4% of these students used a stimulant without a mean prescription and, of those, 70% took it to improve attention and/or concentration. The most commonly reported stimulant medication used was Adderall (77%). The majority (87%) of the students obtained the medication through friends, and 90% began using the drug in college. Interestingly, 17% of the students surveyed felt it was easy to obtain stimulant medication for use at their school, and 17% thought it was a problem within their institution. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical The use, misuse, and

diversion of prescription stimulants among middle and high school students were also examined by McCabe et al. (2005). In this study, the odds for nonprescription stimulant use were

lower among African American students and higher among those students with no plans for Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical attending college. These students also had the highest rates of alcohol and other drug use. The prevalence of prescription stimulant misuse in medical students is also high. In fact, discussion based websites such as Facebook, Medical School Forum, and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical The Student Doctor Network are rife with Adderall “experts” and informal question-and-answer sessions on the drug. An anonymous survey was administered to 388 medical students (84.0% return rate) across all 4 years of education at a public medical college. More than 10% of medical students reported using stimulants to improve academic performance. ADHD was diagnosed in 5.5% of students and 72.2% of those students were diagnosed after the age of 18 years (Tuttle Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical et al. 2010). This study suggests that medical students appear to be a relatively high-risk population for prescription stimulant misuse. Several officials now say the problem is increasing in medical schools (Harris 2009). “During the last few years, the number of requests for ADD evaluations has hugely increased,” Paula Stoessel, Ph.D., director of mental health Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical services for physicians in training at the University of California, Los Dasatinib mw Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine. “We make

them [medical students] go through a lot before we hand out medication, but I’ve heard them talk about [obtaining Adderall prescriptions] in passing.” Clearly, the results emphasize the need for education about stimulants and their adverse side effects. Why are prescription stimulants misused? The reasons why prescription stimulants are misused are numerous and include Batimastat achieving euphoria, and helping cope with stressful factors related to their educational environment. According to a survey of 334 ADHD-diagnosed college students taking prescription stimulants, 25% misused their own prescription medications to get “high” (Upadhyaya et al. 2005). Like cocaine, MPH inhibits the DAT, which increases synaptic levels of DA, and this is presumed to mediate MPH’s reinforcing effects and abuse potential.