According to media reports, it's the latest and greatest craze on competitive college campuses across the country! What are we speaking of? The use of stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall, that are typically prescribed for ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), by normal (often overachieving!) college students to improve their academic performance, or just to stay up all night studying or writing papers.Check out this video on the topic.
Also read this piece (profs helper.pdf) from the journal Nature.
Search the Web a bit and read some media reports about the alarming rates of abuse of these drugs. Tell us some particulars of what you found in your comments to this blog.
Finally, tell us what you think about the ethical issues involved? Does any of this seem relevant for you as graduate students? What about from teh perspective of medical students? Or undergraduates trying to get into med school? Any problems with people just trying to get a little edge on the competition in this way?
