John Doe* is cheerful when he admits to using Adderall, a prescription medication used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Now a junior, he says he’s used the medication since his freshman year of college, and credits the drug with his success in difficult classes.

“I wouldn’t have made it through Organic Chemistry without it,” he says.

This wouldn’t be all that unusual – 4 percent of American adults are said to have ADHD, according to webmd.com – but John Doe does not have ADHD.

Doe says he began using Adderall during a finals week his freshman year. After he had suffered through a few all-nighters, a friend majoring in Pre-Medicine tipped him off to the drug, an amphetamine often prescribed for narcolepsy in addition to the symptoms of ADHD, which include a short attention span.

“I’ll take half a pill and study for two or three hours, and remember everything,” Doe says. “You know how when you’re stressed out because you have to know something, and how your mind starts to wander in two or three different directions? It keeps you focused on the one thing you’re trying to learn.”

Doe also says he used the drug to keep from passing out when intoxicated.

“I don’t use it all the time,” he says. “Just when there’s a big test or a big party.”

Doe says that Adderall and other such drugs are readily available (“You just have to ask around”) and that he buys Adderall from a student with a legitimate prescription. “He was diagnosed as a kid, but he doesn’t really need the meds anymore. Every month he refills the prescription, gets 150 or so pills, and sells 100 of them for three to four dollars each.”

Does the use of substances to enhance academic performance constitute cheating? Dr. David Coffey, interim chair of the Department of History and Philosophy, thinks so.

“If such drugs do provide a real competitive edge, we need to approach it as cheating, just like we are doing with performance enhancing products in sports,” says Coffey.

“I guess my concerns would then be: How do I know a drug is in play? How do I prove it? And what happens next? Then you have to consider: What are the potential side effects for the student?”

When reached for comment, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Tom Rakes said, “In addition to the unsafe or unlawful sharing of drugs or alcohol with others, there are two university policy statements that may be involved when unintended consequences occur.”

These policies are items seven and 18 under the Standards of Conduct, which respectively call for discipline if a student illegally distributes and/or uses substances, or if a student assists another in violating university policy.

* - Name withheld to protect privacy.