Kathleen Quillian
Kathleen Quillian says while some students are taking the drug Adderall for their ADD, she explains how others may using it to cheat on exams.
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At my school, I hear a lot of the usual talk among my friends: who has the highest grade in class, what’s everyone’s SAT score, and who got into an Ivy League college. Teens can get competitive when it comes to academics. Some of my friends in middle school were prescribed Adderral to help them with attention deficit disorder- ADD. Some of them say it helped their grades go way up, because they were able to study better. So I became curious about the drug.
If you look it up on Wikipedia, Adderall is described as a brand-name pharmaceutical psychostimulant. Thats a mouth-full, but basically it’s like steroids for your brain, keeping it stimulated for hours.
When I first heard about Adderall, I was like “I need to get my hands on some”; I was a desperate 7th grader who would do anything improve my grades. But then I saw my friends on the drug, acting anxious and angry. That’s when my desire for the Adderral subsided.
I still know teens who take Adderral. I also hear stories about my brother’s friends whose parents allow them to use their Adderall selectively - like for the SAT or other really big tests.
I think taking it without a prescription is cheating, like an athlete who medicates to grow oversized muscles.
I would rather struggle in school than take a drug that alters who I am as a person.
