It’s pretty evident that Adderall and other prescription ADD and ADHD medications are everywhere on college campuses. Whether you’re getting it via script from your health center, the frat guy who thinks he’s a dealer, or your best friend, these drugs are abused all over the country. When I was younger there were only a handful of kids my age that had a prescription for Adderall or Ritalin, and now it seems every other person I know has it. Adderall is commonly referred to as “legal speed” because it’s an amphetamine, and without a prescription and correct dosage it can be really dangerous. I see kids in the library popping pills alongside energy drinks and wonder how their hearts don’t explode. I have a serious caffeine addiction, but at least coffee has its health benefits and you don’t need a prescription for it.

If you have a prescription, great. If you don’t, stop annoying your friends with prescriptions because if you really needed it then you would have your own. While it can make you sit down and knock out that ten-page paper or cram for an exam, try these alternatives first…

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So hook up your laptop speakers, bust out your 40’s & get ready to pre-game harder than those other kids party.]

My friends have this joke that I have ADD – but only when it comes to music. I can’t stand to listen to one song for more than a minute. I’m constantly changing stations, pressing fast forward on my CD player, and I absolutely adore GirlTalk. And because I insert and eject CDs at a rapid pace, most of them are scratched. This, of course, causes my friends to yell “RE-MIX!” from the back seat at least once a car ride. So this week I’m bringing you some of my favorite re-mixes, because as much as I know we all have a soft spot for Soulja Boy and Katy Perry and all the other crap they play on the radio, sometimes it’s nice to change it up a bit.

Satisfy your inner ADD child here.

[If you have suggestions for future playlist themes or have a track you really think should be included in a future installment, let us know in the comments!]

The campus is buzzing with returning students, eager to see what the new year has in store. Even if you anticipate your hardest semester to date, there’s still a feeling of excitement in the air during the very first week.

1. You Get to Scope Out Your New Classes

Maybe I’m a dork, but I was always excited to see what my new classes would be like. In certain classes–the must-take courses taught by the professors with the best reputations– it was great to see what all the buzz was about. Other classes might have sounded intriguing in the course catalog; reading through the syllabus on the first day, I’d think the class sounded interesting, and hadn’t been assigned 500 pages of reading to prove me otherwise. I would also look through the syllabus and see what the course requirements looked like, so I could estimate how little effort I could put into the class, and still walk away with an “A.”

Of course, it’s also fun to see who else has signed up for the class. Whether you walk through the door and see five of the girls from your freshman dorm, or right into the eyes of your new insta-crush, it’s fun to find out who you’ll be taking the class with.

2. Your Sched’s Not a Lock (Yet)

So, “Intro to Film” turned out to require three 15-page research papers and 7 chapters of reading a night. Drop it! Your roommate insists that you take “Deviant Behavior” instead of “Early Childhood Development.” Sign right up! In the first week of class, you can roll the dice as many times as you like, without falling behind in the course or having to beg your advisor to sign something so you can drop a class you probably shouldn’t have signed up for in the first place. My senior year, I was determined to have the best schedule ever, and must have signed up for and dropped classes about five times before I found the perfect combination of classes that I could learn from, enjoy, and ace, while still having plenty of room for senioritis.

3. There’s Free Stuff Everywhere

Clubs and organizations want you to join, so they’re apt to set up booths all over campus, offering free food, games, or knick knacks that will clutter your dorm. Often, the Student Activities department will also sponsor “Welcome Back” activities that extend beyond the incoming freshman class in order to get their returning students amped for another great school year. It’s a great way to (A) not spend money, (B) hang out with your friends, and (C) socialize with potentially new pals. Did I mention it’s all free?

4. Dorm Living Rocks in the First Week

As everyone gets settled in, and midterms are only a very distant threat, the doors to everyone’s rooms stay open, music blares through the hallway, and everyone is ready and willing to introduce themselves to their new neighbors. The schoolyear drama has yet to set in, so everyone’s pretty laid-back and carefree. Similar to scoping out your new classmates, you can scour the dorms for new friends (or crushes), figure out who the partiers are, who you can go to in an emergency, and who has the biggest TV to watch the VMA’s. Often, whole floors will arrange group trips to first-week parties, which is a sort of mixer in itself. Once the real work sets in, the doors close, the music is shut off, and you have to practically beg people to go to the bar with you on a Monday night, so enjoy week one!

