After her counselor suggested that she get tested for ADHD, one senior, a different dealer, began using Adderall on a daily basis and still continues to use it.
“Adderall has helped me a lot,” she said. “I can engage in conversation a lot more and I’m a lot less forgetful and I’m a lot more aware…and [my family], they love it. They think I’m smart.”
However, a change in her prescription left the senior with extra medication that she, on the condition that she would remain anonymous, confessed to selling.
“I had twenty pills extra…I need money, I don’t have a job, [and] I spend it on clothes,” the senior said.
The previously mentioned junior dealer, who also wished to remain anonymous, began selling when her sister stopped taking her ADHD medication—54 mg of Concerta.
“I have a big bottle, with about 100 to 200 pills in it,” the junior said. “Pretty much, I just use the money to go out to lunch. It was just a nice way to get money easily.”
“I have a big bottle, with about 100 to 200 pills in it,” the junior said. “Pretty much, I just use the money to go out to lunch. It was just a nice way to get money easily.”
The accessibility to the drug
Both dealers underscore the ease with which one can obtain a prescription for ADHD drugs, which in turn increases the accessibility of the drug to those without a prescription.
“Honestly, if you went and said you had ADHD and just answered the question: ‘Are you retarded?’ and said ‘Yeah, I am,’ they would give [the prescription] to you,” the senior said.
Bringing the drugs onto campus has not proved difficult either, although administration does have some standard procedures which medicine-carrying students must follow. Specifically, students must supply administration with written authorization from a legal guardian and doctor in order to carry prescription medication.
Though the senior has a note from her doctor to self dispense on-campus, the junior is breaking school policy by bringing her sister’s pills to campus.
“If someone were taking something and someone questioned why they had it, we would have it on file,” Assistant Principal Trudy Gross said. “If you were someone who carried something, you should have it in a prescription bottle, you shouldn’t be carrying someone else’s prescription.”
Nonetheless, administration has yet to catch a student possessing Adderall or similar drugs without a prescription.
“Typically we have publications and school resource officers who keep us aware of things,” Gross said. “[Adderall is] not something I have encountered since being here at MVHS…but that could also be because things have not come to light.”
“[Adderall is] not something I have encountered since being here at MVHS…but that could also be because things have not come to light,” Gross said.
While Gross said that she is unaware of such transactions at MVHS, she did state that dealing would entail both scholastic and legal ramifications.
If administration were to catch a student dealing prescription drugs on-campus, then they would face two disciplinary systems; namely, the school’s education code and the penal code violation of local law enforcement. The student in question would be temporarily removed from MVHS and would face a series of hearing panels and board decisions which would determine the degree of the student’s punishment—possibly permanent expulsion from the district.
The school enforces its policy by pursuing specific leads from teachers or other students, but does not search each suspected student’s backpack.
“If there’s a time where we have a student name, say, we can follow up on that; if there are students who we see have a medication, we can check if it’s really their medication,” Gross said. “We try to stay aware of what’s really going on.”
The transactions
Both dealers operate on campus and sell primarily to juniors who hope that the increased concentration associated with the drug will help them attain their desired SAT scores.
“I usually sell through friends, but none of my friends want it. It’s all juniors and a few sophomores,” the senior said. “I didn’t know who the little Asian girl [to whom I sold was], but to people I personally know…I’ll warn them [of the possible side effects].”
The junior relies on word of mouth to sell her pills and receives orders through text messages. She did note that her customers seem more academically inclined than those who abuse marijuana and other controlled substances.
“They’re not people that go out and party, they’re not people that do other drugs,” the junior said. “It’s really just to get the grade, to get the SAT score their parents want them to. It’s very strange.”
While the senior warns her friends, the junior does not feel that she is liable or should inform her customers of the medical implications of taking the drugs.
“I talk to them, ‘Okay you want this?’ And I ask them, ‘You know what this does? And that it lasts the whole day?’” the junior said. “But I don’t tell them anything of the medical sort. It’s not my responsibility to be telling them what they should or shouldn’t do.”
The going rate
The price of illicitly-sold prescription ADHD medication varies with multiple factors, including the relationship between the customer and dealer, the needs of the dealer, and the potency of the particular pill.
“At college, I bet I could [sell] it for $12,” the senior said. “[The] little Asian girl, she gave me $80 for 7 pills for the SAT,” the senior said. “I didn’t ask for the high price, but people sell it for two bucks. Would you sell it for two bucks when you could make such a big profit?”
While the senior capitalizes upon the demand for prescription ADHD drugs, the junior sees dealing as a way to simply get pocket money. She added, however, that she is considering raising her $3 price given that she believes she provides users with the highest dosage available on campus.
Conscience
Although the dealers are aware of the health risks of taking Adderall and Concerta without a proper diagnosis from a doctor, both react in different ways.
“I don’t think it’s safe, because it’s not the right dosage for some people…and if they don’t have a prescription, they shouldn’t be taking it [and] I shouldn’t be selling it,” the senior said. “It’s like the movie ‘Notorious’—he was selling cocaine to a pregnant lady. I feel bad, you know. I probably shouldn’t sell it. I sound like a bad person. It’s not safe.”
“It’s like the movie ‘Notorious’—he was selling cocaine to a pregnant lady. I feel bad, you know. I probably shouldn’t sell it. I sound like a bad person. It’s not safe,” the senior said.
While the senior feels remorseful for selling pills, the junior simply doesn’t acknowledge the existence of ADHD.
“My honest opinion is that ADHD is not an actual thing,” the junior said. “I’m one of those people who think that people are people—some [just] get distracted more. I don’t think it’s a disease.”
Still, she recognizes the potentially harmful implications of her actions.
“Just talking about it makes me [feel] so bad,” the junior said. “Even the idea that I might hurt someone…I don’t want to be responsible for that.”
Regardless of their scruples, both dealers are confident that their buyers are satisfied with their products.
“Pretty much everyone just says that it helps a lot,” the junior said. “No negative feedback at all.”
But what dealers hear from customers does not always coincide with what customers actually experience. For a more in-depth look into the user’s experience, read “Students use performance-enhancing drugs for SAT” .
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