Are your college kids taking ‘study’ drugs? Have they told you that everyone in school is taking them and that it doesn’t get them high, it just helps them focus so they can get better grades? Have they told you that they don’t take them all year, just at exam time? Have you been worried about it and wondering if they need drug rehab?

Whatever your kids have told you about these drugs – which are primarily Adderall and Ritalin – here is what you as parents should know, and should look into further.

Here are the side effects for each drug – taken from drugs.com. The lists are long, and there may be things on them you don’t understand. You can look them up online. But, even if you didn’t look up anything, there’s enough there that you will understand to make you realize that these drugs are nothing to fool around with. And if your kids are taking them, it might be time to contact a drug rehab program and speak with a professional to see if there’s a problem.

Adderall

Cardiovascular: Palpitations, tachycardia, elevation of blood pressure, sudden death, myocardial infarction. There have been isolated reports of cardiomyopathy associated with chronic amphetamine use.

Central Nervous System: Psychotic episodes at recommended doses, overstimulation, restlessness, dizziness, insomnia, euphoria, dyskinesia, dysphoria, depression, tremor, headache, exacerbation of motor and phonic tics and Tourette’s syndrome, seizures, stroke.

Gastrointestinal: Dryness of the mouth, unpleasant taste, diarrhea, constipation, other gastrointestinal disturbances. Anorexia and weight loss may occur as undesirable effects.

Allergic: Urticaria, rash, hypersensitivity reactions including angioedema and anaphylaxis. Serious skin rashes, including Stevens Johnson Syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis have been reported.

Endocrine: Impotence, changes in libido.

Ritalin

Nervousness, insomnia, hypersensitivity (including skin rash, urticaria, fever, arthralgia, exfoliative dermatitis, erythema multiforme with histopathological findings of necrotizing vasculitis, and thrombocytopenic purpura); anorexia; nausea; dizziness; palpitations; headache; dyskinesia; drowsiness; blood pressure and pulse changes, both up and down; tachycardia; angina; cardiac arrhythmia; abdominal pain; weight loss during prolonged therapy, Tourette’s syndrome, toxic psychosis has been reported, abnormal liver function, cerebral arteritis and/or occlusion; leukopenia and/or anemia; transient depressed mood; aggressive behavior; scalp hair loss, neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS).

So, now your kids are going to say they’ve already taken it and nothing like that has happened to them. But, that doesn’t mean it won’t. It’s probable that they won’t have some kind of severe physical allergic reaction to it if they’ve already taken it and nothing has happened – but it’s not true that none of the other things will happen. They could happen at any time.

Another really worrying thing is that kids often get their drugs from other kids – not from doctors. Their friends either sell them to them or give them to them free of charge. And your kid might do the same – give someone a few of their pills to ‘help them out’ during exams time.

But they never know how that person is going to reaction. What if they did have a severe reaction? What if they wound up in hospital or, heaven forbid, dead. Your child would feel horrible about that for the rest of their lives. It might even ruin their life.

Also, if your son or daughter knew about the possible effects of these drugs, continues to take them and also doesn’t tell others about how dangerous the drugs can be, and then someone they know is injured while taking these drugs – that’s another guilt trip.

Don’t take your son or daughter’s word for what is safe and what is not – no matter what their friends have told them and how many of them are doing it. Learn the information you as parents need to have to make certain that something is safe for yourself.

And don’t get fooled into thinking “Oh, that could never happen to my son!” I’m sure you could guess that that’s what most parents of kids who’ve gotten into trouble with drugs or alcohol told themselves.

If you’re not successful at getting your kids to stop taking drugs by reasoning with them and giving them the full and correct information – they need drug rehab.

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Finally, the problem of alcohol abuse, drug abuse and addiction in colleges has become the focus of White House Drug Control strategy. I don’t know if it will work – the War on Drugs hasn’t been any big success – but at least it will probably make parents and college kids aware of the problem. And it will lead to more college kids getting into and alcohol or drug rehab program.

Did you know, for example, that …

• More than one in five kids who drop out of college do so because of something related to alcohol?

• Each year there are nearly 2,000 college students die from alcohol-related incidents?

• Over 600,000 college students are unintentionally injured due to alcohol?

• One in four people aged 18 through 34 binge drink – five drinks or more in one sitting?

• Alcohol is involved in 90% of college rapes?

• 70% of college kids say they had unplanned sex because of alcohol and that 20% did not use protection?

• 22.9% of college students meet the medical definition for alcohol or drug abuse or dependence. The rest of the population averages 8.5%.

