Short Essay

Currently, I believe that one of, if not, the most prevalent issue on UK’s campus is the abuse and the illegal distribution of “study drugs” such as vyvanse and adderall.  As a stimulant, this may seem ideal for college students who decide to spend the whole night cramming for an exam, but at what cost?

As a Student Wellness Ambassador, one of my jobs this semester will be to educate students on the effects, dangers, and legal repercussions of abusing and distributing prescription medication such as adderall.  A testament to the problem: While studying in the library alone one late evening, a guy set his things down across from me. At first I thought nothing of it, but then I heard him.

“Psssst.” I took out my headphones to ask him what it is he wanted, thinking he was going to ask if I had a spare pencil or something. I was wrong. He pulled out a plastic baggie with two tablets of adderall and asked if I’d buy it from him.  All I could think was “Are you serious?”  Of course, I turned him down, but in that moment I came to a realization.

I realized that there were probably five more guys just like him, one on every floor of the library, and in the larger scope of things, I came to the conclusion that with 30,000 students at UK, there have to be hundreds of drug deals like this that go down every day.  The students that buy these drugs are, of course, unaware of the dangers of what they’re about to take.  If they don’t know who they’re getting it from they could even get harder drugs that the dealer gave to them.

Addiction is a serious problem, and when taking a class II drug like adderall, a large chance presents itself for the user to become addicted, due to the high levels of dopamine and serotonin released.  The user then becomes deficient in these neurotransmitters and can experience depression and anxiety as well as a much larger range of possible side effects.

I believe that the student wellness ambassadors will do a good job of tackling this major issue and I’m honored to be able to warn students about the dangers of  illegal substances before it’s too late for them to make the right decision.