Taking ‘Smart Drugs’ Like Adderall Without ADHD Actually Decreases Productivity–Here’s How

Topline

Though college students are known to use prescription stimulants or “smart” drugs to enhance their productivity—including Ritalin and Adderall—a new study finds that using these drugs while not suffering from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder decreases productivity and increases the amount of time needed to complete tasks.

Key Facts

Key Background

ADHD includes disorders where one’s neurological development is impacted by a lack of attentiveness, over-impulsiveness and hyperactivity. MPH, DEX and MOD are medically prescribed drugs to assist those with ADHD. Adults with ADHD makeup 4.4% (10.5 million) of the U.S. population, according to 2022 data. Both MPH (sold as brands like Ritalin) and DEX (sold as brands like Adderall) regulate dopamine–the neurotransmitter responsible for reward, motivation, memory and learning–in sections of the brain used for carrying out functions like decision-making and emotional regulation/processing. MOD (sold as brands like Provigil) helps with sleep and alertness. Researchers included it with the expectation that it would increase participants’ efforts and overall performance. Eligible participants were required to have no history with drug use, psychiatric or neurological illnesses, heart conditions, high blood pressure, pregnancy and glaucoma. The night before their session, participants were advised against consuming alcohol or caffeine.

Tangent

In a 2011 report that analyzed studies of stimulus’ impact on non-prescribed people, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found mixed results. They concluded stimulants can enhance learning and, for some, working memory. But in a third of the studies they analyzed, no healthy young adults experienced any cognitive improvement with the drugs, and some even experienced impairments. In assessing college students’ non-medical use of prescription stimulants, a 2017 report found no cognitive improvement in learning or memory when using stimulants compared to a placebo.

Big Number

45.2%. That’s how many young adults aged 18-25 misused prescription stimulants in the past year, according to a 2021 report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Advisory.

Tangent

Since October 2022, DEX–which when combined with amphetamine salts makes Adderall–has been a part of the Food and Drug Administration’s running list of drugs in shortage. The FDA cites an increase in demand as causing the shortage. Bloomberg News reported manufacturing delays and labor shortages at the country’s main supplier of Adderall, Teva, who Forbes estimates has $14.9 billion in revenue, a couple months earlier.