Suddenly, you are in a room with 10,000 doors, and behind a bunch of the doors is some cool stuff.”
“I can zone in on something, and completely ignore everything.”
This is how one man describes the effects of Adderall, the popular “laser-focus” drug that’s swept the nation over the past 5-10 years. From college campuses to locker rooms to Wall Street, Adderall is used by anyone looking improve their productivity.
Adderall is intended to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. But the problem with diagnosing it is that there aren’t definitive boundaries for it.
As a result, parents panic, thinking their child isn’t ‘normal’. So they take them to the doctor’s office where they get a prescription.
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America diagnoses more kids with ADHD than anywhere in the world. But the real issue is not with those prescribed, but those buying and selling it illegally.
Nowadays, this practice is most prominent on college campuses. But why?
Dr. Wendy Brown, a political theorist at UC Berkeley, says that “the problem today isn’t that jobs are [more scarce]…it’s that we live in a hyper-competitive [society], where the competition is…never-ending.”
She points out the fact that parents are overly concerned with the intelligence of their child. So much so that parents are now playing Mozart for their infants to make them ‘smarter’.
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Dr. Brown argues that the pressure of this environment leads people down a dangerous path — willing to try anything to get an edge over their peers.
Steroids were once the most common PED in professional sports, but now Adderall’s become the drug of choice for athletes. It’s a banned substance, so players that get caught are suspended and, in some cases, forfeit a part of their salary.
If professional players are willing to risk losing money by taking the drug, the cost-benefit must be great enough for them to do so.
After the 2012 MLB season, Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz tested positive for Adderall and was forced to sit out the first 25 games of the next season. It comes as no surprise that 2012 was the only All-Star season of his 12-year career.
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People shouldn’t underestimate Adderall, though. After all, it is an amphetamine. Heavy recreational use could lead to dependance, addiction, and withdrawal.
‘Take Your Pills’ takes a comprehensive look at a concerning phenomenon in our society today. It hits it from all angles, with interviews from doctors, college students, business managers, professional athletes, and more. If you have even the slightest interest in learning more, it’s well worth the watch.
