It's nearing midnight, and John Doe still has a hefty and intimidating amount of work left to complete for his American Literature course, that will meet at eight o'clock the following morning. Although John tries his best to continue on like a responsible student would, his eyes are beginning to grow heavy and droop. He knows he will not be able to stay up into the wee hours of the night to finish his tasks, and he will not have adequate time on his commute to class to complete it then, either. With Robert Frost's weary words, "and miles to go before I sleep," echoing in the back of his head, John makes a decision that many other college students make nearly every day: to take an Adderall to finish his schoolwork. The use of Adderall, along with the similar drug Vyvanse, are increasingly being abused by college students as a way to unnaturally get ahead and keep up with an otherwise stressful course load.

Coming into college, students are well aware of the strenuous curriculum and the adversity they will face due to the challenging courses they will be taking. Many students realize that they need help to concentrate and stay up on the long nights of studying that college sometimes demands. Students turn to Adderall and Vyvanse in order to focus better and reduce the chance that they will be distracted. Both of these drugs are amphetamines designed to reduce ADHD, which makes them appealing to a student who cannot focus due to the various distractions college presents. Discussing amongst our group, we came to the conclusion that by the time we came to college, we had all heard about and seen these two drugs being used as study aids. Before investigating, we did not all know the specifics of the two drugs, such as the health risks and possibility of addiction associated with amphetamines. Almost everyone in our group has been asked at least once, “Do you know who is selling Adderall or Vyvanse?" We realize that there is a very high demand for both of these drugs, and it is the common view of these drugs as useful study aids which drives this demand.

The use of Vyvance and Adderall as a study aid seems to be dangerous since they are, after all, prescription drugs. In fact, as CNN journalist Aaron Cooper explains, the “federal government lists [both Viyvance and Adderall] as [ . . . ] schedule II drug[s]” (“College”). This means that the drugs, according to U.S. law, have "the highest abuse potential and dependence profile of all drugs that have medical utility" (“College”). However, students remain unperturbed and continue to use the drugs as study aids. The question could arise as to whether or not the students even know about the side effects. Nevertheless, they are more than likely aware that what they are doing is not condoned by the majority of society, and that they may be looked down upon for using these drugs in such a way. To further prove that they are unaffected by the pressures of society, a study was conducted by Alan DeSantis, a professor and researcher at the University of Kentucky, to determine the attitude towards using Adderall and Vyvance as study aids and the extent to which they are used. DeSantis found that drugs as study aids, chiefly Adderall, are “abused more than marijuana and easier to get” (“College”). He also found that “30% of students at the university have illegally used a stimulant, like the ADHD drugs Adderall or Ritalin[,] 50% of all juniors and seniors have used the drugs [ . . . ] and 80% of upperclassmen in fraternities and sororities have taken them.” Why do so many students use them despite the fact that the majority of society condemns them? Think about it like this: if the students don’t care about the long-term side effects that could seriously affect their health, why would they care about society and its norms at the time that they need to desperately study? Their long-term side effects actually may include, according to a medical director at the Skyland Trail mental health treatment facility in Atlanta, “jitters, headaches, stomach problems or even [. . . ] psychosis, a mental disorder that includes the loss of contact with reality” (“College”). Despite this, students only see “Adderall as slightly more dangerous than the soft drink Mountain Dew and nowhere near as dangerous as drinking beer and smoking” (“College”).

This CNN broadcast shows that college students are not the only Americans who abuse ADHD medicine, such as Adderall and Vyvanse.

The sociological imagination is the ability to connect the most basic, intimate aspects of an individual’s life to seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces. The use of Adderall and Vyvanse as study aids can be related to the growing dependence of our culture as a whole. Currently, we are in age where we are all are dependent on foreign oil, the government, and technology. We can see the growth of this dependence in how people communicate with each other via the Internet and in the reliance on the government to provide benefits. For example, in a study by Michael Tanner, Stephen Moore, and David Hartman of the Cato Institute has revealed "that in 40 states, it pays more for one to be on welfare than to accept a job at $8.00 per hour; in 17 states, welfare pays more than work at $10.00 per hour; and in six states plus the District of Columbia, welfare totals more than working for $12.00 hourly. The study also showed that in 29 states, welfare benefits are worth more than the average secretary's pay; in nine states, such benefits are equal to more than the average starting salary for a teacher; and in six states, welfare pays more than an entry-level position for a computer programmer. When the entire package is computed, welfare amounts to the (pretax) equivalent of a $30,500 wage in Massachusetts, $32,200 in Alaska, and $36,400 in Hawaii." This prevalent American dependence on the government as a main source of income versus working to support oneself, mirrors American college students' growing dependence on abusing prescribed drugs, such as Adderall and Vyvanse, to help them focus and feel energetic when faced with adversity. A 2005 study found that 6.9 percent of college students nationally reported the use of stimulants without a prescription. Also, a study from the Journal of American College Health reported that among students who had a legal prescription for these drugs; 84 percent had been asked to share among their peers. Furthermore, ABC news investigated the increase use of attention deficit order drugs and they found that “Adderall prescriptions have increased 750 percent in eight years." There is a growing abuse and dependence of these drugs in college culture, and this dependence will continue to increase as long as the majority of students who enter college carry the perception that these drugs are study aids with no risk of health hazards due to abuse. John Gay, an English poet, once said that “there is no dependence that can be sure but a dependence on one’s self." As a society, we are continuing to avoid self-dependence and are instead straying towards using technology and drugs, as well as other inventions, to create our success and dictate our lives.

The world of modern medicine has made astounding leaps and many great discoveries in the past century, which have most certainly benefited society. However, when combined with the ever-evolving technological advances all around us, one can see how a society that conditions its inhabitants to expect instant gratification is cultivated. We live in world where you can video chat with someone across the globe, solve a difficult mathematics problem by looking it up online, or relieve a headache with an Advil, all in a matter of seconds. While such "progressions" are most commonly viewed as the natural and advantageous improvement of man's dominance over the world, our group has found that many unforeseen problems have devoloped from this culture of "I want it now", one of which is student, as well as adult, abuse of Adderall and Vyvanse. What does this mean for the future of mankind? Will we essentially become slaves to medicine and technology, always choosing the shortcut version of accomplishing anything? One cannot help but conjure up images of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the novel that takes place in a futuristic society dominated by consumption, recreational sex, and drug-induced "Soma vacations". The abuse of Adderall and Vyvanse is only a small step in that direction; however, it requires careful consideration of implications for the future of our society as we know it.