Even though national and international focus on the stressful lives of high-achieving students has increased significantly over the past several years, if College health statistics can be believed, Dartmouth has mostly escaped the "study drug' craze.
While many look to caffeine, a very small percentage of Dartmouth students turn to study drugs such as Ritalin, Dexetrine, and Adderall.
Only 0.7 percent of Dartmouth students (roughly 29 students if generalized to the entire student population) admitted to using Ritalin without a prescription in a study conducted by the College in the spring of 2003. In addition 1.6 percent of the students surveyed admitted to using psychiatric drugs without a prescription.
The majority of these psychiatric drugs were Ritalin or Adderall, according to John Pryor, Director of Undergraduate Evaluation and Research at Dartmouth.
Adderall, a drug similar to Ritalin, is prescribed for patients diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
Just under two percent of Dartmouth students (about 66 students) have a prescription for Ritalin and 1.2 percent of Dartmouth students (roughly 49 students) have a prescription for Adderall, according to the study.
The Health Survey, which was comprised of a random sample of 1,200 voluntary Dartmouth students and had a response rate of 50 percent, examined a variety of health and wellness issues including that of drug use at the College in the past year.
"The percentage [of Dartmouth students using Ritalin without a prescription] is small enough to say that it is not a great issue on campus," Ryan Travia, the coordinator of the Alcohol and Drug Education Program at Dartmouth, said.
Travia speculated that most Dartmouth students obtain study drugs such as Ritalin without a prescription from other students -- via both sharing and stealing.
"Sometimes students share them with other students or take them without permission from someone like a roommate where it would be easy to a hold of them," Travia said. For students who are not able to buy their drugs from other students, a cheaper alternative is the Internet.
A quick search of the Internet reveals that "study drugs" are easy to obtain online, with relative security and anonymity. The Foreign Pharmacies Online website advertises: "no prior prescription required" with "up to 80% off retail prices!"
Such websites network through pharmacies in foreign countries such as Mexico and nations in Europe and Asia. Pharmacies in these countries do not require U.S. residents to have a prior prescription in order to purchase medications, according to the Foreign Pharmacies Online and Drug-Saver websites.
Instead, the Internet based pharmacies claim to have "qualified" doctors who can provide consultations, either online or over the phone, to allow consumers to obtain "valid prescriptions."
After the phone or online consultation, refills can be obtained indefinitely. All of this can be done "in a matter of minutes" and is "completely legal", according to the Foreign Pharmacies Online website. "It's a little scary," Harry Kinne, Head of Dartmouth Safety and Security and College Proctor, said of the availability of prescription drugs on the Internet.
While Ritalin and other drugs used to treat ADD are beneficial for those with validated medical needs, the potential health consequences of using Ritalin and other related drugs are grave, if they are not used under the supervision of a physician, according to researchers at the Indiana Health Resource Prevention Center at Indiana University.
Death as a result of using Ritalin, while not common, has been known to occur. Other more widespread effects include: skin rashes and itching, psychotic episodes, severe depression upon withdrawal, tremors and muscle twitching, the sensation of bugs crawling under the skin, paranoia and hallucinations, and convulsions, according to the Health Resource Prevention Center website.
Safety and Security officers, according to Kinne, do not see Ritalin and Adderall abuse cases frequently. If officers were given information that a student might be at a health risk as result of using such drugs, Kinne said that officers would "treat it as a medical emergency."
Kinne noted, however, that illicit Ritalin and Adderall usage is "considered a serious crime" because the drugs are deemed controlled substances by the government.
The legal consequences of illicit Ritalin uses are severe.
By federal standards, Ritalin is considered a Schedule II Controlled Substance, and as a result it is closely regulated in all respects " from how the drug is manufactured to how and when a patient receives the drug.
Prescriptions for Ritalin cannot be refilled. Thus, in order to acquire more Ritalin patients must obtain a new prescription from their physician. Federal law deems distributing Ritalin a serious felony.
Long prison sentences and hefty fines await those who chose to allocate the drug, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Indiana Health Resource Prevention Center websites.