5. You Can Party. All. Week. Long.

By far, the best part of the first week of school is that, since people are juggling schedules, and the first classes are usually a 20-minute overview of the syllabus, you have little, if any, assignments and responsibilities. My favorite college tradition was the week-long drinking binge that was the first week of classes. We would hit up a different bar each night to take advantage of the best drink specials, before deadlines, midterms, and research papers came pouring in. Even if you are assigned homework on the first Monday of class, you probably won’t have that class again until Wednesday, and you can probably knock it out on Tuesday after your teacher lets you out of an hour-and-a-half class after only twenty minutes. Besides, if you do get so sloshed that you start the semester off on the wrong foot, you still have plenty of time to add/drop a new class!

Sunday night at 3 a.m. again. The lines on the page have long since run together. I have written the same sentence three times. My roommate is blaring the television set that is constantly tuned to E!. I have seen all of the True Hollywood stories. Twice.

“Bailey*, can I have an Adderall?”

“Sure. You know where to find them.”

I rummaged around in the clutter of her desk drawer, and my fingertips having connected with the plastic of a prescription bottle, I tipped a tiny capsule into my palm.

Ah, yes, here was my chemical savior. Focus city, here I come.

This amphetamine derivative was going to help me get through my stack of reading and get that assignment down on paper.

I lay back down on my bed and set my alarm for 4 a.m. With Adderall in my system I would be able to get back up in just an hour and get back to work. And I did.

I sailed through those chapters and set the skeleton of my paper down in print. Doing real writing or reading that I actually needed to understand wasn’t really a good idea when I was on Adderall. Somehow it seemed to suppress my ability for thinking deep thoughts.

Bailey had a prescription, which she didn’t really need, clinically. What she really had was a very understanding family doctor who, with a knowing wink, scribbled away on his tiny pad when she came in with the complaint, “I can’t concentrate.”

Because the pills weren’t being used on a daily basis, there were often some spare ones lying around that got given away or sold to “friends in need”.

I was usually one of those friends.

I had never heard of Adderall, Concerta, or any of the other prescription drugs used in the treatment of ADD before college. When I got to school and found out what the effects were I wanted to know where I could sign up.

Studying was never my forte. I had always managed to ace my tests and whip out my papers based on my class attendance and spectacular ability to bullsh*t. When I got to college, I discovered that however wonderful my skills may be, it is nigh-on impossible to BS a 15-page paper, even if it is philosophy. I was floundering, and here was my quick-fix. Because who wants to do things the hard way?

So Adderall became my study buddy and I owe many successful all-nighters to those tiny capsules. What’s more, with all of this extra energy and focus, I stopped munching on Cheetos and Doritos while studying and I lost a pants size (which I have since gained back).

Now, addictive tendencies run in my family, so I had to be careful. Adderall has the same chemical components as speed (so watch out if you’re going to be getting drug tested), and its dispensing is tightly regulated. Only one month’s supply at a time may be prescribed and a visit to the doctor is required in order to renew the prescription. Meaning: there can be habit-forming side effects and this is something to be monitored.

But, I never once had the least shadow of a negative side effect. No crashes, no moodiness, no nothing. Just complete focus and an increase to my G.P.A. Obviously, I would do it again if it were available to me. I’ve even considered going to the psychiatrist myself and getting a prescription.

It’s not necessary, though; if you know the right people (and I do), you can usually just score on campus.

If you’re in college, chances are you’ve run across those infamous peach pills at some point. I’m talking about Adderall. These little orange suckers are everywhere, from the library to the lecture hall…to your local sketchy party.

Adderall is designed to be used as study tool for students diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, but you don’t need to have either diagnosis to feel the desired effects of this drug. It’s an amphetamine, so it enhances your attention span and wakes you up, thus helping you pull all-nighters during finals week and just have more stamina for academia in general.

Basically, it’s like Red Bull. On cocaine. With five iced lattes.

But, Adderall is not always used for it’s intended medical purpose (shocker!). These pills can also aid in weight loss, making it popular with girls looking for an easy way to shed the pounds. Not only that, but it’s used to help people party more effectively. Adderall keeps you awake and sharpens your mind, both allowing you to keep that party goin’ a little longer.

