It was the toughest semester of my life. I was taking six classes, my grandmother had passed away just days before finals, and I was too emotionally and mentally shot to focus on anything. Hours slid by and nothing was getting done. My worst fear was coming true—I was going to fail my exams.
After venting to my friend about my troubles, he responded by handing me a little blue tablet marked AD 10. Having never taken any prescription pill, I was a bit hesitant, but considering my desperate circumstances, I decided to down it. Subtle stimulation is one thing, such as a caffeine rush, but encephalic overdrive characterized by robotic like tunnel vision that allows you to scan hundreds of pages of bland text with no desire to stop, is literally a mind blowing sensation. An electric wave of euphoria pulsated through my body giving me a sense of intellectual invincibility. Before I knew it, I was Barry Bonds in the library and Adderall was my academic steroid—every final was knocked out of the park.
Tired of buying overpriced pills from friends, I decided to get an ADHD screening. By the end of a seemingly nonchalant psychiatric evaluation—during which I was asked if I had ever tried a friend’s Adderall prescription to which I answered yes—I was prescribed 50 mg a day because the doctor considered me to be a “big guy.”
At first the pills came off as a miracle drug but it wasn’t long before I developed an unshakable amphetamine dependence that reduced me to the likes of a wired zombie. Fast forward 8 months later, I was arrested in a sensationalized campus drug bust for selling some of my prescription to an undercover.
Long story short, I not only overdosed and nearly died from America’s favorite study aid, it cost me my full-ride scholarship, it led to thousands in legal fees, and it ruined my life for quite some time. Socrates was killed because he was convicted of corrupting the youth, but if you ask me the lax distribution and institutional endorsement of amphetamine study aids are what is truly poisoning the youth.