Workers Seeking Productivity in a Pill Are Abusing A.D.H.D. Drugs
By ALAN SCHWARZ
APRIL 18, 2015
Fading fast at 11 p.m., Elizabeth texted her dealer and waited just 30 minutes for him to reach her third-floor New York apartment. She handed him a wad of twenties and fifties, received a tattered envelope of pills, and returned to her computer.
Her PowerPoint needed another four hours. Investors in her health-technology start-up wanted re-crunched numbers, a presentation begged for bullet points and emails from global developers would keep arriving well past midnight.
She gulped down one pill — pale orange, like baby aspirin — and then, reconsidering, took one of the pinks, too.
“O.K., now I can work,” Elizabeth exhaled. Several minutes later, she felt her brain snap to attention. She pushed her glasses up her nose and churned until 7 a.m. Only then did she sleep for 90 minutes, before arriving at her office at 9.
The pills were versions of the drug Adderall, an amphetamine-based stimulant prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that many college students have long used illicitly while studying. Now, experts say, stimulant abuse is graduating into the workforce.
continued
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/u...ty-in-a-pill-are-abusing-adhd-drugs.html?_r=0
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By ALAN SCHWARZ
APRIL 18, 2015
Fading fast at 11 p.m., Elizabeth texted her dealer and waited just 30 minutes for him to reach her third-floor New York apartment. She handed him a wad of twenties and fifties, received a tattered envelope of pills, and returned to her computer.
Her PowerPoint needed another four hours. Investors in her health-technology start-up wanted re-crunched numbers, a presentation begged for bullet points and emails from global developers would keep arriving well past midnight.
She gulped down one pill — pale orange, like baby aspirin — and then, reconsidering, took one of the pinks, too.
“O.K., now I can work,” Elizabeth exhaled. Several minutes later, she felt her brain snap to attention. She pushed her glasses up her nose and churned until 7 a.m. Only then did she sleep for 90 minutes, before arriving at her office at 9.
The pills were versions of the drug Adderall, an amphetamine-based stimulant prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that many college students have long used illicitly while studying. Now, experts say, stimulant abuse is graduating into the workforce.
continued
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/u...ty-in-a-pill-are-abusing-adhd-drugs.html?_r=0
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