Desprez said that students could face major legal consequences when dealing with prescription stimulants.

“It is illegal to share a prescription drug with someone else,” Desprez said. “The penalties could include jail, although that’s the extreme case.”

Students found with non-prescribed medication in their possession may face different consequences based on whether the police feel the student shows intent to distribute, Desprez said. Therefore, a student found with 100 Adderall pills will face very different treatment than a student found with one or two.

One concern for the University is the trend among students to use stimulants in conjunction with alcohol or other drugs, a potentially life-threatening combination. Desprez's office has worked to create resources to educate about the dangers.

However, due to the prevalence of alcohol abuse on campus compared to prescription drug abuse, the AODPP primarily incorporates drug abuse information within its alcohol abuse educational programs.

“One of the things we try to do is be good stewards of resources and match our outreach to the level of damage and use,” Desprez said.

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Even with the sustained efforts by universities across the nation, an increasing number of students are opting to use — in some cases, promoting the use of — prescription stimulants.

Debate erupted last November when the University of Miami student newspaper, The Miami Hurricane, published an opinion article by student Robert Pursell avidly promoting the use of stimulants by students without prescription.

“The worst thing that anyone has ever done on Adderall is clean a dorm room and look up far too many song lyrics,” Prusell wrote. “It’s hard to abuse a drug whose main side effects are productivity and finding linear algebra interesting.”

The article ended with Prusell’s call to action: “Medicate Miami. You’ve earned it.”

Prusell’s article drew criticism and support from across the nation. And here at the University, students are equally divided on the issue. While many support the use of stimulants, some are taking an active role in speaking out against their misuse.

LSA senior Anjali Bisht and LSA junior Clancey D'Isa first studied prescription drug abuse in a Women’s Studies course last semester. As part of the course, they conducted an independent research study to examine the nature of stimulant abuse among University undergrads.

About 370 University students completed the survey. The students were asked a number of questions regarding their experiences with stimulant medications, as well as basic information about their lifestyle and standing at the University.

“(Prescription drug abuse) is prevalent across … ethnicities, race, sex and class,” Bisht said. “We want this (study) to raise awareness to the campus wide community that something needs to happen.”

Their women’s studies profesor, Carol Boyd, was primarily interested in the price of illegal stimulants on campus. Through their survey, D’Isa and Bisht found that students pay an average of $5 per pill during most of the semester, a cost that can rise during exam times.

The study found that for many students, the primary motivation for abusing stimulants is better grades. However the research found almost no evidence confirming an increase in academic performance with the illegal use of these drugs.

D’Isa and Bisht emphasized that these drugs have confirmed positive impacts for individuals with ADHD and other similar conditions, but that there have been almost no studies on students who take the drug as a “study aid.”

“There’s a lot of people who would like to tell you how helpful it is,” D’Isa said. “(However) you could probably give people sugar pills and see them respond the same way.”

D’Isa said that these drugs will present a challenge for University officials to regulate, given how they differ from other controlled substances.

“It’s easier to get stimulant pills than alcohol if you’re underage,” D’Isa said. “The fact that people are getting it from their family and friends means they are connected in a very intimate, personal way — not like going to a dealer.”

Bisht and D’Isa concluded their study with the hope that the University “can lessen the impact that misuse of prescription stimulant medications has had on our campus,” as well as increase education about “the non-medical use of prescription stimulants.”