaps the best thing we can teach our kids is to accept the reality of limitations (you cannot stay up all night over and over). In being true to yourself without added chemicals, you might do less well, yes, but you might also be calmer, truer, surer and carry your successes farther.
If you have sufficient not to go hungry or cold, and have love and community, who gives a damn about the playing field. That competitive game isn’t worth the pain and anxiety. I have some very wealthy friends, and I would never trade places with them. It’s hard to really overdose on coffee, but shrink it down to pill form and you can effectively do what normally never would be possible — drink dozens of cups of coffee in a short time. Yes, you can kill yourself on caffeine, but don’t blame it on drinking coffee. If there is a problem, it is that for numbers of people coffee is just one aspect of an almost total junk diet, and that diet will surely kill you before your time. You know my mantra — take no drugs (with very rare life-threatening exceptions) and avoid hospitals. I do believe that the “gene” explanation has been oversold to lead people to a sense of hopelessness, excuses, dependency, and depression — so that folks feel that their only hope is to pay the folks who own big-pharma.
Pardon the rant, but we’re back from a busy day yesterday, going to DC and the No XL Pipeline rally. About 40,000 folks there, quite willing to be hiking for some distance (the DC blocks are big) to the White House etc. Yep, it was windy and freezing, but it was good to be among a group of healthy and invigorated folks with ideals and a purpose in their lives.
Oh, and sex, that’s good too, of course. And healthy. And builds relationships. My mantra “Sex is God’s gift to men and women, to be used but not abused.”
Paul, you always make me smile, and I admire the conviction, stamina, and determination with which you and Fran always put your beliefs into action.
This is a scary scenario. I have two children in college, both in rigorous curriculums and both in sports, one on an international level.
I can only hope that our many family discussions about addiction (and them seeing my struggles before I finally kicked my smoking habit) and the fact that the elite athlete has been drug tested in his sport since he was sixteen will help keep them from buying into this phenomenon…
I think this also begs the question about how this generation is raising our children, that there are no ‘losers’ and that everyone are winners. In youth recreational sports and in academics, there is a trending pattern to ensure everyone receives a trophy or an award of some kind. In a recent academic assembly my fifteen-year-old who has been in the top one or two of his class for the past four years was limited to two “Top average” awards. He has the highest average in all four core classes.
We don’t have a problem sharing the spotlight, and have tried to teach our children that the greatest reward is a sense of self-satisfaction. But I am seeing more and more students who aren’t able to motivate or push themselves because there isn’t the need.
From an early age they are learning that they will win a “prize” and that everyone is created equal. This is a dangerous message we are creating for our youth, for our abilities, our environments, and our lives are not the same; we all need to learn to adapt where possible, and accept our circumstances where not…
I am wondering if this sense of false security is adding to the need for students to achieve success at all costs…