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A study of 135 Grand View University students found that 20 percent of them have purchased Adderall illegally.

According to WebMD, Dextroamphetamine-Amphetamine, better known as Adderall, is a combination of two medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Amphetamine and dextroamphetamine belong to a class of drugs known as stimulants. Stimulants can help increase your ability to pay attention, stay focused on an activity and control behavior problems. Stimulants may also help you to organize your tasks and improve listening skills. However, many students are using Adderall illegally to excel in the classroom.

The study mentioned above found that 69.2 percent of students answered ‘Yes’ when asked if Adderall is too easy to access.

“You can get a 20 milligram Adderall tablet for five dollars a pill,” GV student Savannah Wood said.

Adderall can be addictive, and many students that illegally purchase and sell Adderall are unaware of the illegal consequences.

In 2016, Casey Schwartz  from the New York Times wrote “Generation Adderall,” and dove into the challenge that campuses all over America face: abuse of Adderall.

According to Schwartz: “Adderall has now become ubiquitous on college campuses, widely taken by students both with and without a prescription. Black markets have sprung up at many, if not most, schools.”

Everyone wants to excel in their college courses, athletics, clubs, organizations and social life. Adderall can give college students an edge in the classroom, as well as all other aspects of life–— but at a cost.

Ruth White, GV’s nurse practitioner, speaks with many students about Adderall use. According to White, because many students grow up around Adderall, they don’t realize that it is dangerous for them to use without a prescription.

“We start kids in elementary school on (Adderall), and I’ve seen (many) children that need it to make it through their education career,” White said. “I think people have a cavalier attitude toward Adderall because they’ve seen their friends on it from a young age.”

The Des Moines Police Department’s vice and narcotics unit focuses on the use of illegal street drugs and prescription drugs. Although some children benefit from Adderall, officer Andy Becker said it is likely over-prescribed.

“Adderall has just become this thing where parents take their kid to the doctor and say ‘my kid is hyper,’” Becker said. “Parents go there looking for something, and that something is Adderall. There’s not a whole lot of stigma behind it.”

The dangers of abusing Adderall include many negative side effects. According to White, common problems include lack of emotion, depression, trouble sleeping and trouble with appetite.

“Adderall is a stimulant, and too much of a stimulant will affect your heart, and that can certainly have devastating consequences,” White said. “You don’t know how it is going to respond in your body. Too much of it can certainly kill you.”

Becoming addicted to Adderall after extended use is very common, much like any other schedule-two narcotic.

“With any drug, you are going to build a tolerance, so six months from now, one pill now means you now need two or three pills,” Becker said. “I would definitely say there is an addiction to it.”

In addition to serious health risks, illegal possession or distribution of Adderall has many legal consequences. According to Becker, consequences for illegally using Adderall can be worse than a marijuana or LSD charge, due to the schedule status of the drug. The class in which the drug is scheduled determines what kind of legal consequences one could face.

“That’s where my job comes in to enforce the law,”Becker said. “A lot of people don’t realize that if you have a prescription and give a friend Adderall, that’s illegal because it’s prescribed to you and only you. You can’t give that to someone else.”

Students at Grand View who feel as if they are addicted to Adderall or other drugs can seek help from a counselor or by visiting nurse practitioner Ruth White.

“The addiction is mental they are using it as a way to deal; with other things they don’t want to deal with,” White said. “They aren’t going to feel successful or happy in what they are doing until they address what’s making them want to take Adderall all the time. That’s something they want to go see the counselors about, or come see us about to work through what’s causing them to feel like they need that crutch all the time.”