• That the number of kids using prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet non-medically is rising dramatically?

• That more than 20% of college kids use Adderall as a study drug or to party?

• That 90% of the students who use Adderall also binge drink and are heavy drinkers?

• That full-time college students who use Adderall are 3 times more likely to use marijuana, 8 times more likely to use cocaine, 8 times more likely to use tranquilizers, and 5 times more likely to use pain relievers?

This is pretty serious stuff – and not at all what parents had in mind when they sent their kids off to college with the money the family had been saving for years.

These kids aren’t just having a good time – they are doing things that are very dangerous.

If you have a son or daughter that’s drinking or taking drugs, don’t take it lightly. It’s easy to think that something bad won’t happen to your kid, or that your kid’s drinking or drug taking won’t get worse – some parents even think that going to college will straighten them out. But, statistically, that’s just not true. Get them through a drug rehab program – they also address alcohol – before they go to college. A good program will help them resist the temptation when college comes around.

And, remember, 25% of college students say that drinking alcohol has adversely affected their performance as a student. Don’t be afraid to take your college kid out of college for a while to sort them out. They have far more chance of getting the education and having the future both they and you envisioned.

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This blog is not about psychiatrists or psychiatry but when you consider that there are so many people taking prescription drugs – many of which are very dangerous and addictive – for alleged psychiatric reasons, it’s hard to stay off the subject sometimes. What’s spurred me on this time?

Psychiatry has systematically been re-classifying just about every one of life’s imperfect experiences as disorders that, according to the psychs, need to be treated with drugs.

The latest psych/Big Pharma target is college kids. Someone must have told them that college kids are already abusing prescription drugs like crazy – mostly to get high, sometimes to enhance their focus (they call them ‘study drugs’) - and now they’re going after that lush market with a study that shows that 1/2 of college-aged kids suffered a psychiatric disorder within the last year.

Of course, whatever the kids experienced is a ‘psychiatric disorder’ only because the psychs have reclassified it as such. The ‘science’ is totally their own – it doesn’t hold up under real medical scrutiny.

Next thing you know, they’ll be lobbying to pass a law that all college kids have to be screened for ‘disorders’ they should take drugs for. And they’ll be on their way to capturing a new public.

Do you think that’s the plan?

It’s not appropriate to use curse words in a blog, so I’m holding back here.  But I challenge you to find one that doesn’t apply to the psychs and Big Pharma creeps that will do anything to get someone on drugs.

Beware of what’s happening with your college-age kids. Many are already taking prescription drugs and some are coping with prescription drug addiction and abuse without ever having seen a doctor.  What’s going to happen when it’s sanctioned by the fact that they have a prescription?

All because they were stressed out about an exam coming up. It’s life. Not a disorder.  But you can be sure of one thing – if they get into taking these drugs, they’ll develop a disorder of one sort or another. And next thing you know, your normal college kid who was worried about passing a test will be in an addiction treatment center, or worse.

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I’ve seen a lot of news about using ADHD drugs in school simply to study. Concerta, Adderall and Ritalin are the main ones. Unfortunately, most of the news has simply reported it, there seems to have been very little protest, very little news about the problems with these drugs despite the fact that they’re dangerous and can easily lead to prescription drug addiction and abuse.

Finally, from the University of Arizona, we’re getting a little of the truth about ‘study’ drugs.  One of the students interviewed for the article said that a couple of weeks before exam time he tries to prepare for it by getting at least six hours sleep a night and eating well. He also said he avoids the risk of prescription drug addiction by only taking study drugs when he has to do 15 hours of work in one night..

Okay. So I have a few questions. First, where is he getting the idea that sleeping for six hours a night is enough? And where is he getting the idea that eating well for two weeks will make up for not eating well for months before that. Next – if he’s sleeping for six hours a night for the two weeks before exams, how much sleep is he getting the rest of the time. And what’s he doing for the other 18 hours? Not studying, you can be sure of that. If he was spending that much time studying he wouldn’t be so worried about exams. He’d know his stuff.

And what’s he eating the rest of the time?

The director of health services for the university said that kids who get enough sleep, eat well and take care of themselves get higher marks than those who don’t. A simple solution, and yet many students are willing to risk prescription drug addiction, all the side effects, and everything else that goes along with drug abuse, rather than do that.

If I were the parent of a college-age kid right now, I’d be afraid to send them away to school. If you are such a parent, and your kid is already dabbling with drugs or drinking, I would advise they get into a drug addiction treatment before college. Whatever they’re doing now is bound to escalate once they get to school.

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