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[Ariana] I take it right when I wake up.
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00:00:15,150 --> 00:00:18,309
I keep it next to my toothbrush
so I remember to take it.
3
00:00:18,393 --> 00:00:21,396
Takes about 40 minutes to kick in
and you can feel it.
4
00:00:21,479 --> 00:00:23,231
I start to sweat.
5
00:00:23,314 --> 00:00:25,400
My heart accelerates very rapidly.
6
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[clapping sound]
7
00:00:27,569 --> 00:00:30,405
[Blue] The fives get you through the day
a little faster.
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00:00:30,488 --> 00:00:33,740
But if it's Monday,
sometimes you take ten.
9
00:00:37,287 --> 00:00:39,122
[Matthew] From there,
this wave of happiness
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00:00:39,205 --> 00:00:41,583
hit me that was like a warm glow.
11
00:00:41,666 --> 00:00:44,627
[Delaney] Suddenly, I could pay attention
and my handwriting got neater.
12
00:00:44,711 --> 00:00:45,712
I thought that was so cool.
13
00:00:45,795 --> 00:00:48,757
[Eben] My mind came alive,
my body felt alive.
14
00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,968
When it works, it works like a bang.
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00:00:53,219 --> 00:00:58,391
[man] Suddenly, you are in a room
with 10,000 doors
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00:00:58,475 --> 00:01:03,630
and behind a bunch of the doors
is some cool stuff.
17
00:01:03,146 --> 00:01:06,274
You are gonna wanna try and run
as fast as possible
18
00:01:06,357 --> 00:01:10,528
and stay awake as long as possible,
to look in all the doors.
19
00:01:10,612 --> 00:01:14,199
[interviewer] What did Adderall do for you
when you were playing the game?
20
00:01:14,282 --> 00:01:17,619
[Jasper] Laser-like focus,
reaction time increased, alert.
21
00:01:17,702 --> 00:01:20,747
[Leigh] The first week I took it,
I was like, "I like this. This is good."
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00:01:20,830 --> 00:01:21,664
[Nathanael] Adderall. Warning,
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00:01:21,748 --> 00:01:23,500
side effects may include
being awesome at everything.
24
00:01:23,583 --> 00:01:25,502
[Blue] It's like
the New York Stock Exchange ticker.
25
00:01:25,585 --> 00:01:27,295
That's what my mind looks like
all the time.
26
00:01:27,378 --> 00:01:30,673
When I take Adderall,
it's like the ticker slows down.
27
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[Jasper] I can zone in on something
and completely ignore everything.
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00:01:35,970 --> 00:01:39,150
[Peter] Every investment banker
hears about the heyday of cocaine
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00:01:39,980 --> 00:01:42,435
and doing it off their desks
and doing it off strippers,
30
00:01:42,519 --> 00:01:45,897
and that's not how it is with Adderall.
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-Who takes Adderall anymore?
-[Carver] Half the kids in Palo Alto.
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00:01:49,609 --> 00:01:51,903
-[Ariana] You name it, I've tried it.
-[Regina] Adderall.
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[Ariana] Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall,
Vyvanse, Focalin.
34
00:01:54,489 --> 00:01:55,573
[Brigid Polk] Amphetamine...
35
00:01:55,657 --> 00:01:59,770
[Fadiman] The idea that children
were given amphetamine in the '60s
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would have appalled everyone.
37
00:02:00,745 --> 00:02:04,124
From now on, it's nothing but fresh air,
lots of hugs
38
00:02:04,207 --> 00:02:06,420
and good old-fashioned Ritalin.
39
00:02:08,711 --> 00:02:11,297
[Delaney] I am Adderall.
I'm never not on it.
40
00:02:11,381 --> 00:02:14,968
I would never think of something as me
not being on Adderall.
41
00:02:25,770 --> 00:02:27,147
[techno music playing]
42
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This is the most ridiculous bathroom
in the entire world.
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Everyone has their own starter pack.
44
00:02:39,159 --> 00:02:42,704
It's like a little telling of y'all are.
45
00:02:42,787 --> 00:02:44,372
"Free the nipple."
46
00:02:44,455 --> 00:02:47,375
Jews 'cause I'm Jewish.
47
00:02:47,458 --> 00:02:50,169
"New Jersey" 'cause I tell people
I'm from New York, but I'm not.
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00:02:50,253 --> 00:02:53,600
I'm from New Jersey.
So that's a running joke.
49
00:02:53,890 --> 00:02:57,385
And a Jew smoking weed through a menorah.
50
00:02:57,468 --> 00:02:59,846
This is my favorite thing in here.
51
00:03:02,223 --> 00:03:04,726
Every time we go out,
we take something home with us.
52
00:03:04,809 --> 00:03:08,938
So, my parents,
right before I left to school, were like,
53
00:03:09,220 --> 00:03:10,607
"We need to get you a lockbox."
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00:03:10,690 --> 00:03:11,858
And I was like, "Why?"
55
00:03:11,941 --> 00:03:14,680
They were like, "For your pills."
56
00:03:14,152 --> 00:03:17,488
I was like, "What do you mean, a lockbox?
Who's gonna take my pills?"
57
00:03:17,572 --> 00:03:18,740
It's Rx gold.
58
00:03:19,449 --> 00:03:21,910
People will take it from you
if they know you have it.
59
00:03:21,993 --> 00:03:25,622
I don't think I know anyone
that is prescribed it
60
00:03:25,705 --> 00:03:27,206
that doesn't sell a little on the side.
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00:03:27,290 --> 00:03:29,834
That's a big thing here
'cause it's a hard school,
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00:03:29,918 --> 00:03:32,879
so a lot of people are on Adderall.
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00:03:32,962 --> 00:03:34,797
Why would anyone
wanna put this in their body?
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[Ariana] This is trazodone.
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00:03:35,798 --> 00:03:38,760
This is Ativan, for my panic attacks.
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Then when I got here, I was like,
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00:03:40,762 --> 00:03:45,266
"Holy shit. Everybody takes Adderall.
Everyone."
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00:03:46,434 --> 00:03:48,561
[Jasper] That's an empty one.
69
00:03:49,646 --> 00:03:53,274
[Leigh] I've openly seen people in classes
take out their bottle
70
00:03:53,358 --> 00:03:55,485
and hand off pills
to someone next to them.
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00:03:55,568 --> 00:03:58,112
"Anyone have Addie I could buy?
Please. Please."
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00:03:58,988 --> 00:04:00,573
[chuckling]
73
00:04:01,491 --> 00:04:03,576
Sometimes I forget that it's illegal.
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00:04:03,660 --> 00:04:07,380
There's a public Facebook group,
like a classifieds,
75
00:04:07,121 --> 00:04:08,331
buying and selling anything.
76
00:04:08,414 --> 00:04:13,378
And people will post in there
that they're selling 20 XR Adderall,
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00:04:13,461 --> 00:04:17,257
and not think that they are drug dealing
in a public forum.
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00:04:22,428 --> 00:04:26,570
My mom didn't hide it, but I hide it.
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00:04:26,140 --> 00:04:32,146
Adderall and Instagram are hand in hand
in being the perfect student.
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00:04:32,230 --> 00:04:34,524
[Delaney] You wanna be beautiful
and skinny,
81
00:04:34,607 --> 00:04:36,276
and you wanna have amazing grades,
82
00:04:36,359 --> 00:04:41,698
and then you also wanna be able to go out,
and Adderall just sews it all up for you.
83
00:04:42,448 --> 00:04:45,785
You've got instant release versus
extended release.
84
00:04:45,868 --> 00:04:50,456
People will take it and sit down
at the little cubicles in the library.
85
00:04:50,540 --> 00:04:51,749
They lay out everything,
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that way you can't be distracted
by anything else.
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00:04:54,669 --> 00:04:56,379
And you have a set playlist,
88
00:04:56,462 --> 00:05:00,341
and people will put in their ear buds,
and you're ready to roll.
89
00:05:05,805 --> 00:05:09,100
[Brown] At the simplest level,
the norms that I would say
90
00:05:09,183 --> 00:05:12,145
are driving use
of performance enhancing drugs
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00:05:12,228 --> 00:05:18,276
are those that simply tell us,
"Your task is to concentrate,
92
00:05:18,359 --> 00:05:23,239
to perform at the highest capacity
that you possibly can,
93
00:05:23,323 --> 00:05:25,867
and to do it for as long as it takes."
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Whether it's at an investment bank,
or whether it's a homework assignment,
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the question is,
"How can you come out on top?"
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[Leigh] Obviously, if you're presented
with something
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that will maximize the good things
in your life,
98
00:05:43,900 --> 00:05:44,677
you'll get everything you can out of it.
99
00:05:44,761 --> 00:05:45,970
Of course you're gonna want it.
100
00:05:46,679 --> 00:05:49,432
I was talking to someone about this
and they're like,
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"Isn't it the same thing
as having a good breakfast before an exam
102
00:05:53,478 --> 00:05:55,210
and drinking a cup of coffee?
103
00:05:55,104 --> 00:05:59,567
Why is medication the thing
that's so immoral or unethical
104
00:05:59,650 --> 00:06:02,361
about getting an edge over everyone else?"
105
00:06:03,362 --> 00:06:06,324
Let's see. I'm taking five classes.
106
00:06:06,407 --> 00:06:10,912
So if I get a 90 on the paper,
an 82 on the exam today,
107
00:06:10,995 --> 00:06:13,390
I'll get an 89.77.
108
00:06:13,122 --> 00:06:16,334
So that's not gonna fly,
unless she rounds up.
109
00:06:16,417 --> 00:06:18,860
So, let's say an 83,
110
00:06:18,169 --> 00:06:19,545
but it's also a pride thing.
111
00:06:19,629 --> 00:06:23,132
I'd like to finish strong,
stronger than I started.
112
00:06:23,216 --> 00:06:27,720
Adderall, for me, has always been
like when you're desperate and hopeless,
113
00:06:27,804 --> 00:06:29,430
and you're like, "I need this right now
114
00:06:29,514 --> 00:06:33,434
because I need to be my best,
smartest, fastest self."
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00:06:41,670 --> 00:06:44,153
[Brown] The problem today
isn't that jobs are scarcer,
116
00:06:44,237 --> 00:06:47,448
or that positions in schools are fewer.
117
00:06:47,532 --> 00:06:53,913
It's that we live
in a hypercompetitive order,
118
00:06:53,996 --> 00:06:58,376
where the competition
is not just for arriving,
119
00:06:58,459 --> 00:07:00,211
but the competition is never-ending.
120
00:07:01,420 --> 00:07:07,510
Every human being is now required
to understand themselves
121
00:07:07,593 --> 00:07:10,471
as a little bit of human capital.
122
00:07:11,550 --> 00:07:13,224
Parents are terribly concerned,
123
00:07:13,307 --> 00:07:16,185
from before the moment
that their children are born,
124
00:07:16,269 --> 00:07:21,774
about what that human capital value
will be in their child,
125
00:07:21,899 --> 00:07:25,361
and are tending it with everything
from Mozart in the womb
126
00:07:25,445 --> 00:07:31,325
to positions in preschools
and access to certain kinds of sports
127
00:07:31,409 --> 00:07:33,744
and certain kinds of curriculums.
128
00:07:35,413 --> 00:07:39,167
The anxiety about the human capital value
129
00:07:39,250 --> 00:07:42,860
that their children are able to develop
130
00:07:42,170 --> 00:07:46,424
leads, I think,
almost inexorably toward Adderall,
131
00:07:46,507 --> 00:07:52,138
either offered by the parents
or offered to peers by one another
132
00:07:52,221 --> 00:07:54,515
once they hit high school and college.
133
00:07:54,599 --> 00:07:57,768
I sometimes joke about how
when I was in college,
134
00:07:57,852 --> 00:07:59,854
people did drugs to check out.
135
00:07:59,937 --> 00:08:02,523
And now people do drugs to check in.
136
00:08:02,607 --> 00:08:06,277
And that says something
about our culture right now.
137
00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:09,864
[interviewer] What do you think it says?
It makes me kind of depressed.
138
00:08:09,947 --> 00:08:11,282
[laughing]
139
00:08:11,365 --> 00:08:13,493
We probably have meds for that.
140
00:08:13,576 --> 00:08:16,621
I had tons of friends in high school
that were on Adderall,
141
00:08:16,704 --> 00:08:19,665
and because they were on Adderall
or Vyvanse or something like that,
142
00:08:19,749 --> 00:08:22,376
were getting two and a half time
on the SATs or something,
143
00:08:22,460 --> 00:08:24,837
and got to take it alone. And I wanted it.
144
00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:29,759
I had three straight days
with this psychiatrist.
145
00:08:31,100 --> 00:08:34,305
I remember the testing
was so stressful for me
146
00:08:34,388 --> 00:08:36,474
'cause it's made to make you feel dumb
147
00:08:36,557 --> 00:08:40,269
and feel like you can't complete
these tasks that other people can.
148
00:08:40,353 --> 00:08:43,439
That was the first time I was like,
"I might really need this."
149
00:08:44,857 --> 00:08:51,489
ADD is a condition where people have more
trouble focusing with their attention.
150
00:08:51,572 --> 00:08:53,616
People typically are distractible.
151
00:08:53,699 --> 00:08:56,911
Because there aren't clear-cut boundaries,
152
00:08:56,994 --> 00:09:01,165
it becomes fuzzy of what do you treat
and what do you not treat.
153
00:09:13,344 --> 00:09:15,763
[Leigh] I got diagnosed
by the psychiatrist,
154
00:09:15,846 --> 00:09:19,642
and I was thrilled
because I had the SAT in a couple months.
