Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Emma Chang
Joel Danilewitz
Samantha Goldstein
Elena Hubbell
Emily Huhman
Tara Jayaram
Jeremy Kaplan
Sarah Khan
Lucas Maiman
Magdalena Mihaylova
Ellery Rosenzweig
Jason Rowland
Anu Roy-Chaudhury
Alex Satola
Ali Safawi
Ashley Zhang
Sam Weinberger
DAYTON HARE
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ALEXA ST. JOHN
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ANU ROY-CHAUDHURY AND
ASHLEY ZHANG
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Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board.
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
IAN LEACH | COLUMN
A
h, summertime. A time
for many students at the
University of Michigan
to head off to big corporations
to get the opportunity to earn a
meaningful wage and network
— an opportunity that can open
doors for years to come. These
individuals
have
positioned
themselves for success now and
in the future. These internships
should obviously be celebrated,
but what about those who don’t
have corporate aspirations? What
about the students who have to
take an unpaid internship with a
political candidate?
I come from a pretty low
socioeconomic background, and
I have perceived how tone-deaf
many student organizations are
when it comes to money. This is
unsurprising when we consider
that the median family income
here is $154,000 a year. And while
I have met a number of people who
are supportive and wonderful,
I’ve met just as many or more who
don’t know or don’t care about the
struggles of low-income students
at the University.
What’s
more
surprising,
however, are the politicians who
offer “summer internships” for
students who are developing or
already have a deep passion for
social and political change. These
interns could be the next senator,
representative
or
simply
an
activist for a particular issue they
care about. And yet, getting into
positions like these requires a lot
of funding and experience.
I’ll say this right now: If you
have a genuine passion for a
candidate, it is reasonably easy
to get an internship with a
campaign. But I want to take a
moment to help us sift through
the B.S. to understand what an
“intern” is, and what a political
internship actually does. All of
the rules and regulations can be
found on the compliance page
for internships, but the glaring
issue with the internships that
get handed to students is that they
are essentially the same jobs that
are held by many field employees
— individuals who are paid to do
work interns are doing.
If an intern’s work is what a
paid employee could be doing, the
intern should then be considered
an employee, and this is probably
the most egregious part of the
entire process. Despite the fact
that many individuals do the
same work as the field organizers
in terms of canvassing or posting
on social media, I’ve seen so
many
students
get
wrapped
into campaigns where they feel
like they have to put it before a
job or their coursework so they
can get ahead. Maybe there are
individuals who feel comfortable
putting their unpaid internship
before school, but not everyone
can afford to do so. If an intern
is taking the place of what a paid
employee can be doing, they are
entitled to the minimum wage and
overtime wages.
Now, I understand that these
criticisms can be — perhaps
unfairly — levied on the candidates
who already support improving
labor practices. The argument
might be made that political
internships are a practical step
in getting these labor policies in
place. But if for whatever reason,
a candidate has to step on and
marginalize a group that already
has the potential to be exploited
— low socioeconomic status
folks — they should not be the
ones in office.
At a staff-wide meeting of
an internship with a political
candidate that I worked with,
we were told that if we didn’t go
through a “40-hour week,” we
should get out of the campaign,
for it would jeopardize our
letter of recommendation. They
verbatim asked us to skip classes
during get-out-the-vote drives if
it interfered with our class times.
These
perhaps
well-meaning
employees understandably have
one goal in mind, but this goal
shouldn’t replace the importance
of taking care of the people who
are supporting the campaign.
That includes the interns.
As radical as it may sound —
side note, it isn’t — I’m merely
asking for politicians to pay
the
individuals
and
students
who want to get involved in the
political experience. I understand
that not every volunteer can be
paid, and many times getting
paid
internships
involves
getting experience beforehand.
Individuals who volunteer for a
political campaign can choose to
dedicate their time working in jobs
that are less time-intensive, such
as phone banking. And I can really
see where, if politicians can pay
their interns, programs like the
LSA Internship Scholarship can
help supplement the costs of living
on campus during the summer to
get these opportunities.
Of
course,
a
scholarship
certainly
won’t
excuse
the
rhetoric about improving labor
relations while ignoring your
own, for all intents and purposes,
employee. This won’t hurt the
politicians who don’t care about
their employees and are only
trying to support corporations
and businesses. What I do know,
however, is that if politicians
don’t change the status quo, we’ll
be stuck in the same idea that
has been implied for the past 200
years — people are expendable
and a means to an end. Politicians
should be better than that.
Politicians, pay your interns
To
remedy
this
gap
in
resources, the University must
increase funding for Counseling
and Psychological Services and
advertise services provided by
Addiction Treatment Services
through
Michigan
Medicine.
Over 90 percent of students who
use Adderall use it for the purpose
of concentrating while studying.
