Would you take a drug that makes you a better version of yourself? Adderall is a prescription drug used to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The stimulant contains a combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine which are central nervous system stimulants which together affect chemicals in the brain and nerves that contribute to hyperactivity and impulse control. College students in particular have been using Adderall both with and without a prescription to help them focus and stay awake for prolonged hours. Adderall needs to be more regulated due to the fact that it is highly addictive, it gives people without ADHD an unfair advantage in sports and academics, and it can be easily abused. Adderall is a Schedule II drug which…show more content… Adderall raises an ethical question as well. Adderall is a performance enhancing drug, and has been banned by the National Football League, Major League Baseball, The National Basketball Association, and numerous other sports leagues. Adderall doesn’t make you smarter, but it causes you to feel smarter, which increases your motivation, which in turn helps you perform better on a specific task. This begs the question, is taking adderall a form of cheating? If you are taking Adderall for boosting your brain function and not taking it for its intended purpose of ADHD, you are in fact cheating. According to John M. Grohol, Psy.D, “For a person with ADHD, taking a medication like Adderall doesn’t make them into super-intelligent nerds. It simply brings their brain functioning closer to “normal.”When a person without ADHD takes an ADHD medication, it gives them super-sharp attention and concentration. It enhances your existing cognitive abilities. And in that way, it’s no different than an athlete who’s pumped up on steroids.” Using Adderall to study for a test, or get through a boring or difficult task is cheating. Why take a B on a test when you could get an A by taking some Adderall? When students see their peers out performing them and getting better grades because of a pill it creates the feeling that they need to get their hands on this pill in some way due to keep up in the ultra competitive world we live in
