Experts suspect the drug abuse problem on college campuses isn't portrayed accurately in the numbers.
"There are students at every university with dependence issues," said Dr. Christopher Halasy, medical director and chief of medicine at the Student Medical Center. "And this is not easily quantifiable, as we only learn of cases which present themselves to us for help or apply to drop from class work after inpatient treatment for detox and rehab."
Recent studies across the United States have reported a fairly significant number of students are abusing prescription drugs on college campuses, and it has yet to be determined how prevalent this issue is at UT.
A recent study done in October 2006 by Pharmacotherapy, a journal of human pharmacology and drug therapy, took a random sample of 4,580 college students across the country and found that 5.9 percent, or 269 students, reported lifetime and past-year prevalence for illicit use of prescription stimulants.
Approximately 75.8 percent of those students reported past-year use of an amphetamine-dextroamphetamine combination commonly known as Adderall, and 24.5 percent of those students reported past-year use of methylpbenidate commonly known as Ritalin, Concerta, Metadate, or Methyline.
Administration at UT report dealing with approximately three to seven cases per school year of prescription drug abuse among students.
"I suspect there is probably more of it going on," said Terry Teagarden, assistant director for student judicial affairs.
"I know it happens," Teagarden said. "We just don't get that much of it."
The problem with finding cases of students abusing prescription drugs is it seems easier for students to hide their usage unless their behavior is out of the ordinary, said Jo Campbell, director of residence life.
"We see half of a dozen cases in a year," Campbell said. "So it's not a huge problem, but again these are the people we become aware of because of their behavior."
In the small number of cases UT finds of prescription drug abuse, they report mostly abuse of Ritalin and Adderall, Campbell said.
Even though faculty members at UT don't seem to encounter many cases of prescription drug abuse, students say it's definitely common on campus.
"Its everywhere you go," said Justin Dieter, an undecided freshman. "Prescription drugs are the most abused drugs there are."
Dieter said he was prescribed Adderall when doctors said he had attention deficit disorder. He took the drug for about a week, but decided to stop because he didn't like how they made him feel.
"Your mind is awake, but your body is exhausted," Dieter said. "I couldn't fall asleep."
Adderall is typically used by students to study or to simply get high, Dieter said.
"People call Adderall the poor man's crack," he said.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, stimulants affect neurotransmitters in the brain to increase alertness, attention and energy, which are accompanied by increases in blood pressure, heart rate and respiration.
"The mental capacity of the student doesn't change," said Steven Martin, associate professor and chair in the department of pharmacy practice. "It changes the mental acuity and maintains your alertness."
Students who abuse prescription stimulants for long periods of time will eventually experience a powerful crash, Martin said.
"I don't really think students can go through college living like that," Martin said. "Your body can't go without sleep, and eventually your body is going to catch up with you and you're going to crash."
The dangers that accompany stimulant abuse can lead to respiration failure and heart failure if students abusing these drugs are unaware of specific heart problems, Martin said.
"Most young people tend to tolerate abuse fairly well," he said.
The serious danger of stimulant abuse lies in the addiction to these drugs that can form through prolonged use, Martin said.
"You're adding a neurotransmitter to the brain in a situation where previously the brain was fine," he said. "When you take it away you're creating a situation where your brain craves the drug even more."
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