STUDENTS FIND DRUG EASILY

You can go to prison for $5. Sometimes just $4. And that $5 could
eventually cost thousands. Jane Jones sells Adderall for just $4 per pill,
without hesitation, not concerned every $4 made could blanket her life in
court proceedings, fines and a jail sentence, instead of the schoolwork
that makes her prescription necessary and made her diagnosis of attention
deficit disorder relevant.

Jane Doe pays $5 per pill from someone else, not worried about the
possibility that for every transaction and for every pill she swallows, a
life where she could receive a prescription for the medication, if she ever
chose to, could disappear for years.

And if she's not caught, she could face consequences more deadly, and
ironically, less traumatic.

CHARGED

"The distribution (or consumption) of any regulated drug not prescribed to
the user is a violation of federal law and punishable by jail time, fines
or both," said Captain Tom Stofer of the Auburn University Department of
Public Safety.

"I know it's a felony," Doe said. "One time I got arrested, and I had one
on my desk in my room, and I was praying the whole time (the police)
wouldn't find it."

They didn't. That was two years ago. She's still taking it every time she
feels she needs it, sometimes when she doesn't.

Adderall falls under a class of illegal drugs known as Schedule Two, the
most highly regulated controlled substances, including Demerol, Percodan
and Oxycontin.

"It is a felony to sell a controlled substance, and also to possess it,"
said Nancy Kicklighter, director of pharmacy at the Auburn University
Student Health Pharmacy, as she fills an Adderall prescription for a
student. "If (someone is) found, the punishment could be several years in
prison."

Those who are never caught face other problems that might not cost them
their freedom, but could change their lives. The user, so immersed in a
life where popping Adderall is the norm, might never know the difference.

LIVING UNDER THE PILL

"It's being used recreationally," said Kicklighter, who also acknowledges
that as a pharmacist, she probably fills prescriptions for Adderall that
may not be necessary for the user. "(People) know what to say to get it."

Some doctors require thorough testing before prescribing Adderall for
attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

But other doctors, she said, are willing to prescribe Adderall with minimal
testing, and people are attaining prescriptions they don't need for a
problem they don't have.

"If you truly have ADD, (Adderall) should just make you focus and calm you
down, not make you hyper," Kicklighter said.

People who don't suffer from ADD or ADHD are subject to insomnia,
depression, anxiety, increased blood pressure and epileptic seizures.

But by the time users discover these problems, they might already be
dependent. If this is the case, other problems could be inevitable.

"When people become dependent on (Adderall), they can almost not function
when they're not on it," Kicklighter said. "They almost can't do what they
need to do without it."

Jane Doe doesn't have that problem, not yet. She still goes to class every
day, goes to work and runs errands, often without taking Adderall.

But it's the big test, or the sleepless night, drinking or trying to
function when she's too tired that she wishes for the pill. Those are the
times she relies on it, ignoring problems it could cause, because what
could be as bad as trying to do those things when she feels too tired to
keep going without it?

"When I'm drinking and I take it, I feel like I don't get drunk so fast,"
Doe said.

She said it's because it makes her more awake, ready to go.

It's the coming down that hurts, and when the pill wears off, she almost
always feels listless, shaky and irritable. But she believes sometimes,
it's just worth it.

THOSE WHO SUFFER

Because people use it recreationally, and because it seems to be a quick
remedy for students who need to study hard and fast, students are making
the effort to find doctors who will write a prescription for Adderall
without extensive testing.

"I feel bad for the patients," Kicklighter said, of the numerous
prescriptions she sees for students who probably do not need Adderall.

"On one hand, I've seen it help people," she said. "It's the people who are
not diagnosed correctly that I worry about."

Students from Birmingham and Atlanta commonly have Adderall prescriptions,
she said. She believes many of those students simply knew what to tell
their doctors.

It would be that easy for Doe, who knows what doctor she could see, how to
act and what to tell him. The only thing that hinders her is the ease with
which she finds it illegitimately.

"I think doctors should require documentation of ADD testing," Kicklighter
said. "Those who don't should take responsibility and be prosecuted."