Reflection on Adderall use article

The article, “Adderall abuse continues despite ban,” of Dec. 12 has stimulated me to several thoughts, but I’ll try to keep a lid on it and say only this: It is bizarre that illegal use of drugs has now crossed the border into academic territory. Although I’m sure that many things have been lost and some gained in academia over the past century, popular use of powerful stimulants to enhance academic performance really makes this look more like a horse race than a changing institution of higher education.

It seems an ill omen that even a few students (guess I’m showing my age by not quite being able to believe Prince’s figure of 30 to 40 percent) feel that it’s necessary—or even possible—to make up for a semester of study in a week of drug-powered cramming. Yet when you look at the “tree of secrets” project from last year or something like that, it becomes obvious that the students here are not a pack of money-and-competition-obsessed maniacs. I assume there’s a lot of overlap between these thoughtful students and those who feel they have to take stimulants to “perform” at a certain level. I suppose the students know their lives and needs better than I do, but it does seem like there is something pretty unhealthy about this. I guess the non-students in the Duke community can also have a part in changing the atmosphere that makes this so common.

John Wright, Trinity ’02