According to the recent University study “Monitoring the Future,” adolescents are increasingly abusing methlyphenidate, the drug more commonly known as Ritalin, in order to study longer, party harder and suppress their appetites.
Ritalin is a mild stimulant most commonly prescribed to school-age children to control Attention Deficit Disorder.
But, the drug is sold for about $3 to $5 per pill on the black market.
University students, like many across the country, are willing to pay for Ritalin”s varied effects including appetite suppression, wakefulness, increased focus for studying and euphoria.
Abusers either consume Ritalin in pill form, crush the pill and snort it or mix the pill in water and inject the mixture.
“I would not be surprised to see Ritalin at any frat party or house party. It is really prevalent,” said an LSA sophomore who requested that her name not be printed.
“Ritalin can do whatever you want it to,” she added.
“If I take it on a Monday night, it helps me concentrate on studying more. If I take it on a Friday night, I can drink three times as much and it makes me more calm and talkative. My conversations are more interesting.”
Dr. Luke Tsai, a University professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and director of The Developmental Disorders Clinic, prescribes Ritalin for his Attention Deficit Disorder patients.
“Ritalin does make people more alert for a much longer period of time,” Tsai said. “But an overdose can make people very irritable or zombie-like.”
While Tsai warns that consuming any prescription drug without a prescription is very dangerous, he said that Ritalin is not physiologically addictive and in small doses it is not a dangerous medication.
In addition to psychological addiction, The Indiana Prevention Resource Center at Indiana University reports that Ritalin abuse can lead to increased heart rate and blood pressure, dizziness, headaches and in some cases psychotic episodes.
The report said, “While death due to Ritalin is not common, it has been known to occur.”