<p>aside from being illegal to take prescription drugs w/o a prescription, ethically do you think people who take adderall are cheating?</p>
<p>Caffeine is performance-enhancing but certainly not cheating, so I don’t see why Adderall would be considered cheating. Taking Adderall without a legitimate prescription would be highly unethical, though. The thought that a person who would do that could end up with a prescription pad is a little disturbing.</p>
<p>fun fact: 90% of adults in the states ingest caffeine everyday</p>
<p>I don’t think it’d be considered cheating but definitely unethical.</p>
<p>So there’s four layers to this.</p>
<p>1.) Illegal. Can you be criminally charged for this? (Yes.)
2.) Cheating. Can you be suspended or expelled for this? (Depends on your school, but probably.)
3.) Socially unacceptable. Will people be angry with you for this? (Many, yes.)
4.) Guilt-inducing. Will you feel guilty about this?</p>
<p>In any case anything that violates #1 is usually a bad idea.</p>
<p>Criminally charged for taking adderall without a prescription? I have not heard of that. Bad idea, potentially dangerous, better off getting a proper diagnosis and treatment if you need it, sure, but criminal???</p>
<p>Of course, the question might run not to whether you took it, but that you had possession or how you got it. proving possession based on the fact that you took it would require a blood test to show it was in your system, but they would need a court order to get the test, and they would need a reason for the order…</p>
<p>Cheating- as noted above, no more so than having a cup of coffee. Would the college take action? Hard to say. really not their business, and how would they know what prescriptions you might have?</p>
<p>Socially unacceptable? Depends on your social group.</p>
<p>Seems similar to the Barry Bonds situation: illegal use of a performance enhancing drug that’s intended for medical purposes.</p>
<p>People seem to think he cheated.</p>
<p>I personally think it’s a terrible idea, esp. in light of the potential side effects.</p>
<p>I don’t mean that you **would **get hunted down and charged, only that it would be legal to do so. (If I remember correctly, you’ll notice, for example, that Bonds is not actually being charged for the drug usage, but for associated charges – obstruction of justice, perhaps.)</p>
<p>It is a crime to take prescription drugs without a prescription.</p>
<p>This is completely different from the Bonds’ situation. Barry took steroids as a member of MLB while under contract and there are strict rules against such actions in that field. He’s made millions and millions by cheating the system and lying in a federal court.</p>
<p>The problem with the law regarding prescription drugs has to do with the amount you have. If you are over a certain amount they can accuse you with intent to sell and traffic, etc. If you have a few pills of adderall in your possession you aren’t going to get arrested.</p>
<p>Again, the point was not that anybody would actually prosecute you, as DA’s are unlikely to find you to be worth their time – just like the DA has apparently decided that prosecuting Bonds for illegal drug use is not worth his time.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean it’s not a crime.</p>
<p>Actually, the only reason Bonds has not been charged with drug possession is the fact he signed an agreement with prosecuters prior to the BALCO trial guaranteeing him immunity in exchange for his testimony. Obviously, that testimony has been called into question now which is why he’s being indicted for perjury. If he is convicted of perjury, that would invalidate his immunity agreement which would make things very interesting indeed.</p>
<p>Departed: There were NOT strict rules against such actions on the field. MLB did not have a defined steroid policy in place. The only thing in place was federal law which banned the use of steroids w/o a prescription. Essentially, Bonds took a drug w/o a valid prescription for personal gain. The OP is asking to do the same. </p>
<p>As BDM has noted, whether you get charged or not is irrelevant. If you have the drug w/o a prescription, you broke the law.</p>
<p>The real question is why take it at all if you don’t have ADHD? there are side effects, and for everyone else, as far as I know, it just provides a general stimulant effect. But you can get that from coffee, perfectly legal, and used for so long that there will be no surprises in its effects.</p>
<p>I wonder whether the popularity of it among students is due to lots of cases of undiagnosed ADHD self medicating.</p>
<p>Lange’s Pharmacology 10th ed.:
No mention of ADHD-specific effects.</p>
<p>Hypothesis: may just be that the drug at low doses only affects endogenous CNS shortcomings, with overstimulation of normal activity coming only at higher doses?</p>
<p>personally, I think adderall is identical to the Bonds situation. Everyone has equal access to caffeine and legal and promoted at most colleges (we’re up to FOUR starbucks’ on campus), plus it comes with costs in terms of focusing ability and memory. Adderall is illegal to use without a prescription, so whether or not the school has defined honor code rules against it is frankly irrelevant, one is still in the wrong. There is also the question of access; since not everyone either knows the right people or is unscrupulous enough to make use of the drug illicitly, those that do obtain an unfair advantage.</p>
