24-hour study people? Why I take Ritalin

Gemma*, 26, works in the City of London, where stakes are high and hours are long.

She is also coming to the end of her part-time masters. And dissertation deadline day is looming.

“I was finding it really hard to engage in study when I got home, after working from 9am to 7pm or later,” she told Channel 4 News. “I was panicking in quite a big way.”

Gemma remembered a friend, who studied at UCL a few years ago, talking about how Ritalin had helped towards the end of her course: “Her and her friends said you just become incredibly focused. She jokingly said: ‘I spent seven hours formatting a graph’.”

So she ordered some Ritalin from an underground website, some of which have been nicknamed the “Amazon for drugs”, and started taking it three weeks ago. “What happened was that it calmed me down and made me really focused, so I was able to work all through the night, and it didn’t make me panic,” Gemma told Channel 4 News.

“It doesn’t make you more creative, but it does engage the mind.”

Ritalin Britain

Gemma is one of hundreds of thousands taking methylphenidate drugs, including Ritalin, according to a new Care Quality Commission report. The number of NHS prescriptions for this type of drug has risen by 56 per cent since 2007, from 420,000 to 657,000 last year.

It not only makes you concentrate better… but you can do it for so much longer – Gemma

Much of this rise is down to an increased diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, in both adults in children.

But the CQC also warns of a growing trend of adults, especially students, using Ritalin as a “smart drug”, believing it will help them with their studies.

It pointed out a 24 per cent rise of Ritalin prescriptions from private, rather than NHS, doctors and said: “We are aware of reports in the media and scientific literature that it is being abused as a smart drug to improve cognitive function.”

24-hour study people?

The full extent of the trend is unknown (FactCheck has been looking into how widespread the “smart drug” craze is).

But many student chatrooms reveal questions asked and advice given about the pros and cons of various drugs to help enhance studying. And one study of Cambridge students suggested that one in 10 could be taking “cognitive enhancing” drugs.

The case for healthy people taking this drug is not so straightforward – Professor Anjan Chatterjee

While experts have raised concerns about the effects of the drug on children, for whom it is regularly prescribed for ADHD, they also warn that the long-term effects are still unknown.

Writing in the British Medical Journal study, Professor Anjan Chatterjee came down against taking Ritalin to enhance performance: “Unfortunately, the case for healthy people taking this drug is not so straightforward. Doctors routinely decide whether to intervene based on a calculation of relative risks and benefits. Here, the risks outweigh the benefits.”

And Barbara Sahakian, professor of clinical neuropsychology at Cambridge University, said on Tuesday that universities and the government should be more aware that many students get the drug online.

But for many students, the risk of performing badly is enough to tempt them to pills.

‘It’s not ideal’

Before ordering her own drug delivery, Gemma asked around. Aside from her friend at UCL, a colleague said that many of his classmates at Cambridge had taken some kind of methylphenidate drug when completing their dissertation.

So she bought some bitcoin currency, downloaded a Tor browser and entered the underground world of online drug purchasing. The Ritalin was purchased from a seller who advertised the product’s specific benefits for revision.

“It certainly focuses your mind,” she told Channel 4 News. “You could stay up and do work. It not only makes you concentrate better, and be more focused and more productive, but you can do it for so much longer.”

But she has noticed the downsides. She’s had headaches, lost her appetite and noticed changes to her hormones.

Being able to stay up all night studying has helped with the dissertation – but the come-down from getting no sleep is hard to deal with on a full-time job. “I have to say that I’ve felt pretty ill: you can’t sleep. Or I couldn’t sleep,” says Gemma. “If you have to function (in a job) as well, it’s not ideal”.

She has also noticed the temptation to take the drugs to deal with “normal” life. Last week she was exhausted and dreading going into work. “I took half a pill,” she said. “But then when it wears off, I do get a bit emotional, I think – a bit more sensitive. Which, in a work environment, is not really helpful.”

So will she keep taking it once the dissertation is handed in? Probably not. “I’m very conscious of it… I’m not going to buy any more.”

* Name has been changed