155
00:09:19,725 --> 00:09:21,180
I had never tried it,
156
00:09:21,102 --> 00:09:23,729
but the first week that I took it,
I was like,
157
00:09:23,813 --> 00:09:26,230
"I like this. This is good."
158
00:09:26,107 --> 00:09:30,403
I remember I was concerned about
not feeling entirely myself,
159
00:09:30,486 --> 00:09:33,281
too zoned and I didn't feel
as funny as usual.
160
00:09:33,364 --> 00:09:34,282
I remember saying that.
161
00:09:34,365 --> 00:09:37,618
But you had to pick and choose,
162
00:09:37,702 --> 00:09:41,831
and I wanted to pick getting good grades
and doing well on the SAT.
163
00:09:41,914 --> 00:09:44,792
[Schwarz] The desire to do better
is pretty universal.
164
00:09:44,875 --> 00:09:46,252
People like succeeding.
165
00:09:46,335 --> 00:09:49,380
People like not letting others down.
166
00:09:49,463 --> 00:09:53,634
So, what you've seen is that
every generation has found a different way
167
00:09:53,718 --> 00:09:55,261
to try to enhance their performance.
168
00:09:55,344 --> 00:10:00,433
Now in this case, a lot of the time,
it has been what we now call ADHD drugs.
169
00:10:01,517 --> 00:10:04,395
[newscaster] In the high pressure
rat race of academic achievement,
170
00:10:04,478 --> 00:10:08,524
there is one fix students are turning to
at an alarming rate to get ahead.
171
00:10:08,608 --> 00:10:09,525
[interviewer] And how are you doing that?
172
00:10:09,609 --> 00:10:11,193
[man] Adderall.
I've never gotten a B in my life.
173
00:10:11,277 --> 00:10:13,529
[reporter] Some students
are calling it college crack.
174
00:10:13,613 --> 00:10:15,310
[Danny Brown sings]
♪ Eating on an Adderall ♪
175
00:10:15,114 --> 00:10:16,282
♪ Wash it down with alcohol ♪
176
00:10:16,365 --> 00:10:19,285
♪ Writing holy mackerel
Actual or factual ♪
177
00:10:19,368 --> 00:10:20,953
[Tom Lehrer singing]
♪ To the beer and Benzedrine ♪
178
00:10:21,370 --> 00:10:24,400
[Future singing] ♪ I can't feel my face
I'm on Adderall, nauseous ♪
179
00:10:24,123 --> 00:10:27,793
[Tom Lehrer singing]
♪ Golden college days ♪
180
00:10:30,129 --> 00:10:36,385
The first article about college abuse
of amphetamine to study
181
00:10:36,469 --> 00:10:39,597
was in Time magazine in 1937.
182
00:10:40,348 --> 00:10:42,990
This ain't new.
183
00:10:43,351 --> 00:10:45,978
[Rasmussen] In the early days,
they called it the pep-pill.
184
00:10:46,620 --> 00:10:47,355
Pep is what Americans want.
185
00:10:47,438 --> 00:10:51,984
It's about drive, ambition,
being productive and hardworking,
186
00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:54,612
and making the sale,
and getting the job done.
187
00:10:54,695 --> 00:10:58,866
[man] Kellogg's Pep sure is
a treat to eat.
188
00:10:58,949 --> 00:11:01,827
[Rasmussen] So, Dr. Gordon Alles
was a young biochemist
189
00:11:01,911 --> 00:11:03,954
trying to create an allergy medicine.
190
00:11:04,380 --> 00:11:05,998
And that's how, in 1929,
191
00:11:06,820 --> 00:11:09,794
he happened to synthesize the drug
we now call amphetamine.
192
00:11:09,877 --> 00:11:13,422
He injected himself
with 50 milligrams of the salt,
193
00:11:13,506 --> 00:11:14,924
which is quite a high dose.
194
00:11:16,500 --> 00:11:19,303
And his lab notes
are absolutely fascinating.
195
00:11:19,387 --> 00:11:23,474
Within minutes, he's like,
"Strong feeling of well-being."
196
00:11:23,557 --> 00:11:25,726
He's like, "I really like this!"
197
00:11:25,810 --> 00:11:27,436
[Rasmussen] After about an hour,
Alles noted,
198
00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:32,149
"Feeling of well-being, palpitation,
rather sleepless night,
199
00:11:32,233 --> 00:11:34,985
mind seemed to race
from one subject to another."
200
00:11:35,690 --> 00:11:37,947
This is the record
of the first amphetamine experience,
201
00:11:38,300 --> 00:11:40,408
Alles' self-experiment in June, 1929.
202
00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:49,583
It's very clear that from the beginning,
this amphetamine product was a compound,
203
00:11:49,667 --> 00:11:52,336
a chemical that needed a medical use.
204
00:11:55,673 --> 00:11:57,425
[Schwarz] It didn't take long
for amphetamine
205
00:11:57,508 --> 00:11:59,427
to become a prescription medication.
206
00:11:59,510 --> 00:12:03,848
In the mid-1930s, Smith Kline & French
introduced it as Benzedrine.
207
00:12:03,931 --> 00:12:07,518
And you would snort it
and it would clear your sinuses.
208
00:12:07,601 --> 00:12:11,230
The problem is, amphetamine feels
really good to a lot of people,
209
00:12:11,313 --> 00:12:14,660
and it gets them jazzed
and ready to perform.
210
00:12:14,150 --> 00:12:17,690
[Harry Gibson singing]
♪ Who put the Benzedrine ♪
211
00:12:17,153 --> 00:12:19,655
♪ In Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine? ♪
212
00:12:19,738 --> 00:12:22,450
♪ Now she wants to swing
The Highland Fling ♪
213
00:12:22,533 --> 00:12:25,369
♪ She says that Benzedrine's the thing
That makes her spring ♪
214
00:12:25,453 --> 00:12:30,458
[Schwarz] College kids, and other people,
started taking the gauze out
215
00:12:30,541 --> 00:12:35,254
and chewing it to get the amphetamine
into their system more quickly.
216
00:12:35,337 --> 00:12:38,757
[Fred Astaire singing] ♪ I'm like the B-19
Loaded with Benzedrine ♪
217
00:12:38,841 --> 00:12:42,845
♪ When I come on the scene
I bust a hole in the sky ♪
218
00:12:44,513 --> 00:12:46,390
[Rasmussen] When World War II broke out,
219
00:12:46,474 --> 00:12:50,311
military doctors in Germany
tried it on some military cadets.
220
00:12:50,394 --> 00:12:52,438
Of course, the students liked it.
221
00:12:52,521 --> 00:12:56,660
The British found these pills
in downed German planes.
222
00:12:56,150 --> 00:12:57,693
They seemed to be acting like supermen,
223
00:12:57,776 --> 00:13:01,300
and maybe it was drugs
that were making them supermen.
224
00:13:01,113 --> 00:13:02,720
The American military,
225
00:13:02,156 --> 00:13:05,743
when they saw that the British were
approving the drug and introducing it,
226
00:13:05,826 --> 00:13:09,380
they hurried along the studies
and took it on, too.
227
00:13:09,121 --> 00:13:10,164
Just a cup of coffee.
228
00:13:10,247 --> 00:13:11,810
Really, Mr. Holden,
229
00:13:11,165 --> 00:13:14,376
a hardworking executive like you
should have a hot lunch.
230
00:13:14,460 --> 00:13:17,588
Very well. Just scramble me
a couple of Benzedrine tablets.
231
00:13:17,671 --> 00:13:19,465
[Rasmussen] Benzedrine took off
after the war
232
00:13:19,548 --> 00:13:21,926
as a general practice antidepressant.
233
00:13:22,900 --> 00:13:23,177
So did Dexedrine.
234
00:13:25,429 --> 00:13:28,140
Among its uses was weight control.
235
00:13:31,227 --> 00:13:35,523
Also, painful menstruation,
what we'd call PMD, was tested.
236
00:13:35,606 --> 00:13:36,649
This is a funny trial.
237
00:13:36,732 --> 00:13:38,901
The doctor who was running it
was working at a factory
238
00:13:38,984 --> 00:13:40,903
where all the assembly line workers
were women.
239
00:13:40,986 --> 00:13:43,614
The subjects were requesting more of it,
240
00:13:43,697 --> 00:13:44,990
but it turned out that the demand
241
00:13:45,740 --> 00:13:47,368
had nothing to do
with their actual menstrual cycle.
242
00:13:47,451 --> 00:13:48,911
They just liked taking the drugs.
243
00:13:48,994 --> 00:13:50,412
Spot on.
244
00:13:50,996 --> 00:13:51,956
[man] One, two...
245
00:13:57,628 --> 00:14:01,298
[Rasmussen] Amphetamine inhalers became
a kind of a staple in jazz culture,
246
00:14:01,382 --> 00:14:04,134
particularly in the bebop circles.
247
00:14:04,218 --> 00:14:07,513
Charlie Parker was certainly
a regular user.
248
00:14:08,722 --> 00:14:10,766
Some of the people
that are later remembered
249
00:14:10,849 --> 00:14:13,352
as the important beat writers,
like Jack Kerouac,
250
00:14:13,435 --> 00:14:15,312
were going to these jazz clubs.
251
00:14:16,689 --> 00:14:19,733
Kerouac really admired
the way bebop sounded
252
00:14:19,817 --> 00:14:22,319
and he wanted to model his own writing
253
00:14:22,403 --> 00:14:27,241
after this very spontaneous,
free rush of sound.
254
00:14:27,324 --> 00:14:32,997
"Come on, boy, go thou across the ground.
Go moan for man. Go moan, go groan."
255
00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:35,708
[Rasmussen] When he discovered
the amphetamine inhaler,
256
00:14:35,791 --> 00:14:39,461
he really took to it and used it
as an aid for his writing for a long time.
257
00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:43,632
It was normal to have amphetamine
when you wanted it.
258
00:14:43,716 --> 00:14:44,925
Most people probably just got it
259
00:14:45,900 --> 00:14:48,220
by asking for a prescription
from their family practitioner.
260
00:14:48,304 --> 00:14:51,473
Turn around and drop your pants.
This goes in the gluteus.
261
00:14:51,557 --> 00:14:52,516
What is it?
262
00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:54,768
It's an energy serum.
263
00:14:54,852 --> 00:14:58,856
Max Jacobson, who's known as Dr. Feelgood
by many of his patients,
264
00:14:58,939 --> 00:15:01,483
was one of these speed doctors.
265
00:15:01,567 --> 00:15:04,612
For a time,
he was John F. Kennedy's favorite doctor.
266
00:15:04,695 --> 00:15:05,863
[Don Draper] What does it do?
267
00:15:05,946 --> 00:15:10,284
24 to 72 hours of uninterrupted
creative focus, energy and confidence.
268
00:15:10,367 --> 00:15:11,243
Really?
269
00:15:11,327 --> 00:15:15,390
And if you listen to The Beatles,
the song "Doctor Robert"
270
00:15:15,122 --> 00:15:21,503
is about a doctor in New York
who'd freely prescribe amphetamine
271
00:15:22,870 --> 00:15:25,900
to rock stars and celebrities
who wanted it.
272
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:31,347
[The Beatles singing]
♪ Well, well, well, you're feeling fine ♪
273
00:15:31,430 --> 00:15:34,433
[Rasmussen] The '60s were called
the go-go years for a number of reasons.
274
00:15:34,516 --> 00:15:38,187
And that's the way Andy Warhol
experienced the early '60s,
275
00:15:38,270 --> 00:15:42,608
up on amphetamine all the time.
Not just him, his whole scene.
276
00:15:42,691 --> 00:15:44,193
Whoo!
277
00:15:44,652 --> 00:15:46,904
And let me see,
the right side or the left side?
278
00:15:46,987 --> 00:15:47,821
Oh, well, you never...
279
00:15:47,905 --> 00:15:50,991
Doesn't matter if you get
the left or the right, or go drop dead.
280
00:15:51,750 --> 00:15:52,760
Ding!
281
00:15:52,159 --> 00:15:54,828
[Schwarz] A lot of women, and men,
don't get me wrong,
282
00:15:54,912 --> 00:15:57,289
soldiers in Vietnam,
got horribly addicted.
283
00:15:57,373 --> 00:16:00,840
That's why we have
the Controlled Substances Act.
284
00:16:04,797 --> 00:16:06,465
[Frank Zappa] Hi, wanna die?
285
00:16:06,548 --> 00:16:09,426
Start today, use a little speed,
you've got five years.
286
00:16:09,510 --> 00:16:14,598
Rot your mind, rot your heart,
rot your kidneys, cucaracha.
287
00:16:14,682 --> 00:16:17,768
[announcer] A public service announcement
of the Do It Now Foundation.
288
00:16:18,602 --> 00:16:22,481
[Rasmussen] By the height
of the pharmaceutical speed epidemic,
289
00:16:22,564 --> 00:16:25,359
50 pills per man, woman and child per year
290
00:16:25,442 --> 00:16:27,361
were being manufactured
by US pharmaceutical firms.
291
00:16:27,444 --> 00:16:29,571
The ingredients are essentially
the same as what's used
292
00:16:29,655 --> 00:16:32,157
for attention deficit today,
including Adderall.
293
00:16:32,241 --> 00:16:34,243
[trippy music playing]
294
00:17:02,479 --> 00:17:05,441
Adderall is a performance enhancer, yes.
295
00:17:05,524 --> 00:17:06,525
[laughing]
296
00:17:06,608 --> 00:17:09,690
Um, and I don't think
there's anything wrong with that.