These students do not realize
the potential negative effects of
the drug: notably, its high risk
of dependency and potentially
lethal
consequences
if
used
with other drugs and alcohol.
With such a large percentage of
students using Adderall without
a prescription, it is important
that the University provides
students with addiction help.
Increasing
resources
on
campus is another step the
University needs to take to
educate its students. Through
CAPS,
students
can
take
advantage
of
a
variety
of
treatment services, including
two
45-minute
confidential
sessions
of
Assessment
of
Substance
Abuse
Patterns,
individual and group counseling
and referral services. These
services could potentially help
many students, but we have
been unable to find clear guides
from typical campus health
resources outlining where these
treatments can be obtained.
The presence of Adderall
at the University is almost
expected. Whether prescribed
or non-prescribed, Adderall is
a normalized part of campus
culture; people try it, use it and
depend on it. Though freshmen
entrance programs like Haven
or AlcoholEdu exist to raise
awareness
on
the
dangers
of alcohol consumption and
addiction, there is no campus-
wide campaign that addresses
the overwhelming prevalence
of Adderall at the University.
Consequently,
most
students
don’t know much about the
drug,
and
view
it
through
a
destigmatized,
distorted
lens. Because it is considered
customary and is easy to acquire,
most
students
don’t
realize
the medical, legal and moral
implications of taking or selling
the drug.
Adderall is classified as a
Schedule II drug by the Drug
Enforcement
Administration,
which means that it maintains
a “high potential for abuse,
with use potentially leading to
severe psychological or physical
dependence.” It ranks higher
than drugs like Xanax, which is
Schedule IV, and is at an equal
level
with
cocaine,
another
Schedule II drug. In addition
to its addiction level, Adderall
can spur painful side effects,
from insomnia to paranoia. In
an interview with the Daily,
one student reported that “if
I took it at any acute dose, it
would just kind of cause chest
discomfort and keep me from
sleeping, and I couldn’t get
anything done because the chest
pain would make me panic.”
Aside from short-term side
effects, Adderall can also lead
to long-term issues and even
death. An article in the New
York Times described a college
student’s fall into depression,
anxiety and eventual suicide
due to his extreme addiction to
Adderall. Despite all this, most
students on our campus don’t
view the drug as one that can
kill because they aren’t aware
of its high addictivity and the
health concerns surrounding it,
especially those students who use
it sporadically and recreationally.
Along
with
medical
issues, Adderall dealing and
use can lead to harsh legal
consequences.
The
length
and weight of penalties vary,
but
according
to
Michigan
law, distribution of Adderall
illegally is considered a felony
and can lead to serious jail time.
Despite this, Adderall dealing
doesn’t have the same image
as other drug trafficking. On
campus, it’s as easy as texting
someone in your hall for a pill
or two. There are no back-alley
deals, and oftentimes, money
isn’t even involved. Because
it is destigmatized and bred
from an intense, competitive
school culture, giving someone
Adderall may appear to be
helpful, not harmful. To some,
the need to succeed outweighs
the legal risks. Another student
interviewed
by
The
Daily
reflected
on
her
Adderall
use by saying “I never really
thought about it as being illegal
to be honest … I feel like a lot
of people who don’t have ADD
(Attention-deficit
disorder)
are prescribed Adderall and
I don’t think it’s like taking a
Prozac or something that is
so mentally altering … I don’t
think of it as, ‘Oh, this is like
a drug.’” Many students at the
University echo this mentality
subliminally, and by forgetting
the legal implications of selling
Adderall, we only add to its
normalization on campus.
The perception of Adderall
tends to lack the severity
that
we
ascribe
to
other
performance-enhancing drugs.
Adderall has proven to improve
students’ performance in rote
memory
forms
of
learning
tasks, especially over several
days or longer, acting as a
performance
enhancer
for
exams and tests that require
intensive memorization. This
can be especially impactful in
classes in which performance
relies on rote learning. When
the difference in letter grade
is significantly changed by
the number of concentrated
hours one’s mind can dedicate
to memorizing in relation to
others in their class, Adderall
acts as a medically induced
upper hand. While this may not
be a compelling point to those
currently using Adderall to
improve their test performance,
it should garner the attention
of students who are forced
to compete with those who
use Adderall. The culture of
nonchalance on the usage of
study drugs can be altered as
more people understand and
recognize the negative ways
their peers’ usage of Adderall
affects them.
The
destigmatizing
of
Adderall use at the University
has blindsided many of these
moral implications. In fact,
the possible benefits conferred
on students who choose to use
Adderall are equal to the leg-
up athletes gain when using
performance-enhancing drugs.
The significant athletic strides
made possible with the use of
PEDs has led to their outright
ban in America by all four
major American sports leagues,
the
National
Collegiate
Athletic Association and the
U.S. Olympic team.
