Medical benefits versus the risks of non-prescribed use
Cami Davila (she/her) // Crew Writer
Sofia Filsoofi (she/her) // Illustrator
In British Columbia, ADHD diagnoses saw a significant increase after the pandemic. According to the popular study of the Lancet Regional Health – Americas, in 2013, nine people per 100,000 were diagnosed with ADHD. By 2023, that number had risen to 35 per 100,000. According to the study, diagnoses increased after COVID-19 for three main reasons: the pandemic’s impact on mental health, whether this concerned health-related challenges or social experiences during and after the period, greater awareness and education about ADHD and the implementation of new models of care, such as telemedicine.
The study, conducted between January 2013 and November 2023, highlights two key findings. First, more than half of the participants (60 per cent) were female. Second, adults aged 24–35 accounted for the largest proportion of cases overall, at 34 per cent. The primary author of the study and senior scientist, Heather Palis, brought attention to a factor that has experts concerned. On top of the high rates of substance use in B.C., the increase in ADHD medication prescriptions is concerning, given the strong association between ADHD, psychostimulants and substance abuse disorders.
Self-medication and misconceptions about psychostimulants
The higher the rate of ADHD medication prescriptions, the greater the risk of developing dependence on psychostimulant medications. Also relevant is that a significant number of people, particularly college students, take these medications without a prescription. In 2014, a survey conducted by the National College Health Assessment and covered by the Vancouver Sun, among undergraduate students at the University of British Columbia, found that one in thirty students reported using ADHD medications without a prescription. According to participants, these “study drugs” help them cope with academic demands during exam periods.
However, there isn’t really a positive outcome from this. Findings from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction indicate that students who self-medicate with ADHD drugs generally achieve lower grades than those who don’t. Rather than improving their GPA, students engage with the risk of dangerous side effects according to MedLine Plus, including cardiovascular problems, sudden mood changes, mental health disorders and memory loss, among others.
The positive effects of ADHD medication when it’s truly needed
Nevertheless, failing to prescribe medication that is necessary for a patient’s well-being, out of concern about potential long-term abuse, can be equally dangerous.
The president of the Coalition of Peers Dismantling the Drug War in Vancouver, Kali Rufus-Sedgemore, shared with The Tyee that, after a doctor denied prescribing him a strong stimulant, they self-medicated with unregulated methamphetamine.
Here at CapU, a first-year psychology student used to ask her friends at school for their ADHD medication to concentrate on studying for important exams, which is one of the most common reasons students often reach for non-prescribed psychostimulants.
“A lot of my symptoms of anxiety and depression could have been caused by early ADHD that went unnoticed for my entire adolescence,” she mentioned, “I started on Concerta which I’m not the biggest fan of because it’s a methylphenidate which comes with some of the symptoms of feeling jittery or teeth chattering or that kind of stuff […] It just wasn’t the right fit for me.”
She also shared that, in addition to medication, there are strategies that help her in her daily life: “A huge part of it was having adults, like my school counselor and my pediatrician at the time who were able to help me figure out coping mechanisms as well.”
Another CapU student, a fourth-year in the Motion Picture Arts (MOPA) program, shared that although she had shown symptoms since childhood, she was not diagnosed until she started university. “It never crossed my mind that I could have had it,” she mentioned.
After going to a doctor that overlooked her symptoms, she ended up using the CapU medical insurance. “I made a claim to get assessed for ADHD, and almost immediately I was diagnosed.”
The MOPA student described her relationship with the ADHD medication as “really positive.”
“When my brain was really unhealthy, it was like there were 40,000 things flying through my head, a lot of them were negative,” she recalls. “The medication helps me to be in the moment. I remember the first day that I took it: I sat down to watch an episode of BoJack Horseman and for the first time in my life, I watched a whole episode of TV without standing up to go do something else.”
Psychostimulants can be life-changing when someone with ADHD is properly diagnosed and properly medicated. Conversely, using these drugs can also have dire impacts when individuals are self-medicating for reasons not associated with a mental condition. As the research suggests, both the regulated and unregulated use of ADHD medication is rapidly increasing, especially among university students.