Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Sunday that colleges need to crack down on “academic doping,” or the use of stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin as a study aid.
“There are better ways to pull an all-nighter and stay up. There’s coffee, there’s things like NoDoz,” he told CBS affiliate WCBS in New York. “For somebody to call up and say ‘well, my doctor prescribed it at home, send me pills, here’s the prescription number…’ that’s not good enough…If a student gets 100 or 200 Adderall pills, even if they are legitimately entitled, they may lend a bunch to their friends.”
The senior senator from New York said that up to 35 percent of all college students report using stimulants like Adderall or Ritalin and recommended a number of policy changes for students prescribed these stimulants, including required follow-up diagnostics, more detailed medical histories and mental health evaluations with qualified health practitioners to verify the diagnoses.
