UC-BERKELEY STUDENTS WHO SELL STIMULANTS FACE ETHICAL DILEMMAS

BERKELEY, Calif. -- For one University of California-Berkeley junior,
having Attention Deficit Disorder is not something he likes to publicize.

It's not necessarily because he is afraid of criticism because of his
disability, but rather because of his sudden popularity when people know he
has it.

Students who desire stimulants like Dexadrine, Aderol and Ritalin don't
necessarily have to rob a pharmacy or visit an illicit drug dealer to get
what they want.

Often the "dealer" they go to is a friend with either ADD or Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder who gives them what they want in exchange
for a couple dollars, a favor or even illegal drugs like marijuana.

The student, who asked that his name not be printed, has been taking the
medication for ADD for five years. He said he has a policy of only selling
it to his close friends at the price of "a couple dollars for a few pills."

"I give it to a lot of people for studying," he said. "I figure that if it
helps them, it helps them."

Since he only uses Ritalin to concentrate on classes and schoolwork, he
does not take it on weekends.

That leaves enough left over to make a profit off of friends who crush up
the pills and snort them-not only for studying, but also for recreational
purposes.

"My friend snorted a lot of it once and started doing pull-ups on the AC
Transit bus, then suddenly got off the bus and just sprinted all the way
home," he said. "It was kind of funny, but I was a little scared."

The junior said he sometimes feels a moral responsibility when he sees
friends developing a possible addiction to his medication.

"At one point my roommate wanted to use it a lot, but I wouldn't let him
take it because I knew he had an addiction problem," he said. "If I don't
want to sell it to someone, I just say that I don't really have enough.
It's hard for me to walk all the way down to Walgreens to get it anyway."

Despite his role in supplying his friends with the medication, the student
said that he does not consider himself to be a drug dealer.

"I don't consider myself a drug dealer and I don't want to become a drug
dealer by supplying it to people I don't know," he said. "If my friends
need it though, that is something different."

But for students like Lindsey, a sophomore diagnosed with ADD in high
school who asked her last name be withheld, requests for her medication are
out of the question.

"It is usually my friends or people who don't realize that it's a big deal
who ask me for it -- and I usually bite their heads off," she said.

"I tell them I need this stuff to study, I need this stuff to be normal and
I am offended because it has taken me a lot to overcome my disabilities.
When people ask me for my medication so they can get high, I feel like they
don't understand or respect that."

For students who do sell their drugs, sometimes the demand calls for more
than they have to supply, and they must find ways to get more of the drug.
For this reason, drugs like Ritalin are considered "Schedule II" drugs,
which are more closely monitored.

There are certain warning signs that indicate someone may be abusing their
medication or potentially supplying it to others, said Dr. Bob Kevess, who
works for University Health Services.

These signs include prescriptions that are consistently misplaced, students
who ask for sudden increases in dosage, or students who consistently report
their medication was stolen.

"I have had more prescriptions for potentially addicting medications lost
than any other category of medication," he said. "Not to say that I don't
believe someone who says they had their prescription stolen or their
medication stolen-it would make sense that these medications would be the
ones people want-but we still cannot ignore potential warning signs."

Because many students can obtain the drug from their friends, it tends to
contribute to the drug's acceptability among students, said Dr. Eric
Heiligenstein, clinical director of psychiatry for the University of
Wisconsin Health Services.

"Going to friends or classmates for these stimulants takes away the social
stigma of going down to a seedy part of town or seeing a drug dealer," he
said. "This is part of the reason it has become such a part of student
culture -- it does not involve any overt legal risks."