Michelle Cramer
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Dr. Jun Zhao
English 102, Section 115
Causal Analysis Paper
October 12, 2010
Over the years, amphetamines have worked their way into the main stream of
things. Of all the possible motives, college students are primarily using amphetamines to
enhance their academic performance, regardless of their undesirable effects. The most
recognizable amphetamines today are Ritalin, Dexedrine, and Adderall. Amphetamines
were discovered by a man back in the 1800s, and have been used medically and abused
since (Marking 29). There are many reasons that college students today are nonmedically, ingesting amphetamines, but they also come with undesirable effects. Some of
the results may be obvious to some, like the increased amount of energy, improved work
ethic, and trouble sleeping, but a further analysis of the body helps to understand how this
happens.
A brief history of amphetamines includes their syndication in 1887, when medical
uses were noted in 1927, and the year they were marketed, 1932 (Marking 29).
Amphetamines are important medical compounds discovered for their beneficial effects
by a man named Gordon Alles while searching for a cure for asthma (Marking 29).
Within minutes, he reported a clear feeling in his nose, and this was later patented as
Benzedrine, an over-the-counter inhaler to treat congestion. Shortly after their marketing
debut, amphetamines were being used non-medically. According to Marking, students
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began to use them to study last minute for their exams (30). Today, they are intended to
help those with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) manage their disease. Adderall, Dexedrine, and Ritalin help the
recipients focus and concentrate for a longer amount of time, but they are also abused by
many college students.
Not many people know the effects that amphetamines have on the body. They are
labeled as stimulants because they stimulate or cause a reaction from the body. They
stimulate positive and negative feelings from the human body. Under a regular dose, the
recipient would experience headache, dizziness, agitation, confusion, delirium, or fatigue
(Saladin 475). From Brecher’s findings, he concludes that usage includes: wakefulness,
elevation of mood, increased initiative, confidence, task performance improvement, more
work may be accomplished, and improved physical performance (280). Sometimes users
build up a tolerance to a substance, which causes the dosage to escalate. The results from
a normal-sized dose have been listed, but when an excessive amount is ingested, the
outcome can be mental depression, fatigue, hostility, paranoia, or repetitive actions such
as grinding ones teeth or continuously drawing the same doodle (Marking 31). Not only
are some of these the same symptoms as a paranoid schizophrenic, but also, according to
Marking, doctors sometimes have trouble distinguishing the two (32). Therefore, it is
common that amphetamine abusers can be labeled as a paranoid schizophrenic because of
their related symptoms.
Now that the actions are understood, a further look inside the body is necessary to
see how this happens. Inside the brain, are two neurotransmitters called dopamine, and
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norepinephrine, that allow communication between cells by sending and receiving
messages through the nervous system. These help to regulate the body’s mood and
behavior (Saladin 386). These neurotransmitters help to understand the connection
between the positive and negative feelings associated with amphetamine abuse.
Dopamine’s has pathways that send the appropriate feelings associated with an action or
experience. These pathways include pleasure, delusions, psychosis, and drug abuse.
Amphetamines generate higher levels of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain and
stimulate those pathways (Saladin 479). Increased levels of dopamine cause: repetitive
actions, increased pulse levels, increased blood pressure, and feelings of pleasure and
well-being (Teter 1506). As opposed to dopamine, norepinephrine is involved with
cognition, movement, and emotions. (Marking 32). This is what readies the body for the
‘fight-or-flight’ response. When these levels are increased, so is that of the heart rate,
blood pressure, and body temperature. Also, cognitive functioning or learning is
improved (Marking 32). From this, one can see how amphetamines can cause a person to
feel two different experiences, like feeling pleasure at the same time their heart rate is
rising. It is because the drugs stimulate the same neurotransmitter that controls both of
those functions.
Even with this knowledge, students still continue to abuse amphetamines for
academic and social purposes. Students’ primary intention for misusing the drugs is to
better their school performance. According to Christian Teter, students want help
concentrating, help studying, increase alertness, and decrease fatigue (1505). Some
students are more vulnerable to the pressures of college life, and feel the need to use
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stimulants to cope with this pressure. For the recreational purposes, students use them to
experiment with drugs, get high, control their appetite, lose weight, enhance their
exercise experience, or to counteract the effects of another drug (Langdon 100). Teter et
al. conducted studies that found the academic based motives were much more prevalent
than the recreational ones (1507). This suggests that students believed that these drugs
would positively affect their academic performance, enabling them to overpower any
competition.
Students could choose one of four routes of administration: injection, inhalation,
rubbing in the gums, or oral administration (Teter 1509). Intravenous injection, snorting,
and rubbing the substance on the gums offers a speedy reaction time, but the effects wear
off rather quickly. Oral administration was reported the most common route of
administration, by Teter et al., for an illicit amphetamine user to take these drugs (1509).
This is because of the longer lasting effects. Teter, McCabe, LaGrange, Cranford, and
Boyd concluded that when ingested, the pill travels to the liver. From there, it is gradually
released throughout the blood stream, therefore causing the effects to last four to six
hours longer than an intravenous injection, or by snorting the substance, the reaction time
is prolonged.
One can see how everything connects to cause amphetamine abuse. First,
someone wants to better their learning abilities, so they take amphetamines nonmedically, which increases levels of norepinephrine. These increased levels cause
improved cognitive function, but not without a spike in their body temperature, which
could cause them to overheat. In the same way, dopamine leads to those nice pleasurable
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feelings, but also uncontrolled repetitive actions. The primary reason that students abuse
these drugs is for academic purposes. From this information, one should be well educated
on the external and internal effects of amphetamines on the body, as well as the many
reasons students chose to misuse them.
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Works Cited
Brecher, Edward M. Licit and Illicit Drugs. London: Little, Brown and Company, 1972.
(278-533). Print.
Langdon, Susan W., and Rachel Judson. “Illicit use of prescription stimulants among
college students: Prescription status, motives, theory of planned behavior, knowledge,
and self-diagnostic tendencies.” Psychology, Health & Medicine. 14.1 (Jan. 2009): 97104. EBSCOhost Academic.Web. 28 Sept. 2010.
Marking, Havana. “Drugs Uncovered.” The Observer [England]. 16 Nov. 2008: 29-32.
LexisNExis Academic. Web. 9 Oct. 2010.
Saladin, Kenneth S. Human Anatomy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. (286, 475, 479)
Print.
Teter, Christian J., Sean McCabe, Kristy LaGrange, James Cranford, and Carol Boyd.
“Illicit Use of Specific Prescription Stimulants Among College Students: Prevalence,
Motives, and Routes of Administration.” Pharmacotherapy. 26.10 (Oct. 2006): 15011510. EBSCOhost Academic. Web. 9 Oct. 2010.