Key :

Similarities in Purpose of study

Drugs researched
Place of research
Similarities in reasons for use of drug

Source

Annotation

Thoughts/Connections

Herman, L, O
Shtayermman, B Aksnes,
M Anzalone, A Cormerais,
and C Liodice. "The Use of
Prescription Stimulants to
Enhance Academic
Performance Among
College Students in Health
Care Programs." The
Journal of Physician
Assistant Education: the
Official Journal of the
Physician Assistant
Education Association.
22.4 (2011): 15-22. Print.

The purpose of this source was to evaluate the use

of stimulant use among students involved in
healthcare practices that were attending a
university in the northeastern United States. The
use of non-prescribed stimulant medications is
widespread among college students. Since the
levels of tension and stress are extremely high in
health care students due to competition, and
challenging curriculum, researchers chose to find
out how they were coping with all of their stress.
The drugs that were looked at in this research
were methylphenidate, dextroamphetamine,
amphetamine-dextroamphetamine and other
drugs. During the study they were referred to the
students with their generic name to help avoid
confusion. After a web based study was done with
reaching out to students through school emails,
blackboard, or in the classroom, they found that a
large amount of health care students were using
the drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin. Concluding
research, they found that the most common
reason for the use of stimulants was to focus and
concentrate during studying (93.5%). The
percentages were also highest in those of
Caucasian students who were in the doctor of
osteopathic medicine major in their first year of
the program. This was found out of the students in
the health care programs of: doctor of osteopathic
medicine, Physician assistant, physical therapy,
occupational therapy, mental health counseling,

I found that this source was

helpful in finding that there are
tons of statistics in the use of
stimulants on college campuses.
But when reading I began to
realize that this was not helpful
in my inquiry of determining if
the use of stimulants that were
talked about were used as
cheating. Students reported that
they used it to help them focus
and concentrate during studying
and to keep them alert but not
during the times of testing or
exams.

and nursing. 71.40% of the stimulants used were

Adderall, Adderall XR and 20.00% were Ritalin,
Concerta. Although the top uses of the drugs were
to be more concentrated when studying there
were also statistics that ranged from 5%-30%
dealing with reducing anxiousness, reducing the
feeling of being overwhelmed, increasing
alertness, and staying alert; all during an exam.

Weyandt, LL, G Janusis, KG

Wilson, G Verdi, G Paquin,
J Lopes, M Varejao, and C
Dussault. "Nonmedical
Prescription Stimulant Use
Among a Sample of
College Students:
Relationship with
Psychological Variables."
Journal of Attention
Disorders. 13.3 (2009):
284-96. Print.

The objective of this research was to investigate

the use and misuse of prescription stimulants
(Adderall, Ritalin, and Concerta) among a sample
of college students. The participants were students
at a large public university in the Northeastern
region of the United States. A 40-item
questionnaire was used to determine the use and
misuse of stimulant medications in college
students and their knowledge about stimulants.
The study looked at four different factors: 1. Selfreported prescription use, 2. Perception of
prevalence of prescription use among peers, 3.
Knowledge of atypical stimulant use among peers
and 4. Perception of safety of stimulants. Looking
at the results of the study, the highest ratings for
the reasons of using stimulants were to perform
better on schoolwork, perform better on tests and
focus better in class. Students who had higher
rates of usage also reported higher degrees of
psychological distress and restlessness. There was
a negative correlation between stimulant use and
GPA. The study also found that there were two
different groups that were using the drugs for
different uses. Some were using the drugs to get
high at a party while others were taking stimulants
to help focus in class. In conclusion the discussion
lead to the need of more prevention and
education efforts to help the nonmedical use of
stimulants on college campuses.

Looking at the first source

compared this one I found that
there were many similarities,
from the purpose of the study
that was completed, to where it
was completed at and the
results. I also found that this
article did not talk about the use
of these drugs as a method of
cheating. The researchers are
sure that it is ethically wrong to
use a drug that is not prescribed
to ones self, but does not
discuss cheating related to the
use.

