The night before my second year Political Theory exam, five peers and I study in a deserted classroom. Britt, a good friend of mine, joins us at 1 a.m. with a large cup of coffee, sparse notes and swallowing pupils.
“Britt, did you pop before?” The guy beside me leans in, hopeful. Without blinking she replies, “Yeah. I have one left, want it? Five bucks.”
With a pinch of irritation I try to steer the conversation back to Rousseau. This our fifth and last exam and the fourth time Britt has come to study group high on Dex. She tosses the white pill to Noel, who chucks it back with a mouthful of her coffee.
One night cramming on Dex lands them 75% on the exam. One week studying unenhanced earns me 83%. Not that much of a difference. This happens frequently. And it drives. me. mad.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that people with developmental inattentiveness problems benefit from prescribed drugs like Dexedrine, Adderall and Ritalin. So why do a quarter of university students without ADHD or ADD choose to abuse attention-enhancing drugs? Laziness. Convenience. Two Adderalls every four hours and they’re flying to the top of the class (with inflated egos).
Not only is this unfair, it’s concerning. I genuinely worry about my friends who think they’re feeding their brains when really, once they’re sober, all that information is spat back out. And you may not think so, but professors and tutorial leaders can tell when students come to class high on amphetamines. In participation-heavy courses, it can affect your grade. It happened to Britt!
Remember that irritating “you’re cheating yourself the most” speech you got from your grade 4 teacher when you inked the conjugations of être on your palm before the French quiz? Well, it still stands. You can’t count on drugs to make you smarter. Because in the long run, they will do the complete opposite. (Plus, I read an article about a psychiatrist who abused Adderall as a university student and eventually developed haemorrhoids from sitting for too long…enough said).
Ultimately, it is a personal choice. But if you want to respect your mind, your body, your education *cough and your peers cough* DON’T DO DRUGS. It’s that simple.