297
00:17:23,792 --> 00:17:28,297
[Nathanael] When you hit the sweet spot
with Adderall, it's like a Zen flow.
298
00:17:28,380 --> 00:17:30,340
Everything quiet, you're quiet,
299
00:17:30,424 --> 00:17:33,552
and things are just there, and so are you,
300
00:17:33,635 --> 00:17:36,960
and then you just do what you need to do.
301
00:17:37,306 --> 00:17:38,640
I have an electric unicycle.
302
00:17:38,724 --> 00:17:42,610
I'm riding like I do every day.
I think I was going to Home Depot.
303
00:17:42,144 --> 00:17:45,856
Somebody leans out of the car window
and goes, "Fuck you, techie."
304
00:17:46,607 --> 00:17:48,609
Only in the Bay Area would that happen.
305
00:17:48,692 --> 00:17:49,777
It was weird 'cause they just assumed
306
00:17:49,860 --> 00:17:52,738
since I was on an electric unicycle
that I must be in tech.
307
00:17:54,364 --> 00:17:59,244
There is an archetype in tech
of a person who,
308
00:17:59,328 --> 00:18:01,330
in most cases, doesn't exist,
309
00:18:01,413 --> 00:18:07,503
and he works 16 hours a day, every day,
and the code just comes out of him.
310
00:18:07,586 --> 00:18:12,299
And just flawlessly from start to finish,
it's just Mozart on the screen.
311
00:18:12,883 --> 00:18:16,553
And everybody wants to be that person.
312
00:18:17,846 --> 00:18:21,183
I did, and I'm sure
some part of me still does.
313
00:18:21,266 --> 00:18:25,896
We all want to be awesome
at the things that we're trying to do.
314
00:18:25,979 --> 00:18:28,524
And then you throw Adderall into the mix,
315
00:18:28,607 --> 00:18:33,362
and that lets you be the person
that's there till midnight or 1:00.
316
00:18:35,489 --> 00:18:36,323
[Eben] Let's go!
317
00:18:38,158 --> 00:18:42,204
You guys know the drill.
Give me a good base, a good knee bend.
318
00:18:42,287 --> 00:18:45,415
Pull that belly button to your spine,
tighten that core up.
319
00:18:45,499 --> 00:18:47,960
The thing with football is
you have to love it.
320
00:18:48,430 --> 00:18:53,632
It's way too hard on your body,
and your mind, really.
321
00:18:54,174 --> 00:18:55,926
Go! Keep pushing it.
322
00:18:56,900 --> 00:18:58,110
[announcer 1] Eben Britton, right here,
a lot people are saying
323
00:18:58,950 --> 00:19:00,597
that may be the best offensive tackle
in the country.
324
00:19:00,681 --> 00:19:04,170
[announcer 2] Arizona
has won their home opener.
325
00:19:04,101 --> 00:19:05,936
[Eben] There's nothing
that can describe that.
326
00:19:06,190 --> 00:19:09,565
That was the biggest win
we've had in a long time.
327
00:19:09,648 --> 00:19:12,276
You don't make it
to Division I football, period,
328
00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:16,196
if you can't push yourself
to superhuman feats.
329
00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:17,781
And then to make it to the NFL,
330
00:19:17,865 --> 00:19:22,161
that's like a 0.1% of every kid
that's ever picked up a football.
331
00:19:22,244 --> 00:19:25,914
[Eben] I don't know
if there's a way to get to perfect,
332
00:19:25,998 --> 00:19:28,709
but that's what you're always looking for.
333
00:19:34,256 --> 00:19:38,510
[Brit] I miss the rookie season.
That was the drama-free, happy season.
334
00:19:38,135 --> 00:19:39,428
[Eben] Yeah.
335
00:19:39,511 --> 00:19:43,390
Man, I was kicking ass.
I'm healthy, I'm strong, I'm quick.
336
00:19:43,473 --> 00:19:46,435
I'm just building on the success
that I had in my rookie year.
337
00:19:46,518 --> 00:19:50,230
And we're in a workout,
and we're doing squats,
338
00:19:50,314 --> 00:19:53,817
and I went down,
and I just feel this squirting.
339
00:19:53,901 --> 00:19:56,904
It's like a tube of toothpaste,
somebody just went like...
340
00:19:56,987 --> 00:20:02,159
We started doing tests, and it's like,
"Shit, it's a herniated disc. Clearly."
341
00:20:02,242 --> 00:20:05,412
Come on, don't step on those.
342
00:20:05,495 --> 00:20:07,873
I come back to training camp
and the coaches were like,
343
00:20:07,956 --> 00:20:11,168
"Dude, what the fuck happened to you?"
344
00:20:12,336 --> 00:20:16,632
It doesn't matter if you're hurt or not.
Every guy is hurt.
345
00:20:16,715 --> 00:20:19,760
It's, "Can you get out there and play?"
346
00:20:19,843 --> 00:20:24,560
Because there's always somebody
coming behind you to take your job.
347
00:20:26,580 --> 00:20:27,351
This Monday night game,
348
00:20:27,434 --> 00:20:33,357
I was at this breaking point
of exhaustion and frustration,
349
00:20:34,149 --> 00:20:37,402
and one of our teammates was like,
"I got Adderall."
350
00:20:37,486 --> 00:20:42,366
I took them,
and I just felt jolted back to life.
351
00:20:42,449 --> 00:20:45,244
I felt this surge of energy
rush through me.
352
00:20:45,327 --> 00:20:48,455
My mind came alive. My body felt alive.
353
00:20:48,538 --> 00:20:52,420
I felt like I was able
to get a jump on the snap count,
354
00:20:52,125 --> 00:20:55,462
and I was able to react faster
than guys were,
355
00:20:55,545 --> 00:20:57,422
and I could see things
that were happening,
356
00:20:57,506 --> 00:20:59,258
like, corners blitzing...
357
00:21:00,801 --> 00:21:05,389
A stimulant is a drug
that stimulates people.
358
00:21:05,472 --> 00:21:08,517
It makes you feel more up
and awake and alert.
359
00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:10,519
And they also increase euphoria.
360
00:21:10,602 --> 00:21:14,398
All of those things are very positive.
361
00:21:14,481 --> 00:21:16,733
That's why people have their caffeine
in the morning.
362
00:21:16,817 --> 00:21:20,404
[Diller] So there's two main groups
of stimulants.
363
00:21:20,487 --> 00:21:24,320
There's amphetamine and methylphenidate.
364
00:21:24,116 --> 00:21:29,454
Methylphenidate is the major constituent
of Ritalin and Concerta,
365
00:21:29,538 --> 00:21:32,791
two drugs that are very, very widely used.
366
00:21:32,874 --> 00:21:37,337
And amphetamine
is the major constituent of Adderall.
367
00:21:37,421 --> 00:21:41,758
This whole class of medications
that we think of stimulants
368
00:21:41,842 --> 00:21:44,428
work on the catecholamine system
in the brain.
369
00:21:45,178 --> 00:21:47,723
And there are two parts
of the catecholamine system.
370
00:21:47,806 --> 00:21:52,269
One is called norepinephrine,
or colloquially sometimes
371
00:21:52,352 --> 00:21:55,188
people think about that
as noradrenaline or adrenaline.
372
00:21:55,272 --> 00:21:57,107
And the other is dopamine.
373
00:21:57,190 --> 00:22:00,610
And what these drugs
typically do in the brain is,
374
00:22:00,694 --> 00:22:05,490
they either enhance
the release of catecholamines
375
00:22:05,574 --> 00:22:08,350
or they block its reuptake.
376
00:22:08,118 --> 00:22:10,370
[Hinshaw] They increase reaction time,
377
00:22:10,454 --> 00:22:13,123
they probably increase
some tolerance to pain
378
00:22:13,206 --> 00:22:15,292
during the intensity
of athletic competition.
379
00:22:15,375 --> 00:22:19,400
[Diller] Low doses of amphetamine
or amphetamine-like drugs
380
00:22:19,870 --> 00:22:22,215
get anyone who takes it, child or adult,
381
00:22:22,299 --> 00:22:25,302
to become more deliberate
and more methodical.
382
00:22:25,385 --> 00:22:28,130
They will tend to stick with things longer
383
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:30,980
that are not of interest or are boring.
384
00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:37,564
Adderall had this
holistic enhancing effect
385
00:22:37,647 --> 00:22:39,441
to my life at that time.
386
00:22:40,942 --> 00:22:44,780
It helped me in the meetings,
film study, game review.
387
00:22:44,863 --> 00:22:47,449
It helped me dealing with the pain.
388
00:22:48,533 --> 00:22:51,620
That was really
what spurned on this thing,
389
00:22:51,703 --> 00:22:55,499
like, "I just have to get access to this,
390
00:22:55,582 --> 00:23:00,337
and I have to do it the right way because
I don't wanna fail a drug test.
391
00:23:00,420 --> 00:23:01,505
I don't wanna do any of that.
392
00:23:01,588 --> 00:23:03,715
But this is something
that can really help me."
393
00:23:03,799 --> 00:23:07,100
[Hinshaw] If you are a
professional athlete in the United States,
394
00:23:07,940 --> 00:23:10,806
you can't take stimulants unless you have
what's called an exemption.
395
00:23:10,889 --> 00:23:14,392
And a doctor must certify
that you legitimately have ADHD
396
00:23:14,476 --> 00:23:17,395
and the stimulants
aren't just performance enhancers,
397
00:23:17,479 --> 00:23:19,220
but they're part of your medication.
398
00:23:19,648 --> 00:23:21,775
[Eben] I wasn't even that big then.
399
00:23:21,858 --> 00:23:27,781
I was so happy because it was so obvious
that he took it one day,
400
00:23:27,864 --> 00:23:29,658
and then that night,
401
00:23:29,741 --> 00:23:32,869
he was doing exactly
what I had been wanting him to do.
402
00:23:32,953 --> 00:23:36,248
Right away, I'd take the trash out
or I'd do the dishes.
403
00:23:36,331 --> 00:23:40,877
And I organized my DVD collection
by director, alphabetically.
404
00:23:40,961 --> 00:23:44,589
And I think I even called my mom
and told her,
405
00:23:44,673 --> 00:23:45,882
"This is so great.
406
00:23:45,966 --> 00:23:49,803
Eb's been diagnosed with ADD
and he's doing the dishes."
407
00:23:49,886 --> 00:23:53,140
And I was like, "This is really good.
408
00:23:54,224 --> 00:23:55,684
I'm making her happy.
409
00:23:55,767 --> 00:24:02,482
I'm not coming home
and just crashing on the couch."
410
00:24:08,822 --> 00:24:10,615
[Nathanael] The very first time
I took Adderall,
411
00:24:10,699 --> 00:24:14,119
I had ADHD symptoms
and I went to see a military doctor,
412
00:24:14,202 --> 00:24:16,913
and I got a prescription.
I really didn't like it.
413
00:24:16,997 --> 00:24:19,666
It made me more focused on my distractions
414
00:24:19,749 --> 00:24:22,169
rather than more focused
on what I was supposed to be doing.
415
00:24:22,794 --> 00:24:26,298
And so I didn't take it again
until this year.
416
00:24:26,381 --> 00:24:30,510
I was doing a really intensive
programming boot camp.
417
00:24:30,594 --> 00:24:33,346
Someone offered it to me,
and it was 1:00 in the morning.
418
00:24:33,430 --> 00:24:37,184
I was like, "I've had a prescription,
so I don't feel too bad about this."
419
00:24:37,267 --> 00:24:39,477
I took him up on it and it really helped.
420
00:24:41,813 --> 00:24:43,815
It was definitely jet fuel. Yeah.
421
00:24:43,899 --> 00:24:46,818
I didn't need much at all.
I'd take five or ten milligrams a day.
422
00:24:46,902 --> 00:24:49,946
Problems that were previously
really exhausting,
423
00:24:50,300 --> 00:24:54,451
or maybe seemed insurmountable,
were interesting challenges.
424
00:24:55,410 --> 00:24:57,579
I had the discipline to tear myself
away from work,
425
00:24:57,662 --> 00:24:59,956
come home at 11:00, and in ten minutes,
426
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,420
just like, protein shake,
brush teeth, go to bed.
427
00:25:02,125 --> 00:25:04,669
And then I went, "Adderall.
428
00:25:04,753 --> 00:25:07,756
Warning, side effects may include
being awesome at everything."
429
00:25:07,839 --> 00:25:10,550
And that's how it felt.
430
00:25:10,634 --> 00:25:13,678
I'm sure for a lot of people,
they would say, or believe,
431
00:25:13,762 --> 00:25:15,347
or it might be true,
432
00:25:15,430 --> 00:25:19,184
that they're just trying to be
the best programmers they can be.
433
00:25:19,267 --> 00:25:22,395
But for most people,
I think the end goal is money.
434
00:25:24,272 --> 00:25:25,398
[cell phone ringing]
435
00:25:25,482 --> 00:25:29,361
Hello. Thank you.
All right, cool. Later.
436
00:25:30,403 --> 00:25:34,366
The best description
of the first time I took Adderall
437
00:25:34,449 --> 00:25:36,701
is kind of like somebody
pulls back the curtain,
438
00:25:36,785 --> 00:25:40,580
and now you're able to focus
on each person in the audience.
439
00:25:40,664 --> 00:25:42,874
Okay, tell her Blue called.
440
00:25:42,958 --> 00:25:45,210
Adderall definitely helps you
be a better capitalist.
441
00:25:45,293 --> 00:25:48,713
When I'm on my Adderall,
I'm here to solve problems.
442
00:25:48,797 --> 00:25:51,700
What's the problem?