Whether
they
improve
muscle regeneration, increase
strength or replicate natural
hormones, PEDs have been
targeted for elimination by
sports leagues for some time
now, as their use is antithetical
to the idea of a level playing
field.
Competition,
whether
in sports or academics, should
remain driven by natural ability
and effort alone. Adderall’s role
in the competition for academic
success should not be trivialized
but should be paralleled to the
role of doping and steroids in
the scandals surrounding once-
hero athletes such as cyclist
Lance Armstrong and baseball
player Roger Clemens.
The
widespread
and
academically motivated use of
Adderall on campus can make it
easy to forget what exactly it is:
a drug. Much like other drugs
aimed at enhancing abilities,
whether mental or physical,
Adderall presents its users
with a moral choice. Adderall’s
aid of certain academic abilities
is one of its innate qualities,
and students at the University
should
recognize
as
much.
For those who view this issue
as inconsequential, this much
should
be
remembered:
All
students, Adderall users or not,
play on the same academic field.
Thus, we all feel the tilt brought
about by Adderall, whether it
pushes us up or down.
Though
Adderall
is
commonly used in academic
settings, it is also prevalent
in the college party scene as
Ian Leach can be reached at
ileach@umich.edu.
FROM THE DAILY
Let’s talk about Adderall
T
he University of Michigan has an Adderall problem. Some would
even call it an epidemic. Despite the University’s increased
campaign to recognize mental health on campus, it has failed to
address how campus culture fosters the use of Adderall throughout the
school. As students become more entrenched in the popular “work hard,
play hard” mentality that grips much of the student body, they turn to
Adderall to achieve the academic and social success that this campus covets.
A recent survey by The Daily found that 24 percent of University students use
Adderall, and a 2008 study of 1,800 students found that as much as 81 percent
of college students think that Adderall usage is not dangerous at all or only
slightly dangerous, despite the fact that the consequences of the illicit use
of the drug sit right next to those of cocaine, meth and morphine. However,
despite the prevalence of the drug, there is a dearth of University resources to
educate or help students that are grappling with its repercussions.
a complement to alcohol. The
focus of the University’s efforts
to curtail dangerous behavior
has been mostly targeted toward
alcohol. However, the recent
increase of mixing the “study
drug”
with
alcohol
should
provoke concern because of the
possibility of dangerous and
unpredictable effects.
First of all, the University
should take care to educate
students
on
the
chemical
differences between Adderall
and alcohol. Adderall, on the
one hand, is a powerful central
nervous system stimulant that
increases
the
availability
of
excitatory
neurotransmitters
in areas of the brain that
deal with focus, energy and
alertness. On the other hand,
alcohol is a central nervous
system depressant that inhibits
the
function
of
excitatory
neurotransmitters.
Alcohol’s
status as a depressant reduces
the effect of medical stimulants
such as Adderall, which leads
to
the
perception
that
the
effects of both drugs are not as
pronounced as they would be if
taken individually.
The physiological effects of
mixing alcohol and Adderall lead
people to believe Adderall simply
dulls the effects of alcohol. The
reality, however, is that even
though the effect of the stimulant
is altered, the actual content of
the drug has not changed at all.
This sensation of numbness to
the effects of both stimuli can
give people the impression that
they can party longer, making it
easier for them to overdose.
The mixing of Adderall and
alcohol then has two discernible
effects:
those
in
the
short
term and in the long term. The
short-term effects stem from
the
unpredictable
nature
of
their combination. One minute
someone could be within their
limit of alcohol intake, and the
next they could be suffering
from seizures or heart failure as
a result of the capricious cocktail
of medication plus alcohol. In
the long term, a person’s quality
of life can suffer from mixed
use. A recent study found
that simultaneous use of non-
medical prescription stimulants
and alcohol by undergraduates
was associated with low grade
point averages, use of other
substances
and
increased
alcohol-related consequences.
The group at the highest risk
for Adderall abuse is college
students,
and
therefore
the
University has an obligation to
educate its student population
on
the
consequences.
The
consumption of Adderall is not
only widespread, but students
have also become desensitized
to its possible severity. To
counteract this trend, a possible
addition
to
the
AlcoholEdu
program of a freshman seminar
on the use of unprescribed
medication in academic and
recreational settings could be a
positive step forward for student
safety and security.
Make
no
mistake,
the
nonprescription use of Adderall,
Ritalin
and
similar
central
nervous
system
stimulants
is a significant issue on our
campus. This habit is unhealthy
and
academically
dishonest,
and we are calling for the
re-sensitization of this issue.
There needs to be a sustained,
robust
conversation
about
stimulant use on campus and
an investment in a public health
education
campaign
on
the
effects of these drugs.
SARAH NEFF | CONTACT SARAH AT SNEFF@UMICH.EDU