Have you ever heard of Raphael Palmero? His entire Hall of Fame baseball career and all his accomplishments are in question because of his reported use of steroids. Even though steroids were not frowned upon by Major League Baseball during his suspected use, many feel that he acquired an unfair advantage from taking them. Adderall, when not counteracting a legitimate chemical imbalance in one’s body, should be under the same category as steroids.

I don’t believe that people should resort to Adderall as a study buddy. I give 110% day in and day out to achieve the high markings that I do. I continuously get frustrated when I look around and see others, including my FRIENDS, using drugs like Adderall to reach my high level of success. In my eyes this is not right.
Like most of the people taking wrongly prescribed Adderall I, too, have moments of ADHD. There are plenty of times I want to hang with friends, log onto Facebook, work out, watch movies, go party, basically do anything but study. I fight through these times and prepare for upcoming tests, while others seemingly enjoy the perks of college life without a care in the world for school. These people then take Adderall before upcoming exams to enable themselves to pull off normally impossible 48-hour cram sessions. This is what I call an unfair advantage. Should these people be rewarded the same as me for something they didn’t accomplish through their own hard work and discipline?

Major League Baseball obviously disagrees with such a mindset. It is now taking action on its players who take steroids as a shortcut to the hard work and discipline that it takes to be a successful pro-level athlete. It is even threatening to erase all the accomplishments of Palmero’s Hall of Fame career. Why should a college student’s accomplishments be allowed to stand if he or she took Adderall inappropriately to gain an advantage? We need to take a stand and stop the spread of Adderall use, in ways that the MLB is doing. President Ransdell and faculty- I would love to hear your answers. I know for a fact that you are well aware of the Adderall situation on campus, and it’s pretty sad that nothing has been done about it. At least have some banners be posted around campus about the dangers of Adderall usage.

I am a nursing major planning to start the nursing program soon. It enrages me to know that some of these “cheaters” will make it into medical school over or before me. I’d be willing to bet that if the nursing-school admissions board knew the truth, they would much rather a hardworking disciplined person over one who has a “cut the corners” mentality and needs drugs to perform at their maximum capacity.

Something on some level needs to be done about the improper use of Adderall. Let me ask you this, would you feel safe knowing that your surgeon or nurse used this “cut the corners mentality” to get through med-school. I know I wouldn’t. And you shouldn’t either.

I dare YOU to go through Finals with some academic integrity. Just refrain from partying a few nights, hang out at the library, buy a new highlighter, prop open that book, and just study. I promise that it is really not that hard, people. What do you think? Can you handle it?