Line 'em up, I knock 'em down.
443
00:25:51,910 --> 00:25:52,550
[woman] She said 175.
444
00:25:52,634 --> 00:25:53,677
[Blue] Let me tell 'em.
445
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:58,139
I've been blessed to work with
Outkast and CeeLo Green, Nick Cannon.
446
00:25:58,223 --> 00:26:00,141
As a manager,
you deal with so many different people.
447
00:26:00,225 --> 00:26:01,601
I deal with the business managers,
448
00:26:01,685 --> 00:26:03,728
the label, the accountants,
the tour agents.
449
00:26:03,812 --> 00:26:07,107
When you're on your Adderall,
it is easier to keep track of people
450
00:26:07,190 --> 00:26:09,484
and to call those people back
'cause you don't forget.
451
00:26:09,567 --> 00:26:11,690
Yo, Mario, it's Blue calling you back.
452
00:26:11,152 --> 00:26:13,780
When you're not on it, people,
you get to 'em when you get to 'em.
453
00:26:13,863 --> 00:26:15,991
You're just mad 'cause
the good managers are from New York.
454
00:26:17,284 --> 00:26:19,327
We're gonna get to work
on this PowerPoint slide
455
00:26:19,411 --> 00:26:21,955
for the Wild 'n Out Summer Pool Parties.
456
00:26:22,380 --> 00:26:25,333
The deal I'm cutting is,
any sponsorships we bring in,
457
00:26:25,417 --> 00:26:26,793
we can split with the hotel.
458
00:26:26,876 --> 00:26:28,128
[woman] Is there a deadline?
459
00:26:28,211 --> 00:26:32,549
[Blue] It's Monday.
Wednesday would be the ideal time.
460
00:26:32,632 --> 00:26:34,801
If this was Puff, he'd want it Wednesday.
461
00:26:34,884 --> 00:26:37,887
Morning, when I get back from Chicago,
I want that deck.
462
00:26:37,971 --> 00:26:40,150
-[woman] With his cheesecake.
-Thank you.
463
00:26:54,654 --> 00:26:58,491
In high school, the only reason
why I really knew Adderall
464
00:26:58,575 --> 00:27:01,770
was because my siblings
were prescribed it.
465
00:27:01,745 --> 00:27:04,289
But no one took it to study,
no one took it to party.
466
00:27:04,372 --> 00:27:07,792
It's so hard,
minus all the ethical implications,
467
00:27:07,876 --> 00:27:11,171
but knowing that it's out there
and it's so easy
468
00:27:11,254 --> 00:27:13,965
and you're just ignoring that,
you're ignoring.
469
00:27:14,490 --> 00:27:16,551
You'll take the B when you know
you could have gotten an A
470
00:27:16,634 --> 00:27:19,220
just by popping a $2 pill,
if you're gonna buy.
471
00:27:19,304 --> 00:27:23,266
You also aren't worried
about getting in trouble for it
472
00:27:23,350 --> 00:27:26,186
because you're just a kid
with a learning disability.
473
00:27:26,269 --> 00:27:29,856
You're not a drug...
You didn't purchase drugs illegally.
474
00:27:29,939 --> 00:27:31,566
I can see a lot of people
475
00:27:31,649 --> 00:27:35,236
that are concerned about buying
or selling illegal drugs.
476
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:39,240
Like, that would be just the same
as them buying heroin.
477
00:27:39,324 --> 00:27:40,867
They can process that.
478
00:27:40,950 --> 00:27:42,827
But for a ton of people like us,
479
00:27:42,911 --> 00:27:46,289
you would never be scared
of getting caught by a campus police,
480
00:27:46,373 --> 00:27:48,792
or your professor would tell someone,
481
00:27:48,875 --> 00:27:52,253
'cause it's really not thought of
as a drug in your mind.
482
00:27:54,839 --> 00:27:57,175
[Delaney] I forgot to take
my morning meds today.
483
00:27:57,258 --> 00:28:01,960
Not Adderall. Nope. It can be unfair.
484
00:28:01,179 --> 00:28:04,516
I have a weird relationship
with the way that I think about it,
485
00:28:04,599 --> 00:28:08,144
because I was surrounded by people
that had a lot more money than I did.
486
00:28:08,228 --> 00:28:10,630
I had to work in high school,
487
00:28:10,146 --> 00:28:13,400
and I couldn't afford private tutors
for classes.
488
00:28:13,483 --> 00:28:17,700
So, on one hand, I feel like,
if you were someone like me,
489
00:28:17,153 --> 00:28:22,492
using Adderall could have been
leveling out the playing field.
490
00:28:22,575 --> 00:28:25,620
But on the other hand,
if you're someone like some of those kids,
491
00:28:25,703 --> 00:28:29,290
then you're just giving yourself
even more of a leg-up.
492
00:28:30,500 --> 00:28:31,584
I'm from the Midwest,
493
00:28:31,668 --> 00:28:34,879
from a place that has a lot
of problems with meth.
494
00:28:34,963 --> 00:28:40,135
You see all this stuff on the news,
and the juxtaposition between
495
00:28:41,940 --> 00:28:43,138
the meth-head
that lives in the trailer park
496
00:28:43,221 --> 00:28:44,472
that we learned about in D.A.R.E.,
497
00:28:44,556 --> 00:28:48,268
versus the kids whose parents make
well over six figures a year.
498
00:28:48,351 --> 00:28:51,200
They're both tweaking out,
if you think about it.
499
00:28:51,104 --> 00:28:54,774
Just like opiate painkillers
are heroin in a pill,
500
00:28:54,858 --> 00:28:58,278
ADHD medicine is a small dose
of meth in a pill.
501
00:28:58,361 --> 00:29:02,866
When we think about methamphetamine
from a chemical perspective,
502
00:29:02,949 --> 00:29:07,780
and we think about amphetamine,
the active ingredient in Adderall,
503
00:29:07,162 --> 00:29:09,998
the only difference between these drugs
504
00:29:10,810 --> 00:29:14,127
is an additional methyl group
on the methamphetamine compound.
505
00:29:14,210 --> 00:29:17,255
Methamphetamine is legal
in the United States for prescription.
506
00:29:17,338 --> 00:29:20,800
It's a Schedule II drug,
just like Adderall is a Schedule II drug.
507
00:29:20,884 --> 00:29:24,554
But people don't prescribe it as much
because of the public hysteria
508
00:29:24,637 --> 00:29:26,140
surrounding illicit methamphetamine.
509
00:29:26,970 --> 00:29:27,348
[officer] We got a search warrant.
510
00:29:27,432 --> 00:29:30,685
They said meth would help me
get through my exams.
511
00:29:34,147 --> 00:29:36,941
[Hart] So we think about people
who have meth labs,
512
00:29:37,250 --> 00:29:40,361
we think about people
who are living in rural America,
513
00:29:40,445 --> 00:29:42,655
all within a negative context.
514
00:29:42,739 --> 00:29:45,450
Then, we contrast that
with another amphetamine
515
00:29:45,533 --> 00:29:46,701
that has similar effects.
516
00:29:46,785 --> 00:29:49,162
[woman] Girls, time for your Adderall.
517
00:29:49,871 --> 00:29:52,165
What time did you guys
get home last night?
518
00:29:52,248 --> 00:29:53,666
Uh, late.
519
00:29:53,750 --> 00:29:56,127
We oftentimes think of that
in a different context.
520
00:29:56,211 --> 00:29:58,838
We think about people
who have prescriptions for Adderall,
521
00:29:58,922 --> 00:30:00,465
we think about college students,
522
00:30:00,548 --> 00:30:03,900
we think about people in our society
who we like.
523
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,263
I just ended up accidentally taking,
like, six Adderall.
524
00:30:07,347 --> 00:30:08,431
I stayed up all night,
525
00:30:08,515 --> 00:30:12,435
I did a real deep dive into
Ryan Dillon Davidson's Facebook page,
526
00:30:12,519 --> 00:30:13,353
and I found some shit.
527
00:30:13,436 --> 00:30:17,732
Wealthier kids have access
to purified pharmaceutical speed,
528
00:30:17,816 --> 00:30:22,237
and other communities have access to meth.
You know, cooked meth.
529
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:28,340
Although the potency is definitely greater
in crystal meth, in smoking it, etcetera,
530
00:30:28,117 --> 00:30:30,829
at the neuroreceptor sites,
it has the exact same effects.
531
00:30:33,331 --> 00:30:35,416
[Leigh] I'm surrounded
by very privileged people.
532
00:30:35,500 --> 00:30:38,294
These are wealthy people in America.
533
00:30:38,378 --> 00:30:40,460
We have the money to get tested,
534
00:30:40,129 --> 00:30:42,882
the resources to afford being medicated
every day of your life,
535
00:30:42,966 --> 00:30:46,177
where you can maximize everything.
536
00:30:47,512 --> 00:30:51,570
Even negotiating the healthcare system
and finding the right doctors
537
00:30:51,140 --> 00:30:53,476
is also a matter of privilege, right?
538
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,563
Some people know how to do it
and a lot of people don't.
539
00:30:56,646 --> 00:30:59,732
If you have the right connections,
if you know who to go see,
540
00:30:59,816 --> 00:31:02,235
I think that also becomes easier to do.
541
00:31:06,197 --> 00:31:10,743
Adderall is perfect
for finance work and any type of work
542
00:31:10,827 --> 00:31:13,413
where you have to be detail-oriented,
543
00:31:13,496 --> 00:31:15,415
which is what finance work is.
544
00:31:15,498 --> 00:31:17,000
While I was at Goldman,
545
00:31:17,830 --> 00:31:21,296
I never told anybody
that wasn't under the age of 25.
546
00:31:21,379 --> 00:31:25,466
You had to feel it out before
you would ever reveal you took Adderall.
547
00:31:25,550 --> 00:31:29,512
And I think there is this fear that,
if you reveal it,
548
00:31:29,596 --> 00:31:33,391
then, A, they've never heard of it,
they don't get it.
549
00:31:33,474 --> 00:31:36,728
And B, they'll view you as weaker,
as inferior,
550
00:31:36,811 --> 00:31:40,440
and they may view you as somebody
that can't keep up.
551
00:31:40,523 --> 00:31:44,235
When getting it from my friends
became expensive,
552
00:31:44,319 --> 00:31:47,405
I decided it was time
to find a doctor in New York.
553
00:31:47,488 --> 00:31:50,283
So, all I did was send a text
to a few friends.
554
00:31:50,366 --> 00:31:55,163
So I ended up going to Central Park South,
and it was a fancy office,
555
00:31:55,246 --> 00:31:57,206
and it was a nice old man.
556
00:31:57,290 --> 00:32:00,501
And I think once he heard
I work for Goldman Sachs,
557
00:32:00,585 --> 00:32:01,502
he was like, "Okay, cool.
558
00:32:01,586 --> 00:32:06,507
He's normal, he'll be fine.
He's a version of my idea of successful.
559
00:32:06,591 --> 00:32:08,927
I can write him
whatever prescription he needs."
560
00:32:09,761 --> 00:32:13,389
I probably have six or seven friends
that go to him currently.
561
00:32:20,897 --> 00:32:23,858
There was a great line in a comedy,
Silicon Valley,
562
00:32:23,942 --> 00:32:28,363
when one of the tech workers
needed Adderall and couldn't find it,
563
00:32:28,446 --> 00:32:30,907
and the line was,
"Just go out on the street on a bicycle.
564
00:32:30,990 --> 00:32:33,493
Half the kids in Palo Alto are taking it."
565
00:32:33,576 --> 00:32:34,661
Hey.
566
00:32:36,579 --> 00:32:39,832
Any of you guys currently on Adderall
567
00:32:39,916 --> 00:32:43,628
and, you know, want to make $50?
568
00:32:43,711 --> 00:32:46,130
This is the generation
beginning in the mid-'90s
569
00:32:46,214 --> 00:32:50,843
that was widely exposed to the use
of Adderall and Ritalin and Concerta,
570
00:32:50,927 --> 00:32:51,928
amongst their peers.
571
00:32:52,110 --> 00:32:53,596
[Danny Brown singing]
♪ Scribbled in my notebook ♪
572
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:54,806
♪ And never did homework ♪
573
00:32:54,889 --> 00:32:56,849
♪ Low attention span
Guess these Adderall worked ♪
574
00:32:56,933 --> 00:33:00,687
I'm not an MD, but it is possible
for Ritalin to get you pretty high.
575
00:33:00,770 --> 00:33:03,147
That's probably what it is.
It is a new medication.
576
00:33:03,231 --> 00:33:04,607
♪ It is a new medication ♪
577
00:33:04,691 --> 00:33:06,943
-I'm afraid I'll have to expel your son.
-[gasps]
578
00:33:07,260 --> 00:33:10,405
Unless you're willing to try a radical,
untested, potentially dangerous--
579
00:33:10,488 --> 00:33:13,783
-Candy bar?
-No. It's a new drug called Focusyn.
580
00:33:13,866 --> 00:33:15,326
A drug?
581
00:33:16,995 --> 00:33:20,164
[Jasper] I learned about ADD
after being on the medication,
582
00:33:20,248 --> 00:33:22,875
so, I didn't know what it was.
583
00:33:22,959 --> 00:33:24,460
All I knew was it was for school.
584
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,965
It was always just about
being easier on the teachers
585
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:32,677
and being easier on my parents
and just being not as loud.
586
00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:34,971
And, I guess, focusing.
587
00:33:35,540 --> 00:33:37,849
But I never had interest in school,
588
00:33:37,932 --> 00:33:40,685
and I focused in, always,
what I wanted to focus in.