Dodge, T, KJ Williams, M
Marzell, and R Turrisi.
"Judging Cheaters: Is
Substance Misuse Viewed
Similarly in the Athletic
and Academic Domains?"
Psychology of Addictive
Behaviors: Journal of the
Society of Psychologists in
Addictive Behaviors. 26.3
(2012): 678-82. Print.

This study looked at the comparison of how

individuals perceive misuses of prescription
stimulants and how they perceive the misuse of
anabolic steroids. The studies main focus was to
examine how individuals judge those who use
performance enhancing drugs in two different
domains: the athletic domain, and the academic
domain. This study looked at students recruited
from a large university in the mid-Atlantic region of
the US. Around 1200 males completed the
questionnaire. These males were students in their
freshman year of college. In the questionnaire they
were given scenarios in which they were asked to
see which was considered to be a larger form of
cheating: using steroids to help in an athletic
competition, or drugs such as Adderall or Ritalin to
have an advantage on an exam. The results of the
survey showed that the athlete taking steroids was
more of a cheater than the student who took
Adderall. Males seemed to have a higher rate of
misuse of drugs compared to females. The motive
for misusing the stimulants were to increase
awareness when studying, to be able to study
longer, and to feel less restless when studying. The
article continued to say that they believed that the
athlete was more of a cheater than the student
because the athlete used the drugs to his
advantage to win against the expense of another
athlete, while the student succeeded with
relatively no cost to another student.

Although this article looked at

the use of steroids along with
the use of Adderall and Ritalin,
the comparison was able to help
me determine if I really believed
that the use of Adderall was a
form of cheating. I also found
that the results of the study
were somewhat biased because
they did not include females in
the questionnaire. In my
research thus far I have seen
that there has been a similarity
in that the research is done on
college campuses. The results
have also been the same when
we look at the reasons why
students are taking these
stimulants.

University of North
Carolina at Char,
"University Policy 407, The
Code of Student Academic
Integrity."
http://www.uncc.edu/.
n.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb.
2015.
<http://legal.uncc.edu/sit
es/legal.uncc.edu/files/me
dia/UP-407TheCodeOfStudentAcade
micIntegrity-APPROVED%2811-06-14%29.pdf>.

UNC Charlottes University Policy 407, The Code of

Student Academic Integrity is a large part of the
Universitys rules. Looking at UNC Charlottes Academic
Code of Integrity I was able to find what was cheating
and considered to be cheating on this college campus. In
this code, cheating is defined as Intentionally using or
attempting to use unauthorized materials, information,
notes, study aids or other devices in any academic
exercise. This definition includes unauthorized
communication of information during an academic
exercise. This code continues to review different types
of cheating such as plagiarism, falsification, multiple
submission and abuse of academic materials, all forms
of cheating. The university emphasizes this code greatly
throughout the campus and has its faculty use it on a
day to day basis. If a student is caught cheating they are
sent to Academic Integrity Board where the students
case is pleaded to a board of 24 members and they are
given the choice to go through a settlement procedure.
This integrity code continues to go on about the
different ways the issue can be taken care of. The UNC
Charlotte Code of Student Academic Integrity sets the
standards of academic integrity for students at UNC
Charlotte. They expect that each student is aware of this
policy and the consequences of cheating. The university
is sure to have this available so that all students and
faculty can see and read the rules about this policy
online.

This code of integrity allows

the students to define and
see what is considered to
be cheating on the UNC
Charlotte campus. They
have a similar conduct code
as the one described in my
earlier source where
Wesleyan college chose to
define cheating at their
college. Here at UNCC
there is not a clause that
stated that the use of drugs
is to be considered a form
of cheating.

Anonymous. "Adderall:
Cheating Perfected."
http://collegecandy.com/.
N.p., 12 Oct. 2008. Web.
16 Feb. 2015.
<http://collegecandy.com
/2008/10/12/adderallcheating-perfected/>.

