A New Perspective

   The following are two personal interviews Taylor and I conducted with two different people who were willing to be open with their Adderall usage. Unlike in our podcast with Julia Brilliant, the following people are not using the drug for medical or prescribed reasons. The identities of the interviewees have been kept out for this blog and will not under any circumstance be disclosed.

Person 1 Interview:

• So why do you take Adderall?
• “I want to do well in school. I started my junior year, I work about 30 hours a week, and it is all just really stressful and it helps me.”

• Do you feel like you do better overall in life with Adderall?
• “Yes. Definitely. I don’t need sleep so it cuts that out. I’ll maybe sleep a few hours a night, but not usually. I’d say I get four hours of sleep per week. So everytime I get tired I just take another one.”

• What is it like being on Adderall?
• I can become very stimulated. I get paranoid. My heart rate increases so much. It curbs my appetite so I don’t need to eat and take time to do that. I feel just very paranoid like everyone is watching me. I’m walking in the hallway freaking out like shaking. After two days of not sleepy fully I just break down and cry. I just take a really high dosage.”

• What dosage do you take?
• “I take a 45 mg or a 55 mg depending on what I can buy or is available. I think some people take 10 mg but I need more. They are about $10 a pill. I get it from a dealer.”

• What’s the biggest difference on and off Adderall?
• “I get very focus to the point where it consumes me. Like I could be on a math problem for an hour or I’m focused on a dot on my paper for like an hour. It did hurt me on a test but Adderall usually helps me on my tests when I finish them.”

• Are you going to continue using it?
• “100%.”

• Do you feel like you are addicted?
• “I don’t know... pretty borderline.”

• If you were to stop how would your life be affected?
• “I don’t think it I’d be affected that much. I mean I remember things better on it but I think I’d be fine. I mean I only take it for school.
• “Are you worried about the potential health risks and side effects?”
• “Sometimes. Like if it curbs your appetite like that’s not healthy. Like the way it affects me is not healthy either... so... oh well.. That’s what the school system does for you.”

• “How did you start taking it?”
• My friend introduced it to my my junior year and it helped me in school and I just didn’t stop.”

Person 2:

• When did you start taking Adderall?
• “I started at the end of junior year for AP and AICE Exams.”

• When was it first introduced to you?
• “I can’t remember exactly, but I know it was from my friends who took it.”

• How many times have you taken it?
• “Only about 12-13 times.”

• What is the milligram of each pill”
• “I take 25 mg, extended release, which lasts about 6-8 hours.” (Keep in mind that prescribed Adderall is only 10 mg and is not extended release.)

• How does it make you feel when you take it?
• “Everyone describes it as extreme focus, and yeah that’s what it is, but it’s more like you can’t stand to not be productive. Like for me personally, I feel good and I feel happy when I am productive and when I can achieve something with my time. Like when you’re on it, you can’t stand to just be sitting there and doing nothing and being unproductive, you need to be doing something.”

• What does it feel like when you’re on Adderall and you’re doing nothing?
• “It feels like, for me, that it is a waste of time and energy.”

• Are you worried at all about the side effects?
• “Like Addiction? No, because it’s not like if you just take something once or a couple of times you’re going to get addicted.”

• Do you generally do better in school when you take Adderall?
• It’s doesn’t necessarily mean that I get like miles better test grades because I take a prescription that I’m not supposed to be taking, but it just makes me feel better that I can be productive and focus better in school on stuff that I need to learn and be a more successful person doing so. I can do the things that I want to be able to do, if that makes any sense.”

• Do you want to continue using it in college?
• “Umm… I mean obviously you’re immediate thought is yeah, yes I want to because it would help a lot and it would help me focus on the things I need to do. But at the same time, it’s like what are you gonna do? Are you gonna go out and convince some random doctor in your new city to like give it to you.”

• Do you normally convince your doctor to give it to you? Or how to you get it?
• “Oh, no, no, no, I don’t do that with my doctor. I get it from my friends.”

• Adderall is usually referred to as a studying steroid, do you feel like that statement is true?
• “So the thing about that is, as least for me, when I think about steroids in sports is that is changed your physiology, without any extra effort you get better results that you normally wouldn’t get. With Adderall, you need to put in the exact same effort and the exact same mind power and motivation into that to get the results you’re looking for.”

• So how do you feel when you have a lot of homework and studying to do, but you don’t end up taking Adderall?
• “For me, it takes me a significantly longer amount of time to do anything because I am constantly getting distracted and I get distracted very easily, like I’ll look at my phone every couple of seconds.”

• Do you usually feel motivated?
• “Yeah, but it just makes me happy to have that extra boost to my motivation. I think you have to be a special type of motivated to want to take a drug like this.”

• Have you ever got to the point where you are too focused and end up spending too much time on something?
• “Yeah when I was doing a lab last week, like it had to be perfect. I was in that mindset where it had to be perfect, even though it took me a substantial amount of time. And sometimes I’ll get caught up on a problem on tests and realize that now I only have 10 minutes left for 20 multiple choice questions.”

• What are some of the side effects you feel on it?”
• “It completely curves my appetite to the point where I have no motivation to eat. Like I don’t eat when I’m on it. Usually I’ll binge eat when I’m not on it because I’m bored or because I’m not doing anything. So it completely takes away that distraction and motivation to want to eat.”

• Are you scared of the side effects taking a major affect on your life?
• “No, because at this point I know that I’m not addicted and I know that I have a certain cap on what is appropriate for me to ask for and how much to take. For me, it’s not like I have a constant supply that would make me worried.”

• Is all of it even worth it?
• “I guess not. It’s not like, at least for me, where a lot of people spend a substantial amount of money on a pill or something like that. But money aside, if I were to get addicted I don’t think it would be worth it. But at this point, I think it’s worth it in the amount that it is.”