589
00:33:40,768 --> 00:33:44,147
And that was art and, I guess,
590
00:33:44,230 --> 00:33:47,859
reading when I could read,
which took some time.
591
00:33:50,361 --> 00:33:53,948
All right. Let's see, man.
How's everything? How's the art?
592
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,201
Good. I got to get ready
to do my senior show this year show.
593
00:33:57,285 --> 00:34:00,790
So I'm going to be keeping
really, really busy.
594
00:34:00,163 --> 00:34:01,497
-How's it going with your medicines?
-Good.
595
00:34:01,581 --> 00:34:02,540
Still taking 'em?
596
00:34:02,623 --> 00:34:04,292
Yeah, but not as much.
I take them when I need them.
597
00:34:04,375 --> 00:34:07,128
[doctor] Okay. So sporadically,
like we've done before?
598
00:34:07,211 --> 00:34:10,256
Yeah. And I kind of think
I would like to stop soon.
599
00:34:10,339 --> 00:34:12,800
-Okay. Good.
-Just stop altogether.
600
00:34:12,884 --> 00:34:15,928
Remember we talked about
this is just developmental in the brain,
601
00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:17,555
and as you get more mature,
602
00:34:17,638 --> 00:34:21,142
your brain grows more mature,
those neurons start making connections.
603
00:34:21,225 --> 00:34:22,310
Then you don't need to use them.
604
00:34:22,393 --> 00:34:24,145
[Jasper] Yeah.
I would like to be done with it.
605
00:34:24,228 --> 00:34:25,646
[doctor] Let's see.
606
00:34:26,397 --> 00:34:29,567
-I've had enough since third grade.
-Yeah.
607
00:34:32,361 --> 00:34:34,530
[Jasper] Should I mash these tomatoes?
608
00:34:34,614 --> 00:34:35,740
[Regina] Yeah, I'll help if you want.
609
00:34:35,823 --> 00:34:36,949
[Jasper] Yes. Do it by hand?
610
00:34:37,330 --> 00:34:40,780
Just get in there, yeah.
It says crush them by hand.
611
00:34:40,661 --> 00:34:41,746
You're doing fine.
612
00:34:43,873 --> 00:34:46,167
Go gentle. Gently.
613
00:34:46,250 --> 00:34:49,712
[Jasper] I went to a Montessori school
when I was younger,
614
00:34:49,796 --> 00:34:51,464
along with my sister and cousins.
615
00:34:51,547 --> 00:34:53,800
You wanna start slicing that?
I'll do this.
616
00:34:53,883 --> 00:34:54,717
Sure.
617
00:34:54,801 --> 00:34:57,530
[Jasper] They did well in those schools,
and I didn't.
618
00:34:57,136 --> 00:35:01,557
When he was little, everybody else would
know their alphabet and numbers.
619
00:35:01,641 --> 00:35:06,354
And he couldn't necessarily identify
a number from a letter.
620
00:35:07,210 --> 00:35:08,231
-Sorry.
-That's okay.
621
00:35:08,314 --> 00:35:11,901
So, we had him tested,
and they said that he had ADD.
622
00:35:11,984 --> 00:35:16,739
So we moved him to another school
that really...
623
00:35:16,823 --> 00:35:18,825
A very good school, very good.
624
00:35:20,368 --> 00:35:22,620
[Regina] His third-grade teacher,
halfway through the year,
625
00:35:22,703 --> 00:35:25,790
said something about
him being on medication.
626
00:35:25,873 --> 00:35:29,850
I'm like, "Well, he's not on medication."
627
00:35:29,168 --> 00:35:32,460
And she goes, "Everybody in this class
is on medication."
628
00:35:32,130 --> 00:35:33,631
And I'm like, "He's not."
629
00:35:33,714 --> 00:35:37,385
She goes, "Well, I think that
you might want to try it."
630
00:35:37,468 --> 00:35:41,180
I was only there for two years
before being prescribed Adderall.
631
00:35:58,531 --> 00:36:00,116
[Regina] It was definitely a hard decision
632
00:36:00,199 --> 00:36:03,369
because I was afraid it was gonna hurt
his creativity.
633
00:36:03,452 --> 00:36:07,790
I mean, even at three, you could just see
he had something.
634
00:36:07,874 --> 00:36:09,250
I didn't want to ruin that.
635
00:36:10,459 --> 00:36:13,796
I tried it, and there was a difference
in him that
636
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:16,883
was just able to concentrate more.
637
00:36:16,966 --> 00:36:19,802
I tested it,
because I wanted to see what it did.
638
00:36:19,886 --> 00:36:23,140
And apparently, I have ADHD, too,
because it worked.
639
00:36:23,970 --> 00:36:27,180
So, it just helps you concentrate.
640
00:36:27,101 --> 00:36:28,936
So do you think I have ADD, or...
641
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:32,398
We won't know that until the Ritalin helps
this concentration problem.
642
00:36:33,107 --> 00:36:37,690
[Hinshaw] Not so many years ago,
the medical profession thought,
643
00:36:37,153 --> 00:36:39,864
"Wait a minute. I'm not sure
if this kid has ADHD or not.
644
00:36:39,947 --> 00:36:43,618
There's no definitive test. I'll give her
a stimulant and see if it works.
645
00:36:43,701 --> 00:36:46,746
If it works, she has ADHD.
If it doesn't, she doesn't."
646
00:36:46,829 --> 00:36:48,915
Interesting idea, probably wrong.
647
00:36:48,998 --> 00:36:53,252
Most everybody who takes a stimulant
does focus better and longer,
648
00:36:53,336 --> 00:36:54,879
can pull that all-nighter.
649
00:36:54,962 --> 00:36:56,547
[Jasper] I was being forced to take pills.
650
00:36:56,631 --> 00:37:00,218
That's the thing. I'm not doing it
'cause it's fun and stuff.
651
00:37:00,301 --> 00:37:01,802
I'm doing it 'cause I have to.
652
00:37:02,762 --> 00:37:05,973
When I was in 9th grade,
I was taking 50 milligrams a day.
653
00:37:06,570 --> 00:37:09,393
I'd get home from school
still grinding my teeth, still wired.
654
00:37:09,977 --> 00:37:11,562
I'd be up till 6:00 in the morning,
655
00:37:11,646 --> 00:37:16,567
just painting in my room
'cause I'd still be wired from it.
656
00:37:17,610 --> 00:37:21,322
The only difference between
children and adults, as far as I can see,
657
00:37:21,405 --> 00:37:25,952
in the use of these medicines,
is children don't like the higher doses.
658
00:37:26,350 --> 00:37:30,748
As they get higher, they say,
"I feel nervous, I feel weird."
659
00:37:30,831 --> 00:37:34,919
And something happens in mid adolescence,
that the older adolescents
660
00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:39,480
and adults will often say,
"I feel powerful, I feel grand."
661
00:37:39,632 --> 00:37:41,592
[Jasper] I was super embarrassed by it.
662
00:37:41,676 --> 00:37:43,386
When I started going to public school,
663
00:37:43,469 --> 00:37:45,471
it was like, "Yeah, I'm on medicine."
664
00:37:45,554 --> 00:37:50,434
I thought it was funny, just being like,
"I have to take pills to calm down."
665
00:37:51,519 --> 00:37:52,895
I was always yelling upstairs,
666
00:37:52,979 --> 00:37:55,314
"Did you take your pills?"
667
00:37:55,398 --> 00:38:00,152
Or, if he was not listening to me
or behaving badly,
668
00:38:00,236 --> 00:38:03,239
I would also ask that question,
which is probably
669
00:38:03,322 --> 00:38:05,825
more of the annoyance
of why he picked up on that.
670
00:38:13,165 --> 00:38:16,669
[Jasper] That's when I started writing
stuff like "Take your pills."
671
00:38:16,752 --> 00:38:18,450
And trying to force myself
672
00:38:18,129 --> 00:38:22,490
to be proud of the fact that
I can zone in on something
673
00:38:22,133 --> 00:38:24,135
and completely ignore everything.
674
00:38:24,218 --> 00:38:25,219
I started to be proud of it.
675
00:38:28,889 --> 00:38:30,599
Getting up was the obsession.
676
00:38:30,683 --> 00:38:34,478
Just going around with people
and being, "That's me."
677
00:38:36,630 --> 00:38:38,524
[Regina] They're just beautiful.
Everything he does I love.
678
00:38:39,442 --> 00:38:43,529
[Jasper] The paintings don't really go
with the idea of being on Adderall,
679
00:38:43,612 --> 00:38:46,907
except for just being super meticulous
and super correct,
680
00:38:46,991 --> 00:38:49,160
and repeated over and over again.
681
00:38:49,243 --> 00:38:53,497
That's what I found to be the connection
between that and my Adderall,
682
00:38:53,581 --> 00:38:55,666
was just the obsessiveness.
683
00:39:00,338 --> 00:39:02,882
[Ariana] Everyone says this.
For some reason, everyone's like,
684
00:39:02,965 --> 00:39:04,759
"Everyone has a little ADD."
685
00:39:04,842 --> 00:39:07,803
No, that's not true.
We have distractions in our life,
686
00:39:07,887 --> 00:39:11,682
but not everyone has a brain that
functions like somebody's with ADHD.
687
00:39:13,142 --> 00:39:16,354
One of my earliest memories
is being diagnosed.
688
00:39:16,437 --> 00:39:21,108
It's pretty detrimental for people
to constantly be saying things like that,
689
00:39:21,192 --> 00:39:24,445
because it kind of illegitimizes...
Is that a word?
690
00:39:25,237 --> 00:39:30,534
[chuckling] Illegitimizes the struggle
691
00:39:30,618 --> 00:39:33,704
and the actual power that ADHD might have
over somebody's life.
692
00:39:33,788 --> 00:39:35,664
And it is a disorder.
693
00:39:35,748 --> 00:39:39,126
It causes a lot of issues,
and there's a stigma around it.
694
00:39:39,210 --> 00:39:42,129
And I think that people throw it off
695
00:39:42,213 --> 00:39:45,549
like it's nothing and like everyone has
a bit of it, but it's not true.
696
00:39:48,100 --> 00:39:52,431
[Blue] A lot of people out there think
they have it because they can't focus.
697
00:39:52,515 --> 00:39:56,685
But they really can't focus because
society has just taught you not to focus.
698
00:39:56,769 --> 00:39:58,562
We've become this one-minute society.
699
00:39:58,646 --> 00:40:01,315
Everything is about
shortening attention spans anyway.
700
00:40:03,818 --> 00:40:07,571
So, society, overall, now has ADD.
701
00:40:07,655 --> 00:40:11,867
So then, where's the line between
those that actually were born with it,
702
00:40:11,951 --> 00:40:14,745
and those that have grown up
in an ADD society.
703
00:40:14,829 --> 00:40:17,498
I think that's where
we really are right now.
704
00:40:17,581 --> 00:40:19,834
I try and stay out of the pool
during photo shoots.
705
00:40:19,917 --> 00:40:23,421
-Nick looks like he's really struggling.
-Man, a hard day's work.
706
00:40:23,504 --> 00:40:25,256
[laughing] It's a tough life today.
707
00:40:25,339 --> 00:40:28,217
I didn't have medication in mind
when I went to the doctor.
708
00:40:28,300 --> 00:40:32,540
I kind of knew
that I had the signs of ADHD,
709
00:40:32,138 --> 00:40:33,973
just looking at peers, Russell Simmons,
710
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:36,851
and then I placed myself
somewhere on that spectrum.
711
00:40:37,810 --> 00:40:39,520
I talked to Russell a couple of times.
712
00:40:39,603 --> 00:40:42,690
His answer was,
"I don't take medicine. I do yoga."
713
00:40:42,773 --> 00:40:43,774
And I went to yoga with him.
714
00:40:43,858 --> 00:40:48,529
I was like, "I don't know if this is
gonna get it done for me right now."
715
00:40:49,113 --> 00:40:50,114
Here we go.
716
00:40:50,197 --> 00:40:54,743
[Maxine] We never had a discussion
about his ADD as a child.
717
00:40:54,827 --> 00:40:56,871
I didn't think he needed to have a label.
718
00:40:56,954 --> 00:41:01,292
I think he needed to understand
that he needed coping skills.
719
00:41:01,375 --> 00:41:04,503
She never took me to a doctor
to even consider medication.
720
00:41:05,463 --> 00:41:07,965
She wanted me to learn how to function
within the confines
721
00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:10,676
of what I was
and who I was going to grow up to be.
722
00:41:10,759 --> 00:41:14,722
Shit, am I in the shot again?
Am I in the shot again? My bad.
723
00:41:14,805 --> 00:41:16,807
Having been a special ed teacher,
724
00:41:17,892 --> 00:41:19,935
I've watched, to me,
725
00:41:20,190 --> 00:41:25,274
systemic administration of drugs
to little black boys.
726
00:41:25,357 --> 00:41:29,280
I know upon viewing that,
I really did not want to...
727
00:41:29,111 --> 00:41:31,405
I must say black and Hispanic little boys.
728
00:41:31,489 --> 00:41:33,908
I knew that I did not want that
for my child.
729
00:41:33,991 --> 00:41:37,620
So it was not a happy moment
when he announced that,
730
00:41:37,703 --> 00:41:40,581
after all those years
of not using medication,
731
00:41:40,664 --> 00:41:42,917
that he felt he needed to do that.
732
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:47,460
As a kid, I thought of Ritalin
as what you put the crazy kids on.
733
00:41:47,129 --> 00:41:49,548
Not knowing that I, technically,
should I have been on it.