An anonymous writer on college candy writes about

her experiences when using Adderall. She describes it
as an unethical method of cheating. She believes that it
is an unfair advantage to students that take it and do
not have a prescription for it. But then she tells us why
she uses it. She says that she doesnt need it to
concentrate, but she loves to use it when she needs to
re-read a book and write a 10 page paper and not feel
bad the next morning. Adderall is pretty much as
commonplace as Starbucks at my campus library. The
article goes on to say that it affects the college campus:
for those that actually have ADD or ADHD they are still
at the same place, those who cant afford it arent
benefitting, while those who can are doing very well in
classes. Lastly she says that she doesnt want to lose
the unfair advantage. But people continue to use it
even though it is completely unhealthy and unethical.

I enjoyed this article

because I got to hear
someones thoughts about
how they use Adderall and
how it benefits them. The
words from this tell me that
it actually affects the
students on college
campuses.

Cohen, Elizabeth.
Experts: Pills becoming
the new marijuana on
campus. CNN.com. 05
July 2007. 09 Oct 2007.
http://www.cnn.com/200
7/HEALTH/07/05/drug.use
/index.html?iref=newssea
rch.

This article is from CNN online. It begins to by talking

about Al Gores son being caught with drugs. Also, it
discusses how common and easy it is to obtain
prescription drugs. The author compares illegally using
prescription drugs to using more common drugs as
meth, cocaine, or marijuana. They have seemed to find
that students are obtaining drugs easier than adults
believe that they can. They are getting them from their
parents medicine cabinets, and their friends are even
selling them to them. This source is helpful, because
gives a view point on illegally using Adderall. Towards
the end of the article, it almost seems as if the author
is trying to compare Adderall with other common
drugs in order to make its usage seem less harmful or
significant. Experts believe that prescription drugs are
becoming more and more popular among college
students over the years. And it is also more common in
upper middle class students. But just as the use of
marijuana and cocaine are illegal, the use of Adderall
and Ritalin are just as worse.

I agree completely, these

pills are becoming just as
common on college
campuses as other drugs are
but adults fail to realize that.
Parents should take initiative
to inform their children of
the risks of the drugs.

Szalavitz, Maia. "Popping

Smart Pills: The Case for
Cognitive Enhancement."
TIME. N.p., 6 Jan. 2009.
Web. 3 Mar. 2015.

Differing from other pieces of research that I have

found, this article from TIME magazine introduced a
40-year old male who is an executive at an ecommerce place that uses Adderall to enhance his
performance at work. Many are now saying that the
world is becoming cognitively enhanced. Meaning
that many are using the drugs Adderall and Ritalin to
help increase performance. Not only are students
using it in college, but people are also using these
smart drugs in professions such as fighter pilots,
writers, and people that have executive professions.
The article poses the problem that this drug is not
free. People who are not wealthy and have
expendable amounts of cash do not have access to the
drugs so we find that the concern is that its only
available to the wealthy. Talking about the concerns of
addiction, the article says Medically speaking,
without the element of harm, regular drug use or
even
Dependence alone doesn't qualify as addiction.
The article does not find the use of this cognitive
enhancing drugs as a bad thing. They believe that the
world is constantly asking to increase production and
productivity so they find that these drugs are
extremely helpful in professional issues.

I find that I do not think the

use of Adderall and Ritalin
should be used in the
professional perspective
either. I think that if an
employer hires you, they are
accepting the rate at which
you work on your own
without the use of cognitive
enhancing drugs. Although it
may increase performance it
is unfair to those who
cannot afford the drugs.

Munkittrick, Kyle.
"Cognitive Enhancers are
Not "Cheating"." Blog.
Discover. Discover Science
for the Curious. N.p., 3
Mar. 2011. Web. 17 Mar.
2015.
<http://blogs.discovermag
azine.com/sciencenotfictio
n/2011/03/03/cognitiveenhancers-are-not-

Matt Lamkin, a lawyer argues that drugs such as

Adderall and Ritalin should not be banned on college
campuses. In a statement made by him, he believes
that students universities should try to get students to
engage themselves into the practice of education
rather than have them compete for credentials.
Lamkin argues that cognitive enhancers are just an
easy way out for students in school. Although he is a
lawyer, he does not believe in policing the use of the
drugs is necessary, but rather that adding it into an
honor code would help internalize the value of not
using the drug. The article uses and analogy of caffeine