<p>It’s not like adderall is magically giving you good grades. You still have to put the time and the work in, you have to study, you have to write the paper, whatever. Adderall just makes people intensely focused which makes it easier to sit down and study for four hours.</p>
<p>I personally don’t use it, but I know tons of people who do, and their response when I say I don’t use it is “wait, you actually study for finals WITHOUT adderall?” In some circles it’s totally the norm… I’m not saying it’s ok, because obviously it’s illegal to use prescription drugs which aren’t yours. But in my opinion, to say it’s “cheating” or “unethical” is a bit of a stretch.</p>
<p>It’s not like steroids are magically giving you good batting statistics. You still have to put the time and the work in, you have to practice, you have to make contact, whatever. Steroids just makes people intensely stronger which makes it easier to hit the ball four hundred feet.</p>
<p>I personally don’t use it, but I know tons of people who do, and their response when I say I don’t use it is “wait, you actually try to bat WITHOUT steroids?” In some circles it’s totally the norm… I’m not saying it’s ok, because obviously it’s illegal to use prescription drugs which aren’t yours. But in my opinion, to say it’s “cheating” or “unethical” is a bit of a stretch.</p>
<p>^ first time i have ever seen bdm be sarcastic about something</p>
<p>BDM,</p>
<p>What you quoted is precisely the “general stimulant effect” to which I was referring. Available, legally and at comparable price from Starbucks, or included with the price of a meal plan at any college cafeteria.</p>
<p>The interesting thing is that Adderall, but not coffee, ALSO has a specific concentration effect for people with ADHD, but as far as I can tell only a stimulant effect for those without. This fundamental difference in the brains of ADHD patients is likely the reason that there are nonstimulant drungs that work for the condition, but apparently hold no appeal for people without the disorder.</p>
<p>So if you want a stimulant you have two choices: 1. available cheap or free, legal, well known trivial, and self limited side effects (caffeine) or 2. Relatively more difficult to obtain, illegal without a prescription, more expensive, potentially dangerous, new drug (compared to caffeine) with possible further bad news to come (Adderall)</p>
<p>For those reasons, I cannot see the logic in choosing option 2.</p>
<p>BUT, since both Adderall and caffeine have about the same effect for people who do not have ADHD, I find it hard to define one as cheating and the other as ok. Is cafeteria coffee acceptable but Starbucks cheating?</p>
<p>As for Barry Bonds: he gets a bad rap because people don’t like him. Other players have been caught using steroids (which has not happened with Bonds) and been welcomed back into the fold. Steroids have been around for a long time -decades- yet Bonds-haters seem to pretend that they are a recent phenomenon. People are now treating his indictment for perjury as if it were a conviction for steroid use. Face it, he is the best baseball player ever, he is not a particularly likeable guy, and, like many other players, he MIGHT have used steroids, but so far no one has proved that.</p>
<p>Should someone without ADHD use Adderall to help study? No. Too dangerous. Have a diet Pepsi instead. Is it immoral, unethical, or fattening? Exactly as much so as the Pepsi.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention one other point. This is the premed forum. Getting caught illegally using a prescription drug is a problem for anyone, but the standard college kids charged with simple possession of a small amount may be able to get on with their lives after a fine, community service, whatever. </p>
<p>It is an entirely different story for a premed. Getting caught could convert your 4.0, 45 record into an automatic reject. </p>
<p>For obvious reasons medical school admissions committees will run in panic from the idea of granting the ability to prescribe controlled substances to someone who has already been caught abusing these drugs. There is very strong evidence that unprofessional conduct as a physician is well predicted by similar conduct as a med student. </p>
<p>Given the competitiveness of med school admissions, and the risk one takes in admitting someone with a conduct problem already established, one would have to be crazy to admit such an applicant to medical school. </p>
<p>You can be a successful premed, you can abuse prescription drugs, but it is extremely risky to try to do both.</p>
<p>legality and cheating aside…it’s unethical hands down…</p>
<p>Does anyone else see the issue here with a future medical professional inappropriately using prescription medication?</p>
<p>Maybe it’s a third year thing and the fact that I’ve had to deal with several patients “borrowing” prescriptions from relatives that I find this a problem.</p>
<p>If you were a physician doing the prescribing, you wouldn’t give the drug to someone who didn’t need it, who didn’t have ADHD, so how can you justify that it’s appropriate for you to be taking?</p>