As a prescribed user of Adderall, I have used the drug for all of the above reasons. I’ve taken Adderall to help me write twenty pagers, to drop some of my winter weight, and to party.

My Adderall partying usage has ranged from popping half a pill to invigorate bar-hopping to snorting mass quantities of the stuff with a small group of friends. (The latter is not so fun. Putting anything up your nose is foolish, and Adderall is no exception.) At first it was exciting; your heart beats a million miles a minute and you can’t stop talking. Anyone you’re having a conversation with instantly becomes your best friend. You get them; they get you. Best of all: it doesn’t give you the munchies, and due to the sharpening of the mind, you can drink like a sailor and still keep your composure.

However, four hours later, you start to become sick to your stomach. The happy high wears off and all you want to do is hide for days. After a particularly intense binge I remember my crash more distinctly than the high because it was that terrible. Not to mention, this binge did some serious damage on my immune system and didn’t help my mono. Even worse, the people I did it with that time just talked about Seinfeld. All night. At a lightning fast pace. Then we ended up watching Fight Club, and I couldn’t even appreciate Brad Pitt’s hotness because you know what else Adderall does? Takes all the blood away from your downtown area and rushes it to your brain.

No sex drive, yippee!

Even after the lame experiences of partying with it, I still take Adderall for classes and my studies. I’ve learned to use it in moderation and only when necessary. Most importantly, I refuse to give it to people, especially friends. When people know you have it, it’s difficult to know whether they want to see you for you, or for your orange bottle.

What are your thoughts? Any experiences with the peach stuff, good or bad?

Almost 20% of college students have used either Ritalin or Adderall to study, according to recent surveys. It’s almost become cool to be an Adderall kid, kind of like you’re cheating the system. You can harnass that extra eight hours that you would have wasted sleeping to crank out those last couple of math problems. Especially at elite colleges, sometimes you just don’t have enough time to get everything done. It’s literally impossible.

Whenever I call my parents in crisis mode, they always tell me to get some sleep. They just don’t get it. You can’t sleep. Sleep is the worst thing you can do. You have to stay up and finish your shit, it’s all a matter of how you’re going to do it.

Adderall is so attractive not because it makes you smarter, but because it gives you that stay of execution. “It won’t increase your intelligence, it just increases your diligence,” said one scientist. “Essentially, the drugs delay the onset of sleep so you can stay up all night and cram.” I mean, it isn’t called “Ivy League Crack” for nothing. The main side effects of these study buddies are increased heart rate, agitation and the kind of paranoia and disorientation that results from amphetamine-induced insomnia.

I’ve only taken the stuff a couple times, when I had big fatty papers due the next morning that I hadn’t started yet. I went completely nuts the first time I took it, probably because I chased it with a red bull. The whole idea of sleep suddenly seemed ridiculous, I was totally wired.

While I was definitely very productive, I took me a while to focus on my paper. I remember that I had a white board in my room that I used as a big to-do list and I started writing down all this stuff. The next thing I knew, the entire board was filled with writing, all crazy like, like something you would see in A Beautiful Mind. I read it the next day and was totally creeped out. Fortunately, I managed to settle down and wrote a killer paper. The pounding heart and slight eye twitch aside, it was a success- sort of.

I would avoid the stuff unless you’re hard up for at major chunk of time. Here are some ways I use to stay awake:

1. Drinking a lot of ice water, which not only shocks your system but keeps you up and running to the bathroom unless you fancy peeing your pants in your 20s.

2. Eating spicy foods. I go for either Wasabi peas, which are pretty low in calories and give you a nice quick burn or celery sticks dipped in spicy salsa which offer a lingering burn plus nearly no calories.

3. A little cardio. If you’re lucky enough to have a gym that’s open late, run down and do 30 minutes of cardio to get your heart pumping. It wakes you right up, especially if you’re blasting something catchy in your iPod.

4. I like diet Snapple, which comes in bigger containers and is a little tastier than diet Coke. Try out the peach kind.

5. A cup or two of coffee, but you knew that already. Don’t drink too much of the stuff or you’ll feel totally grim. You might want to drink a carton of milk to balance out all the acid.