Agreeing with the writing in

this article is an
understatement. I think that
punishing students is not going
to make them change their
habits. It needs to be added
into their honor code to put it
into their brains. The use of the
drugs simply just devalues their
degree.

cheating/#.VSrW3PnF9yh>
.

usage compared to Adderall and Ritalin usage. One

who drinks coffee or soda may feel more awake and
alert, but this does not help make the brain more
focused. While the use of Adderall and Ritalin does
both. It allows one to become focused and alert on
one specific thing. The author wraps up the
conversation by saying The key point is that whatever
drugs you do or dont take, a sense of discipline is still
necessary to make the drugs useful. If a person takes
Ritalin and then plays Call of Duty for hours, they
wont do any better in class. It makes complete
sense.

Recovering from Adderall

Addiction . Perf. Gina
Washam, Dr. Scott Hogan,
Lisa K. Ray. Youtube. Web.
20 Mar. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=mCrZS_9SIe4>
.

Looking at a news interview of a person that was prescribed

for Adderall one woman (Gina Washam) finds that she has
become more and more addicted to the drug. She noticed
that the usage of the drug became and more frequent. A
doctor (Scott Hogan) says that many students are introduced
to Adderall in college in order to work on performing better
on tests while others in the work force use it to perform
better. He agrees that competition is a huge impact on the
usage as well. Dr. Hogan says that some of the Adderall
contains some of the same ingredients that
methamphetamines contain. Sometimes people become so
addicted to Adderall that they tend to try to go out and find
more drugs off the street that they can buy in order to fulfill
their needs. An example provided in the news cast was one
parent who is addicted to drugs may take their A making
students to the doctor telling them what to say to the doctor
in efforts to make the doctor believe that they may have
ADHD to be able to obtain more drugs. Lisa K. Ray, another
person in this interview whom is a drug and alcohol
counselor says that it is family and friends that see that one
may have become addicted to a drug first. It causes strains
on relationships and the person addicted may show signs of
deception.

Being able to hear a

person that has
experienced an Adderall
addiction is quite
shocking. I was unaware
that Adderall contained
some of the same
ingredients that
methamphetamines
contain. Although the
interview did not include
points about what the
drug does to the body;
besides the want for
more, I can see that it is
very detrimental for the
body. Dr. Hogan included
the use of the drug on
college campuses just as
a many of my other
sources have.

Cooper, Aaron. "College

students take ADHD
drugs for better grades."
CNN. N.p., 1 Sept. 2011.
Web. 22 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.cnn.com/2
011/09/01/health/drugsadderallconcentration/>.

A CNN story takes a look at a senior at Auburn University

that uses the drug Adderall. This student begins off by
saying Im more driven. I dont focus on anything else.
Like any other college student would say, it is very for him
to get access to the drug. With a simple phone call or text
he can get it. A professor at the University of Kentucky
tracked the use of study drugs on this college campus. He
has found that It is more common than the use of marijuana
and its even easier to get. He found that 30% of students
have illegally used a stimulant, 50% of all juniors and seniors
have used them, and 80% of upperclassman who belong to
a fraternity or sorority have taken them. These numbers are
outrageous when it comes to college students. The CNN
article continues to look at the drug and what it does to the
body. Adderall is to be considered a schedule II drug
which means that the drug has a high abuse potential and
dependency profile. Continuing to talk about what the drug
does to the body, Dr. Raymond Kotwicki states that the drug
can eventually produce jitters, stomach problems,

I find it quite true

that students do not
find Adderall to be
dangerous. Simply
because they have
not seen detrimental
effects to the body
from using the drug. I
think the students
need to become
more aware of what
the drug can do to
the body.

headaches and even lead to psychosis. When students were

asked about the dangers of the drug they say that Adderall
is just as dangerous as mountain dew and nowhere near as
dangerous as drinking and smoking.