and becoming physically ill. Once you become addicted to a psychostimulant you are also more prone to psychosis and seizures. Also, as you become more addicted you have to up your dosage to get the same feeling from the drug you are abusing. The only repercussion that Community mentions about Annie is that she has to go into rehab. In the show, rehab is neither shown nor described which downplays how serious addiction really is. Teenagers think “That could never happen to me! I’m not a crazy lunatic who yells about robots.” They do not realize how far people can fall when they become addicted to Adderall and the things Adderall addiction can lead to.

Adderall, when abused, is classified as a gateway drug. This means that people who abuse Adderall are more prone to start using other harder drugs such as methamphetamine or cocaine. Rosebud Baker says, when talking about Adderall, “Otherwise, amphetamine or methamphetamine are almost identical in nature causing the same side effects, same dangers and same potential for overdose as well as the same risk of physical dependence and addiction. These drugs have more serious side effects that can seriously harm the body of these teenagers (Moneer, 2015).” Once an addiction has started it is very hard to break. Often, you hear about families having to do interventions with their loved one to try to curb their drug abuse. Rarely, these awful things are shown on the television shows or movies that are geared towards teenagers. Without the complete information on how dangerous Adderall abuse and addiction can be, how can they know to avoid it.

            A movie that peaked a lot of interest a few years ago was Limitless. Limitless is a 2011 American thriller film that stars Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, and Robert De Niro. The events portrayed in the film follow Edward Morra, a struggling writer, who is introduced to a psychostimulant drug called NZT-48, which gives him the ability to fully utilize his brain and vastly improve his lifestyle. Shortly after this film was released a lot of websites and blogs began to call Adderall the “real limitless drug.” Adderall acts extremely similar to the way the drug NZT-48 works in the movie. It increases mental capacity and lets the user surpass limits they otherwise couldn’t reach. This display of superhuman abilities would strongly influence teenage students who see these posts on the internet to take Adderall to bypass the normal limits they are bound by. In the movie, Edward Morra becomes this new amazing man who begins to live an amazing life with lots of money and lots of fun. Along with this new life comes high class friends who like to drink. This usage of the drug and drinking causes no serious problems for Edward in the movie, however this can have huge consequences in real life.

When mixed with other drugs and/or alcohol the effects of Adderall can be devastating. There have been reports of people who have taken Adderall and then drink that experience very serious problems. A true story of this happening came from a 20-year-old African American man. “A 20-year-old African American college freshman presented to the emergency department (ED) with chest pain of 2 days’ duration. He stated he was diagnosed with ADHD 2 years prior and was prescribed 15 mg of Adderall XR orally daily. He admitted to not taking it regularly and had not taken it for weeks before this event. In the preceding 3 nights before admission, he reported drinking after studying and before going to bed every night. Two nights before admission, he drank until the early morning hours and instead of going to bed he took 2 tablets of Adderall XR to keep himself awake to prepare for an examination that day. Later that afternoon he developed chest pain. The final diagnosis was myocardial infarction most likely secondary to amphetamine- induced coronary vasospasm.” Myocardial infraction is more commonly known as a heart attack (Xiangyang, 2009). This story is just one instance of someone drinking while under the effects of Adderall and having serious health issues. Teenagers need to know that abusing Adderall is dangerous, especially when taken with other drugs or alcohol, and can seriously harm their bodies.

            The main counter argument against the media being a cause of increased Adderall abuse among teenagers is that often times television shows and movies do show the consequences of abusing Adderall. Although some symptoms are shown, like the headaches and confusion Marianna experienced in The Fosters, the more serious effects are often left out. Teenagers think they are taking a small risk when taking Adderall because all the harmful effects they see on TV have not been that serious. If 100% of the information is not provided to them they will not be able to make the right choice when it comes to Adderall (DeSantis, 2010).

The media has a large influence on the way teenagers act and the decisions they make. As of late, television and movies have shown psychostimulant use as a good way to increase mental attributes quickly with the probability of very light side effects. This has caused an increase in Adderall use among teenagers in the past few years. Television shows and movies mainly highlight the benefits of taking Adderall and do not show the extremely dangerous effects that can occur. Teenagers go into taking these psychostimulants guns blazing without supervision and without understanding the risks at hand. This can cause them serious harm in the long run and a lot of the blame for this should be put on to the media. Stricter laws on the possession and distribution of psychostimulants should be put into effect to protect students from even having contact with these sorts of drugs. Programs that will teach students about the dangers of taking psychostimulants and how they affect the body should be taught at a young age as well. The media needs to take responsibility for their previous lack of concern for the safety of adolescence and put an emphasis on the dangers of psychostimulants and why they should never be abused.