Adderall abuse

Guests: Casey Schwartz, Alan Schwarz, Mikaela Gilbert-Lurie

Abuse of prescription drugs like Adderall and Concerta continues to rise among young adults, especially on college campuses where they are used as study aides or party drugs.  When journalist CASEY SCHWARTZ first took Adderall, a drug commonly prescribed for ADHD, she was in college, had a paper due the next day, and was facing an all-nighter.  Schwartz became addicted to the amphetamine for ten years and wrote about her struggle in a recent New York Times Magazine article titled, “Generation Adderall.”  We’ll talk to Schwartz this hour about her addiction and about the non-medical use of prescription stimulants with ALAN SCHWARTZ, author of ADHD Nation: Children, Doctors, Big Pharma, and the Making of an American Epidemic.   We’ll also hear from University of Pennsylvania student, MIKAELA GILBERT-LURIE about the prevalence of these drugs on Penn’s campus.  She wrote an article, “A Bitter Pill to Swallow: Inside Penn’s Adderall Obsession” in the spring for the student-run arts and culture magazine 34^th Street.