If your child is a student at the University of Oklahoma or any other college, you may have heard stories of the kinds of pressure he or she is under. College students have many things to cause them stress, including struggling to fit in, managing their time and dealing with adult issues for the first time on their own. If your child struggles with attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he or she has an additional burden.
Fortunately, medication is available to help students who suffer with this disorder, which makes it difficult for the those afflicted to concentrate, remain focused on a task and complete important assignments accurately. While prescription medications may be a godsend for your child with ADHD, more students without diagnosed disorders are finding similar benefit from using the drugs, and this may place your child in an awkward situation.
Does your child know the consequences?
Now that your child is in college, you may be grateful that he or she has the medication to help with long lectures, late-night study sessions and extended projects. However, more students with legitimate prescriptions for these drugs are finding they can help their friends and make a little money by sharing or selling their pills.
Students long ago discovered how effectively Ritalin and other ADD drugs, which they call study drugs, work to help them focus and succeed, even if they do not have an attention disorder. Unfortunately, your child may not realize the following about sharing prescriptions:
- Ritalin, Vyvanse and Adderall are Schedule II controlled substances, which means the federal government ranks them alongside cocaine and meth.
- Selling even one pill of a federally controlled substance is a criminal offense.
- The penalties if your child is convicted of selling even a small quantity of study drugs may include fines and jail, with enhanced sentenced if the exchange takes place on campus.
- Even if your child does not receive a jail sentence, the college or university policies may mandate suspension or expulsion.
- Drug charges can quickly result in ineligibility for federal student loans and some private scholarships.
- A criminal conviction for drug offenses may disqualify your child from the course of study or career path he or she has chosen.
The consequences of a conviction for selling or distributing a controlled substance such as a study drug can be serious and cause long-reaching adverse effects to your child’s future. If your child is facing charges related to sharing a prescription medication, you would do well to seek legal counsel as early as possible.