Morton 1
Nathan Morton
Mrs. Zerwas
18 April 2018
English 12
Audience: Mrs. Zerwas has no generated opinion on this topic, but thinks that there is a
better alternative than medicine.
Purpose: I will be trying to show Mrs. Zerwas how the drug Adderall is bad and why it
should not be used, given that she hasn’t generated an opinion yet.
Abuse of Adderall
In today's society every child feels the pressure to be the best and achieve highly in
academics, athletics, and in the working community. Every generation looks for a way to get the
edge over their peers and mine has found the drugs Adderall and Ritalin. Many obstacles will
come along the road to success and in order to tackle them with ease, this generation has turned
to these drugs. These obstacles could be the infamous disorders with the names ADHD and ADD
that make it harder for certain kids and adults to succeed. ADHD means Attention
Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and ADD means Attention Deficit Disorder. These two disorders
are similar with a slight difference, ADHD has symptoms of hyperactivity being fidgeting,
constant moving, or wandering. With ADD, this hyperactivity is absent which causes those who
have it to struggle when it comes to focusing. The difference between the two are that Ritalin
works sooner and reaches the peak of its performance more quickly than Adderall does, but
Adderall stays active in your body longer. The drugs Adderall and Ritalin were first designed to
help people with these disorders focus and be successful. Nowadays, Adderall and Ritalin are
overprescribed, overused and abused. These drugs are often seen as a shortcut to get a leg up on
Morton 2
the competition. Despite the intended purpose of Adderall and Ritalin these drugs are being
abused by becoming normalized to society.
Adderall and Ritalin are often most famous for being used in schools. Progressively
school has become more difficult and students have gained a heavier workload. Now it seems as
if Adderall and Ritalin can be found ubiquitously around school campuses. In a study done by
Michigan State on the uses of Adderall and Ritalin in eight through the twelfth grade. 2009
statistics showed that 5.4 percent of these high schoolers were abusing Adderall, then in just 3
short years that statistic boosted to 7.6 percent. While this number continues to rise, the CEO of
the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, Steve Pasierb recognizes that “the rates of Adderall misuse
and abuse among high school seniors remains unacceptably high and the new data makes it very
clear: the abuse of all prescription medicines is an immediate threat to the health of America’s
teens.”(Feliz) These kids often don't know what Adderall does to the body, affecting blood
pressure in result of hypertension, irregular heartbeat, and sudden cardiac death. The use of these
drugs does not stop in high school, in fact statistics show that the use of these drugs increases
when these teens get to college. Take it from a first hand us...