734
00:41:49,632 --> 00:41:53,385
Everyone was to go on Ritalin
and that was the instant cure.
735
00:41:53,469 --> 00:41:57,181
I didn't see it as instant cure,
so I would never agree to it.
736
00:41:57,848 --> 00:41:59,391
Just ran him outside a lot.
737
00:41:59,475 --> 00:42:00,935
[chuckling]
738
00:42:01,180 --> 00:42:02,686
Ritalin started as a love story.
739
00:42:03,312 --> 00:42:08,108
A scientist in Switzerland
was fiddling around with compounds
740
00:42:08,192 --> 00:42:10,402
and things that were close to amphetamine.
741
00:42:10,486 --> 00:42:15,115
He came up with something he thought
might help his wife be more peppy,
742
00:42:15,199 --> 00:42:19,328
play better tennis, literally,
and maybe keep her weight down.
743
00:42:19,411 --> 00:42:21,372
He was like,
"There's really something to this."
744
00:42:21,455 --> 00:42:25,167
Her name, Marguerite.
She was actually known as Rita,
745
00:42:25,251 --> 00:42:27,753
and so he named it Ritaline.
746
00:42:27,836 --> 00:42:32,675
And it was only after Ciba,
the Swiss company, put it on the market,
747
00:42:32,758 --> 00:42:37,471
that they took off the '"E,"
and we now know it forever as Ritalin.
748
00:42:44,103 --> 00:42:46,230
[Conners] In the beginning,
749
00:42:46,313 --> 00:42:49,984
we were completely enamored
of the short term effect.
750
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:54,113
There's nothing so gratifying
751
00:42:54,196 --> 00:42:58,701
as to have the parent come
the day after you first give a pill
752
00:42:58,784 --> 00:43:01,579
and say, you know, "I can't believe it.
753
00:43:01,662 --> 00:43:03,706
He's actually... He's normal.
754
00:43:04,498 --> 00:43:06,125
He's a likable kid now."
755
00:43:06,208 --> 00:43:08,460
Oh, you're such a good girl.
756
00:43:08,544 --> 00:43:12,923
[Schwarz] Keith Conners was
a seminal figure in the history of ADHD.
757
00:43:13,700 --> 00:43:16,510
He developed the primary rating scale
758
00:43:16,135 --> 00:43:19,888
that was used by doctors
to help understand
759
00:43:19,972 --> 00:43:22,182
the clinical picture in children.
760
00:43:22,266 --> 00:43:26,604
He worked on behalf of pharmaceutical
companies evaluating new drugs.
761
00:43:26,687 --> 00:43:29,315
Nobody knew anything about all this stuff.
762
00:43:29,398 --> 00:43:33,360
These were difference makers
in mental health.
763
00:43:33,444 --> 00:43:36,280
What these doctors
at Johns Hopkins were doing
764
00:43:36,363 --> 00:43:39,450
was seeing if there was another pill
765
00:43:39,533 --> 00:43:42,119
other than amphetamine,
which had a terrible reputation,
766
00:43:42,202 --> 00:43:44,705
that might help these troubled children.
767
00:43:44,788 --> 00:43:47,458
Now, how are you
going to get methylphenidate?
768
00:43:47,541 --> 00:43:50,169
The only way to get it
is to ask Ciba for it,
769
00:43:50,252 --> 00:43:51,754
the Swiss company that marketed it.
770
00:43:51,837 --> 00:43:55,700
They said, "Hey, Ciba,
can we have a gazillion pills?"
771
00:43:55,900 --> 00:44:00,971
And this oil drum sized barrel
of Ritalin pills
772
00:44:01,550 --> 00:44:04,600
ends up coming to Johns Hopkins
so they can do their trials.
773
00:44:04,683 --> 00:44:10,898
[Conners] In those days it was possible
to go to the principal and say,
774
00:44:10,981 --> 00:44:14,260
"You know, we're trying out a new drug."
775
00:44:14,109 --> 00:44:15,944
And he'd say, "Oh, my God,
776
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:20,282
if you could calm these little bastards
down, it would be wonderful."
777
00:44:21,283 --> 00:44:24,995
We arranged a study on the spot
778
00:44:25,790 --> 00:44:28,749
and did a two-week trial.
779
00:44:28,832 --> 00:44:32,127
The children called the pills math pills.
780
00:44:33,212 --> 00:44:35,339
Because, for the first time,
781
00:44:35,422 --> 00:44:39,176
they were able to sit down
and do sums and learn.
782
00:44:39,259 --> 00:44:43,472
The hyperactivity and inability
to pay attention among children,
783
00:44:43,555 --> 00:44:45,849
has been understood for a long time.
784
00:44:45,933 --> 00:44:48,185
That's the way some kids are.
785
00:44:48,268 --> 00:44:51,522
And one of the first names was
Minimal Brain Damage.
786
00:44:51,605 --> 00:44:55,234
They assumed that there
was some sort of damage to the brain.
787
00:44:55,317 --> 00:44:57,528
Either in birth or encephalitis.
788
00:44:57,611 --> 00:45:01,115
It became increasingly clear that
that really wasn't the case.
789
00:45:01,198 --> 00:45:05,285
They said,
"How about minimal brain dysfunction?"
790
00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:10,207
It was only in 1980 that focus began,
if you will,
791
00:45:10,290 --> 00:45:13,877
on the concept of inattention in children.
792
00:45:13,961 --> 00:45:17,881
How about attention deficit disorder.
793
00:45:17,965 --> 00:45:22,636
It had been rebranded as something
that people were willing to accept.
794
00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:27,150
And people were willing
to allow medication for.
795
00:45:27,990 --> 00:45:31,353
[Rasmussen] In 1996, another company
reintroduced, effectively, amphetamine,
796
00:45:31,437 --> 00:45:33,564
same old amphetamine,
for attention deficit
797
00:45:33,647 --> 00:45:35,816
on the US market as Adderall.
798
00:45:35,899 --> 00:45:39,820
And it's grown to absolutely
enormous proportions ever since then.
799
00:45:39,903 --> 00:45:41,905
[psychedelic music playing]
800
00:45:51,373 --> 00:45:56,211
The drug that became Adderall,
its original name was Obetrol.
801
00:45:57,254 --> 00:46:02,468
A pharmaceutical businessman heard
Obetrol was being used occasionally
802
00:46:02,551 --> 00:46:06,555
to treat what was at the time
of course known as ADD.
803
00:46:08,140 --> 00:46:12,561
And he's like, "ADD, all, Adderall."
804
00:46:13,312 --> 00:46:15,220
That's where the name came from.
805
00:46:20,944 --> 00:46:26,158
One of the interesting phenomenas
for me is listening to experts
806
00:46:26,241 --> 00:46:28,285
who were on the ground floor of this.
807
00:46:28,368 --> 00:46:29,620
People like Keith Conners,
808
00:46:29,703 --> 00:46:35,459
now having major questions and regrets
about the outcomes of what they had done.
809
00:46:35,542 --> 00:46:38,128
The medicalizing of everyday life,
810
00:46:38,212 --> 00:46:41,507
that everybody could
potentially have a disorder,
811
00:46:41,590 --> 00:46:44,635
ultimately trivializes the entire process,
812
00:46:44,718 --> 00:46:49,389
and also puts the whole society
in the hands of doctors and Big Pharma.
813
00:46:49,473 --> 00:46:52,518
[interviewer] Would you include yourself
as being in the ADHD business?
814
00:46:52,601 --> 00:46:54,394
Or having been at one point?
815
00:46:54,478 --> 00:46:56,855
I think I was in the ADHD business,
816
00:46:56,939 --> 00:47:02,277
and I wasn't really cognizant
of how much I was in that business.
817
00:47:02,361 --> 00:47:06,198
Uh, there are big bucks
waiting for doctors
818
00:47:06,281 --> 00:47:11,780
who file patients through quickly
and give them prescriptions
819
00:47:11,161 --> 00:47:15,916
without knowing what
the down effects are going to be.
820
00:47:16,833 --> 00:47:20,870
Some of which are good,
but some of which are quite bad.
821
00:47:20,671 --> 00:47:25,259
The United States also
is one of only two developed nations
822
00:47:25,342 --> 00:47:27,886
that allows
the direct to consumer advertising
823
00:47:27,970 --> 00:47:29,513
of controlled substances.
824
00:47:29,596 --> 00:47:31,390
So when it came to ADHD drugs,
825
00:47:31,473 --> 00:47:34,643
it wasn't just for children
who are hyperactive,
826
00:47:34,726 --> 00:47:37,563
who can't concentrate in school.
827
00:47:37,646 --> 00:47:40,524
What they wanted to do is
make the mothers more comfortable.
828
00:47:40,607 --> 00:47:43,527
"Oh, my goodness,
my kid now takes out the garbage!
829
00:47:43,610 --> 00:47:46,822
What a wonderful world,
thanks to Adderall XR."
830
00:47:46,905 --> 00:47:50,659
Every mother is going to be
seduced by an ad
831
00:47:50,742 --> 00:47:54,329
that appears to promise
better grades in a pill
832
00:47:54,413 --> 00:47:56,748
and better grades in a diagnosis.
833
00:47:56,832 --> 00:48:02,254
It was grotesque what these companies did
in the pursuit of profit.
834
00:48:14,474 --> 00:48:17,769
[Hebert] Give it up. Hey, man,
thank y'all for coming out.
835
00:48:17,853 --> 00:48:20,814
Good to see you. You all right?
Good to see you.
836
00:48:20,897 --> 00:48:24,901
My name is Dr. Corey Hebert
and I have a lot of stuff going on.
837
00:48:24,985 --> 00:48:26,612
But I am a physician first.
838
00:48:26,695 --> 00:48:29,364
I'm back.
It's me, the doctor for the people.
839
00:48:29,448 --> 00:48:32,750
You got to get rid of your stress.
It's killing you.
840
00:48:32,159 --> 00:48:34,286
Seeing patient to patient
to patient to patient,
841
00:48:34,369 --> 00:48:37,456
at the end of the day,
I've changed 30 people's lives
842
00:48:37,539 --> 00:48:39,124
and maybe their family.
843
00:48:39,207 --> 00:48:43,462
But when I'm in the media, I'm talking
to a million people at one time.
844
00:48:43,545 --> 00:48:48,133
Dr. Corey Hebert is an ER physician
at the LSU Health Sciences Center.
845
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:51,303
[Hebert] The way a child sees himself
846
00:48:51,386 --> 00:48:53,430
and how a child learns
to cope in the world,
847
00:48:53,513 --> 00:48:54,973
along with his self-esteem and confidence,
848
00:48:55,570 --> 00:48:58,435
is just as important to his success
as his physical health,
849
00:48:58,518 --> 00:49:00,854
because ADHD is a medical problem.
850
00:49:04,900 --> 00:49:07,986
My brother. Good to see you. How you been?
851
00:49:08,700 --> 00:49:09,988
-Good.
-You're looking good.
852
00:49:10,720 --> 00:49:13,867
I'm going to make my patients do well,
and they're going to be successful
853
00:49:13,950 --> 00:49:17,371
with all the tools
that I have in my arsenal.
854
00:49:17,454 --> 00:49:20,624
And that's the bottom line.
I have to do that.
855
00:49:20,707 --> 00:49:22,376
And I know some people say,
856
00:49:22,459 --> 00:49:26,460
"Well, maybe you should not use
medicines as much."
857
00:49:26,129 --> 00:49:28,480
Well, come sit in my chair.
858
00:49:28,131 --> 00:49:32,302
What you must do
is make the correct diagnosis,
859
00:49:32,386 --> 00:49:35,514
not over diagnose and not over medicate.
860
00:49:35,597 --> 00:49:37,766
-Tell me how school's going.
-It's going all right.
861
00:49:37,849 --> 00:49:40,519
"All right"?
What does that mean, "All right"?
862
00:49:40,602 --> 00:49:42,896
Are you making A's, you making B's,
you making C's?
863
00:49:42,979 --> 00:49:45,691
[Sherry] The part I like, he don't talk
to him as if he's his doctor.
864
00:49:46,274 --> 00:49:47,734
He talks to him like he cares.
865
00:49:47,818 --> 00:49:49,653
All the doctors we had, it's go in,
866
00:49:49,736 --> 00:49:52,739
they check everything
and write an appointment.
867
00:49:52,823 --> 00:49:54,408
"We'll see you back here in four weeks."
868
00:49:54,491 --> 00:49:56,340
But with Dr. Hebert, it's not like that.
869
00:49:56,118 --> 00:49:57,994
What about side effects from the medicine?
870
00:49:58,780 --> 00:50:01,390
You been feeling tired?
Tell me what you've been feeling.
871
00:50:01,123 --> 00:50:02,400
-No.
-No.
872
00:50:02,124 --> 00:50:03,917
Stomach ache, headache,
anything like that?
873
00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:06,860
-Headaches. Yeah.
-You get headaches?
874
00:50:06,169 --> 00:50:07,870
How often are you getting them?
875
00:50:07,170 --> 00:50:09,923
He was diagnosed with ADD when he was six.
876
00:50:10,841 --> 00:50:12,467
And I heard all the stigma,
877
00:50:12,551 --> 00:50:14,803
how the medication make the children feel.
878
00:50:14,886 --> 00:50:17,347
For two years, I went
without giving him medication.
879
00:50:17,431 --> 00:50:21,560
We tried therapy and everything,
and nothing would work.
880
00:50:21,643 --> 00:50:23,610
He actually had to repeat kindergarten.
881
00:50:23,145 --> 00:50:26,565
Were you taking your medicine
and then suddenly stopped taking it?
882
00:50:26,648 --> 00:50:27,649
Yeah.
