Prescription Drugs
Pain Medication
Prescription medicine such as Oxycontin, Vicodin, Morphine, etc., is one of the fastest growing drug abuse problems in America today. With the use of such drugs, more people have access to medications that do not belong to them. There is also a chance of abuse from patients who are prescribed these medications.
Because of the intense high produced by the interaction of several opiates and the brain, the drugs remain extremely addictive, sometimes causing measurable symptoms of addiction in under three days.
Therefore pain medication has been linked to addiction and other serious health side effects such as:
- Drowsiness
- Paranoia
- Respiratory depression
- Nausea and vomiting
- Liver damage
- Brain damage due to hypoxia, resulting from respiratory depression
- Development of tolerance
Psychostimulants
Psychostimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin, are seen as the “academic steroid” for some students and is one of the top three drugs misused among FSU students. Many students use Adderall to improve concentration and stamina while studying for exams. It is relatively cheap and easy to obtain. What students don’t realize is that possession of Adderall without a prescription is a crime.
Adderall has a high potential for abuse and addiction, especially among students who have not been diagnosed with a condition that requires a prescription. There have been links to both mental and physical addiction in people who are using it illegally.
Psychostimulant abuse has links to serious side effects such as:
- Irregular heartbeat
- Increased blood pressure
- Anxiety
- Nervousness
- Paranoia
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Insomnia
- Mouth dryness
- Suppressed appetite
- Diarrhea or constipation
If you have been prescribed a psychostimulant drug, it is important to protect your prescription.
Many students who use prescription stimulants have the medicines prescribed and monitored by a doctor and gain benefit from using them. They may be approached by other students to buy their medicines. Here are some tips for protecting your prescription:
- Keep your medicines in a safe, private location.
- Avoid carrying your entire pill bottle or monthly supply in your backpack
- If someone approaches inquiring about your pill let them know that you only have enough pills for yourself and not enough to share or sell, in addition inform them of the dangerous side effects.
Adderall Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Drugs like Ritalin and Adderall make you smarter.
False. Ritalin and Adderall do not actually improve intelligence or your ability to remember the material in the long term. Studies have shown that, while increasing your short-term memory acquisition, when retested students who took “study drugs” performed worse on actual assessments compared to those who properly studied.
