At MIT, Ritalin Use on Par With Peer Schools; Formal Disciplinary Action is Rare
By Jessica J. Pourian/MIT TECH STAFF REPORTER – January 20, 2010

“If you’ve ever been like super ridiculous caffeinated and drank two Rockstars and didn’t have anything to eat, sort of get that brain fuzz and can’t look at anything straight and everything is peripheral vision; that’s how being on Ritalin feels to me.”

Duncan, a freshman at MIT, is just one of many students around the United States who have taken Ritalin. While Duncan was on it legally for a couple of weeks with a prescription from his doctor for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), it ended up not working for him.

Ritalin, a stimulant that is primarily used to treat hyperactivity and attention problems, is also sometimes misused as a study aid.

While some studies suggest that competitive schools located in the Northeast see the highest use of Ritalin in the nation, a more recent 2006 survey of MIT students conducted by the American College Health Association shows that MIT’s stimulant abuse is actually in-line with that of the national average. But with the sudden pressure and difficulty of MIT, speculation is that students may be enticed to obtain the drug from their peers, often around exam week, or come to believe that they might in fact have ADHD, due to a perceived difficulty to focus on coursework.

If the administration finds a student using Ritalin without a prescription, however, they will likely focus on the student’s health and send the student to mental health services rather than take disciplinary action, said to David W. Randall, Assistant Dean of Student Support Services (S^3).