883
00:50:27,733 --> 00:50:31,270
Come on, man, you're killing me.
You're killing me.
884
00:50:31,111 --> 00:50:34,720
When you started taking it again,
you started to get headaches.
885
00:50:34,156 --> 00:50:35,532
-Yeah.
-Okay, I'm glad.
886
00:50:35,615 --> 00:50:37,750
You got to tell me this stuff.
887
00:50:37,159 --> 00:50:40,454
The first set of meds,
I didn't like the way it had him at all.
888
00:50:40,537 --> 00:50:43,623
Wouldn't talk, wouldn't eat,
couldn't sleep.
889
00:50:43,707 --> 00:50:46,752
He already don't say much anyways.
So we got Adderall.
890
00:50:46,835 --> 00:50:50,172
When he first started school,
he was taking it every day
891
00:50:50,255 --> 00:50:53,633
and he had 2.53,
892
00:50:53,717 --> 00:50:56,520
and now his grades are dropping...
893
00:50:57,262 --> 00:50:59,550
'cause he don't take his meds.
894
00:50:59,139 --> 00:51:01,558
But he's at the age where
I won't force him to take it,
895
00:51:01,641 --> 00:51:04,478
'cause he knows the difference,
and he's in high school.
896
00:51:04,561 --> 00:51:08,148
If those are the consequences
he want to deal with, that's on him.
897
00:51:09,232 --> 00:51:12,270
But I don't like the effects
of it sometimes, either.
898
00:51:13,820 --> 00:51:14,905
Y'all good to go.
899
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:19,451
If a child has ADHD,
900
00:51:19,534 --> 00:51:22,329
we'll do whatever it takes
to get them to the next level.
901
00:51:22,412 --> 00:51:25,957
Whether it be medicine,
therapy or some other intervention.
902
00:51:26,410 --> 00:51:27,250
But something must happen.
903
00:51:27,334 --> 00:51:30,420
[Sherry] I was the first in my family
to graduate from high school.
904
00:51:30,504 --> 00:51:33,298
And I always tell my kids,
"I don't want you to be like me.
905
00:51:33,381 --> 00:51:34,549
I want you to be better than me.
906
00:51:34,633 --> 00:51:38,845
So because I have a master's degree,
then I want you to get a doctorate.
907
00:51:38,929 --> 00:51:40,430
I want to be able to call you Dr. King."
908
00:51:41,515 --> 00:51:43,683
-That's him right there.
-[indistinct shouting]
909
00:51:46,144 --> 00:51:49,189
That's my baby. [chuckles]
910
00:51:49,272 --> 00:51:51,149
When he's not on his meds,
911
00:51:51,233 --> 00:51:55,445
he reacts and does things without
thinking about the consequences.
912
00:51:55,529 --> 00:51:57,906
He knows that he should take them,
913
00:51:57,989 --> 00:52:00,158
it's that he don't like
the side effects to them.
914
00:52:00,242 --> 00:52:02,619
He won't take it Friday
and Saturday or Sunday.
915
00:52:02,702 --> 00:52:05,831
If he takes it Monday,
it slows him down completely,
916
00:52:05,914 --> 00:52:07,666
almost to zombie state.
917
00:52:07,749 --> 00:52:11,878
A lot of his friends
don't have to deal with that.
918
00:52:11,962 --> 00:52:14,798
So it makes him feel like he's not normal.
919
00:52:14,881 --> 00:52:17,884
So he'd just rather not take it.
920
00:52:21,888 --> 00:52:23,682
[whistling]
921
00:52:23,765 --> 00:52:26,560
[interviewer] What was the research
you were able to do about Adderall?
922
00:52:26,643 --> 00:52:30,146
[Regina] I went to the doctor,
we tried one medicine, it didn't work,
923
00:52:30,230 --> 00:52:33,608
and then we tried this
and I saw a difference immediately.
924
00:52:34,901 --> 00:52:36,690
Come into my shop.
925
00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:38,530
[Regina] Did I do research?
926
00:52:39,114 --> 00:52:40,574
Shamefully, no.
927
00:52:42,659 --> 00:52:44,619
[interviewer] But you were acting
on the guidance of...
928
00:52:45,537 --> 00:52:49,916
The psychologist, the doctor,
I guess, his pediatrician.
929
00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:52,127
I guess, the teachers at school.
930
00:52:52,794 --> 00:52:55,338
My sister, whose kid was on Ritalin.
931
00:52:55,922 --> 00:52:59,759
I don't know if I would have done it.
Now, I google how to open a can.
932
00:52:59,843 --> 00:53:01,940
I google everything.
933
00:53:01,177 --> 00:53:06,990
But then, I don't know that I would
even have thought to do that.
934
00:53:06,850 --> 00:53:08,180
[blows]
935
00:53:09,436 --> 00:53:11,438
[Jasper] I got to school
and I stopped taking it so much.
936
00:53:11,521 --> 00:53:13,523
I only take it when I write, really.
937
00:53:14,149 --> 00:53:16,735
This isn't pot and booze.
938
00:53:16,818 --> 00:53:19,571
This is meth
and it's screwing with your liver.
939
00:53:19,654 --> 00:53:22,866
When I was in senior year,
I wasn't allowed to drink or anything
940
00:53:22,949 --> 00:53:25,410
because they were worried
it was shutting down.
941
00:53:25,493 --> 00:53:29,247
My blood work wasn't looking good.
There was too many enzymes or something.
942
00:53:29,331 --> 00:53:32,292
I had to constantly be looking
at my poop to see what color it was.
943
00:53:32,375 --> 00:53:34,836
If that's the case,
then this isn't worth it.
944
00:53:37,422 --> 00:53:41,426
So what do we know about
the safety issues with stimulants?
945
00:53:41,509 --> 00:53:44,387
There are cardiovascular risks.
946
00:53:44,471 --> 00:53:47,599
There's also a risk
of a psychotic episode,
947
00:53:47,682 --> 00:53:51,269
even for people
who don't have a history of psychosis.
948
00:53:51,353 --> 00:53:56,240
There's a risk of addiction, long-term.
949
00:53:56,107 --> 00:53:59,527
People can become dependent
on these drugs,
950
00:53:59,611 --> 00:54:03,730
and that's, you know, a horrible fate.
951
00:54:03,156 --> 00:54:05,325
You wouldn't wish that
on your worst enemy.
952
00:54:07,350 --> 00:54:08,620
[Peter] Whether they realize it or not,
953
00:54:08,703 --> 00:54:11,581
they're banking on the fact
that we take Adderall.
954
00:54:12,540 --> 00:54:15,835
The perfect employee at an investment bank
955
00:54:15,919 --> 00:54:20,382
or the perfect employee at a tech firm
is somebody that doesn't say no.
956
00:54:24,511 --> 00:54:30,767
There is a culture of, "You do stay up
16 hours for seven days straight."
957
00:54:31,393 --> 00:54:35,855
If the kid to your right and the kid
to your left are producing these outputs,
958
00:54:35,939 --> 00:54:37,607
then you should be able to produce them.
959
00:54:38,483 --> 00:54:40,902
But if they are taking Adderall,
960
00:54:40,986 --> 00:54:43,710
then you should probably
be taking Adderall.
961
00:54:47,575 --> 00:54:52,205
I was coming out of a particularly rough
few weeks of work.
962
00:54:52,288 --> 00:54:55,125
I was working with a notorious asshole
on Wall Street.
963
00:54:55,208 --> 00:54:59,254
He had another analyst and myself
working around the clock.
964
00:54:59,337 --> 00:55:02,841
And we were up for two and a half days
doing Adderall.
965
00:55:04,718 --> 00:55:09,550
We present all this work that
we'd been doing to the managing director.
966
00:55:09,139 --> 00:55:13,768
And he flips through it
and immediately starts saying,
967
00:55:13,852 --> 00:55:18,106
"Wait, this isn't what I asked for.
I actually need this, this and this."
968
00:55:18,189 --> 00:55:22,235
I turned to this guy in my impaired state,
and I said,
969
00:55:22,318 --> 00:55:25,864
"Fuck you.
This is exactly what you asked for."
970
00:55:27,320 --> 00:55:31,870
And so the next day, I go into work,
keep my head down low,
971
00:55:31,953 --> 00:55:34,789
and the associate comes over to me.
972
00:55:34,873 --> 00:55:37,830
He goes, "Did you hear
what happened last night?
973
00:55:37,167 --> 00:55:39,919
About two or three hours
after you left the office,
974
00:55:40,300 --> 00:55:45,175
the other analyst that you'd been working
with had a seizure from exhaustion,
975
00:55:45,842 --> 00:55:47,260
and he's in the hospital right now."
976
00:55:48,428 --> 00:55:50,550
I immediately go and call him.
977
00:55:50,138 --> 00:55:53,725
He picks up the phone
and I ask him how he is,
978
00:55:53,808 --> 00:55:55,852
and he says,
"My parents are trying to make me quit.
979
00:55:55,935 --> 00:55:59,147
My parents think that enough is enough.
980
00:55:59,230 --> 00:56:02,484
But can you send me this file?
I'm being asked for it."
981
00:56:02,567 --> 00:56:04,319
[EKG beeping]
982
00:56:08,948 --> 00:56:10,950
[Delaney] When I was in high school,
everyone told me,
983
00:56:11,340 --> 00:56:12,202
"You'll love college.
984
00:56:12,285 --> 00:56:14,454
You'll finally be able to
take classes that you enjoy."
985
00:56:15,330 --> 00:56:18,666
I like business,
but it doesn't feed my soul.
986
00:56:18,750 --> 00:56:21,860
I take it because it's relevant.
987
00:56:21,878 --> 00:56:26,700
Stimulants are generally gonna
help people a lot before they hurt them.
988
00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:28,885
They gave them to pilots in World War II.
989
00:56:28,968 --> 00:56:31,960
It will give you something that you want
in the short term,
990
00:56:31,179 --> 00:56:35,266
and so then you're primed that a pill
is going to give me what I want.
991
00:56:36,170 --> 00:56:37,852
"That medicine helped me study,
992
00:56:37,936 --> 00:56:39,771
and I did much better
than I would have without it.
993
00:56:39,854 --> 00:56:41,106
I'm gonna do it again."
994
00:56:41,189 --> 00:56:44,567
And then, "Now I can't sleep.
Does anybody have anything for sleep?"
995
00:56:44,651 --> 00:56:47,445
People need to understand
that if you abuse the stimulants,
996
00:56:47,529 --> 00:56:48,363
and young people do,
997
00:56:48,446 --> 00:56:51,241
we've had many patients
that is their drug of choice.
998
00:56:51,324 --> 00:56:54,494
They tend to pair them with
something that's a downer, like alcohol.
999
00:56:54,577 --> 00:56:57,539
It's easy to have an alcohol overdose
if you're on stimulants
1000
00:56:57,622 --> 00:56:59,666
because you'll be able
to drink a lot more,
1001
00:56:59,749 --> 00:57:02,100
and then the stimulants wear off
and you're in a blackout.
1002
00:57:02,850 --> 00:57:05,421
People use it for work,
and so they think it's okay.
1003
00:57:06,131 --> 00:57:08,216
I have friends
that have gotten to the point
1004
00:57:08,299 --> 00:57:11,886
where they can't really do work
without taking Adderall.
1005
00:57:11,970 --> 00:57:15,431
You get used to it,
and then you can't do work without it.
1006
00:57:15,515 --> 00:57:18,590
You can't be productive.
I've seen that happen to people.
1007
00:57:18,143 --> 00:57:22,397
Most people can use amphetamine
without becoming addicted.
1008
00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:26,609
But ultimately, too large
a group of people become addicted,
1009
00:57:26,693 --> 00:57:32,449
so it becomes unacceptable for the society
to put this much speed out there.
1010
00:57:32,532 --> 00:57:36,161
And we're absolutely
in one of those growing waves right now.
1011
00:57:36,244 --> 00:57:41,820
Those of us on the front line have been
feeling this for about eight to ten years.
1012
00:57:41,166 --> 00:57:43,460
And right at the moment,
1013
00:57:43,543 --> 00:57:47,464
the doctor-prescribed opiate abuse
epidemic is taking center stage,
1014
00:57:47,547 --> 00:57:50,717
but I'm telling you,
Adderall is right below
1015
00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:54,950
the threshold of the opiates.
1016
00:58:08,401 --> 00:58:12,300
[interviewer] Did you start to
attribute success to the Adderall?
1017
00:58:12,113 --> 00:58:15,408
I really struggled with not,
"Am I cheating?"
1018
00:58:15,492 --> 00:58:17,452
But, "Is this really me anymore?"
1019
00:58:18,360 --> 00:58:23,625
Should I still feel as good
about accomplishing something
1020
00:58:23,708 --> 00:58:26,920
knowing that I took Adderall
and that really helped me
1021
00:58:27,300 --> 00:58:28,421
focus on getting it done,
1022
00:58:28,505 --> 00:58:35,303
rather than struggling
through my pain or exhaustion.
1023
00:58:35,386 --> 00:58:38,139
Especially after I started
getting these injuries.
1024
00:58:38,223 --> 00:58:41,226
Dislocated shoulder,
herniated disk in my back,
1025
00:58:41,309 --> 00:58:48,233
L5-S1, torn MCL, torn hamstrings,
torn quads, had my bell rung.
1026
00:58:48,316 --> 00:58:50,818
Adderall helped lift me out of that.
1027
00:58:53,571 --> 00:58:57,283
The problem was,
that really productive feeling,
1028
00:58:57,367 --> 00:59:00,745
and feeling like
I'd conquered the world that day,
1029
00:59:00,828 --> 00:59:06,501
it would fall off into this black spiral,
into a depression, and into...
