As a senior in the religion department, I have a thesis due in 10 days, and yes, like every other senior I know - some due sooner, some later - I'm freaking out. Despite prayers that some miracle will force ...(back to the article)
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"embarrassingly naive" is an understatement for you. The military person is spot on. You need some life lessons, because honestly I don't know how you're going to survive in this world asking about the integrity of your studies. The word itself, integrity, makes me vomit. The test of education is to prove you are capable and qualified to do said work, whatever that work may be. It's not to test if you're honest because honesty is enforced. Why don't you grow a pair and move on with your thesis and move on with your life?
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You just killed all of the finals/dean's date ediorials for the Prince in a matter of sentences. How dare you!
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Old News: This is not a news story. It is an opinion column.
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I don't understand why this story is being written now. Adderrall's unprescribed use seems pretty common among American college students and even high school students. A lot of people can't handle the workload without it.
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Hey, don't want to shock you too much here, but people also use coke to stay thin. Also, some people drink too much in order to lose inhibitions. Oh, and some people smoke because of stress! I know this is a lot to take in. But rest assured, you have plenty of groundbreaking topics to explore for your column.
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The addictiveness or harmfulness of a substance has nothing to do with whether the federal government makes it a controlled substance. Cigarettes and Alcohol are far more addictive and dangerous than adderall. As far as the pressure that others adderall use creates. After 4 years here I've found that the people that tend to use adderall do so because the don't feel that they have the time and/or ability to put out good work. So if you give yourself time and/or have ability you'll be in better shape than them anyways. Also, like i said earlier, competition with illegal stimulant using peers in academia is as old as modern academia.
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I think its important to note that the author doesn’t seem to take a stance for or against adderall use in general. Rather, he simply asks what pressure it creates on others to do the same, and based on its illegality, what its use means in terms of academic integrity. Those are valid questions to bring up in our given situation, in which it is in fact illegal. I’m not a doctor, but I would assume there are reasons why its illegal. If someone else with some actual authority (a doctor, a study, etc) wants to make a case otherwise, perhaps they should submit that. Until then, its not for us to criticize the author for not espousing its dangers.
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Alex is right. Stop doing adderall....because its illegal. I don't know why,and I don't really know anything about it, but I asked two of my friends which means I'm knowledgeable and have used multiple sources. I write for the Prince so please don't question my judgment.
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We all rely on caffeine often, but few of us actually physically addicted in say, the way alcoholics and cokeheads are addicted. In fact, caffeine addiction is highly disputed (see, for example: http://www.medicinenet.com/caffeine/page2.htm), and its often questioned whether caffiene addiction is just mental, rather than physical. Adderall is an amphetamine (same as Crystal Meth), and amphetamines and caffeine are not the same. Amphetamines are actually categorized as "Schedule II Controlled substances" which include substances with addictive properties and high potential for abuse, but which have been shown to have accepted (emphasis on accepted, NOT encouraged) medical uses (like morphine). They are thus restricted--a.k.a. prescription drugs. More importantly, adderall does in fact pose serious dangers to health, beyond just being physically addictive. In 2005 the Canadian equivalent of the FDA actually banned adderall for a period because of reports of sudden death in over 50 adderall users of all age ranges. Adderall has reported cardiovascular side effects, including increasing heart rate and blood pressure . Its restricted because the FDA assumes your doctor will take all of this into consideration and weigh the risks, just like a doctor would consider a patient's reactions before prescribing any drug, from acutane to viagra to vicadin. The lay princeton student who pops adderall to focus on work probably doesn't take these things into consideration before taking the drug. Adderall does have reported dangers that we can't ignore, its prescribed by doctors who do consider these side effects, and it is certainly not the same as caffiene. One can overdose on caffiene, but caffiene is not a controlled substance. The FDA doesn't just decide to control substances like adderall for giggles, they usually have good, medically rational reason.
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Are there any serious medical risks associated with adderall compared to caffeine? I ask because this is usually why performance-enhancing substances are banned. For example, we ban steroids in sports not just to keep the game fair but also because not everyone wants testicle shrinkage, heart disease and suicidal ideation in exchange for a better batting average. If adderall has any serious risks, then those who care more about their health than their GPA will face an unlevel playing field. On the other hand, if there are no serious medical risks, then it should be legalized and people should be able to make the free and informed decision to take adderall or not, just as some students drink 5 cups of coffee a day while others refrain from consuming caffeine altogether.
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Who is this Marvin L Foushee guy who seems to post on every story? He doesn't show up on a directory search, and he seems to have rather eccentric political views.
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Adderall made Car Lab actually enjoyable. And it makes me a better human being. Go figure.
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Stop whining about your thesis and energy-increasing drugs. You are not a badass for having "so much work to do." Just write the damn thing and hush.
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it took a whole adderall to get through this piece without falling asleep
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Is this a late April fools joke? Can someone capable of typing really be THIS naive? No. Scratch that. Stupid?
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i might go with "embarrassingly naive"
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"Perhaps our famed academic pledge should read: I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during, nor used academic-performance enhancing drugs to prepare for, this examination." [Perhaps our famed academic pledge should read: I pledge on my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during this examination, nor have I used academic-performance enhancing drugs to prepare for this examination.] When the performance enhancing drugs (Monster, Red Bull, caffeine, amphetamine.) wear off, the body's performance un-enhancing drugs (caused by lack of REM sleep) kick in. I hope you do better on the big thesis paper than you did on the small thesis paper.
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"While I agree that the widespread use of adderall for academic purposes is somewhat unsettling, the author doesn't offer any explanation for why adderall is worse than caffeine except for the fact that caffeine is [NOT] illegal."
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Dear Another '08, I have 2 problems with what you wrote. First, I agree that there has been great creative work--in music, art, writing, filmmaking--fueled by some sort of drug or stimulant. But I think the author is making a broader point on senior theses that extend beyond just the english, music, and art departments. Chem majors, for example, aren't pushing to create a great work of literature--but taking adderall definitely would help one focus better than another on an orgo exam. The question is not so much whether this is unfair, but really whether one person doing this pressures another to feel a need to do it just to be on the same competitive level. Second, while the author's likening of adderall to steroids in sports is interesting, your likening of it to soldiers' "Go Pills" for the sake of justifying it is downright offensive. For the soldiers we send into battle, we put them into life and death situations, and thus using them to fight potentially helps them survive, and its almost our obligation to equip them as best we can. On the contrary, no matter what the academic situation, it is never a question of life and death. Soldiers achieve success in war by overpowering enemies with force and military domination until they die or surrender. By your "soldiers do it too" logic, if they can use guns to fight, we can use them to learn--yet, I don't hold my professors at gun point until they give me the grades I want.
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I agree with P'08. also, All or most of our great works of literature were written on some sort of stimulant. This is almost a joke amongst every English professor I've ever had. also, the adderall doesnt make the papers better, it just helps you to focus. Another thought: Is it illegal for our nation's army to go into war fueled on "Go Pills" to help them focus? These pills have been used since World War Two, and are extremely prevalent right now in Iraq. If they can use them to fight, we can use them to learn.
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While I agree that the widespread use of adderall for academic purposes is somewhat unsettling, the author doesn't offer any explanation for why adderall is worse than caffeine except for the fact that caffeine is illegal. The effects of the two chemicals on the brain are not markedly different and simple legality and illegality don't really determine all that much. Also, the use of amphetamines to enhance academic achievement is neither new nor limited to undergraduates. Mathematician Paul Erdos is just one example of many academic luminaries whose careers were fueled by stimulants, amphetamines in this case.
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