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

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Managing Editor

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Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.

ALEXA ST. JOHN
Editor in Chief
 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

