College can be very stressful for students. Between school work, jobs, friends, living alone and figuring out the future, it’s not a surprise that some turn down the path of prescription drugs to help with focusing on studying and classes.

According to the Harvard University Office of Alcohol & Other Drug Services website, some of the most common “study drugs” that are seen on college campuses, including Elizabethtown College, are Adderall and Ritalin.

Both of these are prescription drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy.

Using these drugs as instructed for their intended patients can be very beneficial in helping those people relax and focus on the tasks at hand.

But for people who do not have these conditions, these drugs overstimulate the body, resulting in not feeling hunger or fatigue and feeling more alert and powerful while also increasing memory and concentration.

This may seem like a good thing at first, but over time and with heavy use of these drugs, the body will crash and fatigue, aggression, mood swings and in some cases even thoughts of suicide may occur.

The American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) creates anonymous surveys that are distributed to universities and colleges regarding a large number of topics such as alcohol, drugs, sexual health, nutrition, mental health, personal safety and violence.

From a spring 2017 survey conducted by ACHA-NCHA, it was reported that 5 percent of 537 people at Etown said yes to taking prescription drugs that were not prescribed to them in the past twelve months.

The most common way students are able to abuse these drugs is by getting them from someone they know with a prescription or not using the recommended dosage on their own prescription.

The College is intent on educating students about how to prevent using these drugs rather than punishment after the fact.

“Often times if you came to my office and said you were worried about someone because you feel like they’re misusing their own prescription or misusing a prescription that’s not theirs, a lot of times we would approach that from a wellness perspective,” Director of Students’ Rights and Responsibilities Susan Asbury said.

Each student case is unique and individual, so the College focuses more on wellness and rehabilitation rather than having a set punishment for everyone who commits a prescription drug infraction.

That being said, Etown takes the improper use of study drugs very seriously, so the situation may end in probation, suspension or expulsion from the school.

Asbury relies on connections with the Office of Student Wellness and Counseling Services to help each student on a case by case basis.

One legal study drug that many students use on a daily basis is caffeine. Coffee, energy drinks and caffeine pills are just as common, if not more, as prescription drugs.

However, this type of concentration enhancer is legal and you can buy them almost anywhere, even on Etown’s campus.

Caffeine in moderation is not necessarily a bad thing and is much better than misusing prescription pills, but overconsumption of coffee and energy drinks does have its own side effects that should make students wary.

“I certainly can be called upon a coach or a faculty member saying ‘this is a topic that came up’ or ‘we know that there maybe students who are engaging in this behavior, can you provide a little information’ and that’s where I would go and provide some education about it,” Assistant Director of Health Promotion Joni Eisenhauer said.

Eisenhauer is also a supervisor for the Student Wellness Advocacy Group (SWAG), events off campus, the Body Shop and E-fit.

For help combating prescription drug abuse, one can go to Counseling Services, which has four full-time counselors available Monday through Friday with on-call hours and can be reached through Campus Security. Another resource students can use would be the Chaplain’s office.

Both counseling services and the Chaplain’s office are completely confidential. Students can also visit the Learning Zone for tips about healthy studying and time management.

Students are also encouraged to complete this spring’s anonymous ACHA-NCHA survey in order to keep the College’s data accurate and up-to-date.