1030
00:59:06,584 --> 00:59:07,544
It was a crash.
1031
00:59:07,627 --> 00:59:10,713
I'd start crashing off of it,
so then I'd take more.
1032
00:59:10,797 --> 00:59:14,133
A 70 milligram time release in the morning
1033
00:59:14,217 --> 00:59:17,762
and then supplementing
a couple 20 milligrams
1034
00:59:17,845 --> 00:59:19,889
in there throughout the day.
1035
00:59:20,640 --> 00:59:24,394
That crash doesn't really go away
when you take more.
1036
00:59:24,477 --> 00:59:27,897
You spike up and then you're dipping
back down into the crash.
1037
00:59:30,775 --> 00:59:33,236
It would be an exhaustion thing.
1038
00:59:33,319 --> 00:59:38,575
Like, you're running,
but your body isn't going anywhere.
1039
00:59:40,910 --> 00:59:44,122
You start to float away from yourself
in a way.
1040
00:59:47,166 --> 00:59:50,587
[Blue] If you're feeling depressed
and you stop taking Adderall,
1041
00:59:50,670 --> 00:59:53,881
it can lead to the depression more.
1042
00:59:54,465 --> 00:59:55,633
That might just be me.
1043
00:59:55,717 --> 00:59:57,302
Sometimes when you're not on it,
1044
00:59:57,385 --> 01:00:01,681
it's easy to get into your head
and just get lost in that space.
1045
01:00:02,640 --> 01:00:05,351
[Leigh] It bums me out to know
I didn't do it myself.
1046
01:00:05,435 --> 01:00:06,603
Me and the Adderall did it.
1047
01:00:07,186 --> 01:00:09,230
It's definitely a competition
with yourself.
1048
01:00:11,190 --> 01:00:14,527
[Jasper] It was definitely
an identity crisis, coming off of it.
1049
01:00:14,611 --> 01:00:17,447
I will say, me being on it
and me being off of it
1050
01:00:17,530 --> 01:00:19,574
is like two completely different people.
1051
01:00:20,450 --> 01:00:22,243
Like, very different people.
1052
01:00:22,327 --> 01:00:23,536
[player 1] Red three!
1053
01:00:24,495 --> 01:00:26,205
[player 2] Halfway home.
1054
01:00:26,956 --> 01:00:31,252
[Eben] Because it's an amphetamine
and it speeds up your metabolism,
1055
01:00:31,336 --> 01:00:35,131
it dries you out,
it dehydrates your muscles and tissue,
1056
01:00:35,214 --> 01:00:37,800
so you become more prone to injury.
1057
01:00:37,910 --> 01:00:39,385
So that became a real challenge as well,
1058
01:00:39,469 --> 01:00:44,474
staying hydrated through the use.
1059
01:00:44,557 --> 01:00:46,643
I really believed he had ADD.
1060
01:00:46,726 --> 01:00:52,148
It seemed like his was a medical issue
that was being treated.
1061
01:00:52,231 --> 01:00:54,859
Whereas any time
I had used Adderall to study
1062
01:00:54,942 --> 01:00:57,700
or anyone I knew
had used Adderall to study,
1063
01:00:57,153 --> 01:01:00,448
I looked at it as basically, abuse.
Substance abuse.
1064
01:01:00,531 --> 01:01:03,576
But I didn't look at it that way
until later,
1065
01:01:03,660 --> 01:01:06,120
when I realized how much he was taking.
1066
01:01:06,204 --> 01:01:11,000
And then, when I started to also feel like
his sleep was being affected
1067
01:01:11,840 --> 01:01:15,672
and he was maybe using other substances
to help him sleep,
1068
01:01:16,422 --> 01:01:19,342
I started thinking,
"That's not a great cycle."
1069
01:01:20,510 --> 01:01:24,597
[Eben] My prescription for Adderall
and Vyvanse had run out.
1070
01:01:24,681 --> 01:01:28,170
And on a day I didn't have it,
I took a Ritalin.
1071
01:01:28,101 --> 01:01:30,395
They both treat ADD/ADHD.
1072
01:01:30,478 --> 01:01:34,649
That's what I have a therapeutic use
exemption for Adderall for.
1073
01:01:34,732 --> 01:01:36,943
"It'll be the same thing.
It should be fine."
1074
01:01:37,260 --> 01:01:41,322
So of course the day I took the Ritalin,
I took a drug test, failed it.
1075
01:01:45,368 --> 01:01:48,621
They viewed it as
two different compounds, completely.
1076
01:01:48,705 --> 01:01:51,249
And I was hit with a four-game suspension.
1077
01:01:51,332 --> 01:01:53,751
[George Stephanopoulos] This morning,
America's golden girl targeted.
1078
01:01:53,835 --> 01:01:55,920
[announcer] She's just got so much power.
1079
01:01:56,300 --> 01:01:57,630
[Stephanopoulos]
The leaked documents reveal
1080
01:01:57,714 --> 01:02:00,383
19-year-old Biles tested positive
for methylphenidate.
1081
01:02:00,466 --> 01:02:02,885
[reporter] Simone was upfront
about taking the drugs
1082
01:02:02,969 --> 01:02:06,305
and was given a therapeutic use exemption
for the medication she takes.
1083
01:02:06,389 --> 01:02:07,890
[Stephanopoulos]
And one other decorated Olympian
1084
01:02:07,974 --> 01:02:10,101
has grappled with ADHD, Michael Phelps.
1085
01:02:10,184 --> 01:02:11,686
But some people are now asking
1086
01:02:11,769 --> 01:02:15,690
if those drugs gave her an unfair leg-up
at the Olympics.
1087
01:02:31,330 --> 01:02:34,208
[Hinshaw] We've arrived
at the land of controversy.
1088
01:02:34,292 --> 01:02:37,300
Should everybody get SAT tutors?
1089
01:02:37,754 --> 01:02:40,882
That's enhancing performance,
but only certain families can afford it.
1090
01:02:41,632 --> 01:02:43,426
Should everybody drink coffee?
1091
01:02:43,509 --> 01:02:46,220
This goes way beyond psychiatry
or clinical psychology.
1092
01:02:46,304 --> 01:02:47,638
It goes way beyond mental health.
1093
01:02:48,222 --> 01:02:49,599
What's a level playing field?
1094
01:02:50,391 --> 01:02:54,228
Stimulants and ADHD
are in the middle of that playing field.
1095
01:02:55,354 --> 01:02:57,231
If we play our cards right,
1096
01:02:57,315 --> 01:03:01,944
we're going to have to bring ADHD,
mental health stigma,
1097
01:03:02,280 --> 01:03:05,615
the use of medications out in the open,
and have a debate
1098
01:03:05,698 --> 01:03:09,760
about what kind of performance enhancement
we should allow
1099
01:03:09,160 --> 01:03:11,537
and what we value
and don't value in our society.
1100
01:03:14,248 --> 01:03:19,450
[Nathanael] Your experience changes a lot,
as you spend time on a medication.
1101
01:03:19,128 --> 01:03:25,301
Initially, it was definitely jet fuel.
I didn't need much at all.
1102
01:03:25,384 --> 01:03:28,638
I'd take five or ten milligrams a day
and be fine.
1103
01:03:28,721 --> 01:03:34,519
There was a lot of optimism, and a lot of
almost obsession with getting things done,
1104
01:03:34,602 --> 01:03:37,730
but it was so fun.
And that's not really true anymore.
1105
01:03:37,814 --> 01:03:39,190
So now I take 40 a day.
1106
01:03:41,192 --> 01:03:43,486
I do things to make that stronger,
as well.
1107
01:03:46,656 --> 01:03:47,657
I get up in the morning,
1108
01:03:47,740 --> 01:03:51,118
and I have a milky, like, protein shake,
which is a base.
1109
01:03:52,495 --> 01:03:54,997
If I were to have a glass of orange juice,
1110
01:03:55,810 --> 01:03:57,583
that would be very acidic,
1111
01:03:57,667 --> 01:04:01,921
and it would destroy a lot of the Adderall
before I absorbed it.
1112
01:04:08,511 --> 01:04:13,933
Brain-hacking is a subset of the larger
biohacking sphere.
1113
01:04:14,160 --> 01:04:17,520
Which is, "I wanna biohack myself
and run a mile faster."
1114
01:04:17,603 --> 01:04:18,771
Probably the film Limitless
1115
01:04:18,855 --> 01:04:21,774
has done more than anything else
to make the public think,
1116
01:04:21,858 --> 01:04:25,570
"This is a thing. There are drugs
that can make a person smarter."
1117
01:04:25,653 --> 01:04:28,865
Like, "Information is pouring into my head
like Neo in The Matrix."
1118
01:04:32,118 --> 01:04:33,327
I know kung fu.
1119
01:04:33,411 --> 01:04:34,871
For the last ten years,
1120
01:04:34,954 --> 01:04:39,750
there's been a lot of discussion
about cognitive enhancement.
1121
01:04:39,834 --> 01:04:45,600
A lot of the discussion has been
about the ethics of it.
1122
01:04:45,890 --> 01:04:46,173
Is it cheating?
1123
01:04:46,257 --> 01:04:48,920
Or the safety of it.
1124
01:04:48,175 --> 01:04:50,595
But everybody seemed to be assuming that,
1125
01:04:50,678 --> 01:04:53,472
of course,
it would enhance your cognition.
1126
01:04:53,556 --> 01:04:58,603
So we decided to test and find out.
1127
01:04:58,686 --> 01:05:00,897
In some very interesting data
1128
01:05:00,980 --> 01:05:04,984
from Martha Farah
at University of Pennsylvania's lab,
1129
01:05:05,670 --> 01:05:08,613
some of the initial trials had been done
1130
01:05:08,696 --> 01:05:11,574
of college students
without any sign of ADHD
1131
01:05:11,657 --> 01:05:14,785
taking either stimulants or placebo
1132
01:05:14,869 --> 01:05:19,457
and every week, getting measures,
tests of learning.
1133
01:05:19,540 --> 01:05:24,837
It was across a huge battery
of different tasks.
1134
01:05:24,921 --> 01:05:30,900
In the end,
we found no significant difference
1135
01:05:30,920 --> 01:05:33,262
between Adderall and placebo,
1136
01:05:33,346 --> 01:05:36,474
except for one question.
1137
01:05:36,557 --> 01:05:42,146
"Do you feel that the pill you took today
enhanced your cognition?"
1138
01:05:43,940 --> 01:05:48,277
[Hinshaw] So one of the conclusions may be
that stimulants are very good at boosting
1139
01:05:48,361 --> 01:05:51,720
your false self-confidence
and how well you're learning.
1140
01:05:51,155 --> 01:05:54,742
People think of amphetamines
being smart pills. They're not.
1141
01:05:54,825 --> 01:05:59,664
They certainly can help you stay awake
when you should be asleep,
1142
01:05:59,747 --> 01:06:03,793
can help you endure a boring task
a lot longer.
1143
01:06:03,876 --> 01:06:07,755
But it doesn't add anything new
or cognition.
1144
01:06:07,838 --> 01:06:12,802
The single, most universal effect
that amphetamine, Adderall,
1145
01:06:12,885 --> 01:06:18,265
has on anyone who takes it,
is a feeling that they're doing better.
1146
01:06:18,349 --> 01:06:24,188
That's not a small effect, because
the feeling of doing better at something
1147
01:06:24,271 --> 01:06:27,274
improves your motivation
and confidence in doing it.
1148
01:06:27,358 --> 01:06:28,943
If you feel good about yourself
1149
01:06:29,260 --> 01:06:31,362
and you feel more driven
to do what you wanna do,
1150
01:06:31,445 --> 01:06:33,447
one could argue that
that's an enhancement,
1151
01:06:33,531 --> 01:06:38,703
even if it's not actually increasing
your IQ in a very concrete sense.
1152
01:06:38,786 --> 01:06:41,747
[Lawler] Often, Adderall is an entry point
for people
1153
01:06:41,831 --> 01:06:45,501
into finding out that cognitive enhancers
are a thing.
1154
01:06:50,172 --> 01:06:54,176
As a millennial male
that went to a great college,
1155
01:06:54,260 --> 01:06:57,179
worked at private equity funds
and hedge funds,
1156
01:06:57,263 --> 01:07:01,183
it's impossible to avoid stimulants.
1157
01:07:01,267 --> 01:07:02,268
Stimulant abuse.
1158
01:07:03,144 --> 01:07:06,480
Because our definition of medication
has changed.
1159
01:07:06,564 --> 01:07:09,775
It used to be getting over an illness
1160
01:07:09,859 --> 01:07:15,531
versus taking advantage of a loophole
to acquire a Schedule II drug.
1161
01:07:15,614 --> 01:07:20,953
We had some friends who were on Adderall
for off-label uses
1162
01:07:21,370 --> 01:07:24,331
and they weren't getting good results.
1163
01:07:24,415 --> 01:07:26,876
They thought that they needed it
to be successful.
1164
01:07:26,959 --> 01:07:28,440
We didn't want that,
1165
01:07:28,127 --> 01:07:32,965
so we started looking at alternatives
that were over the counter,
1166
01:07:33,490 --> 01:07:38,137
without needing to go pretend
to have ADHD.
1167
01:07:38,220 --> 01:07:42,349
I just got this vision
of a very simple page.
1168
01:07:42,433 --> 01:07:43,726
Just three elements.
1169
01:07:43,809 --> 01:07:48,105
A question, a "Yes" button,
and "No, thank you, I'm satisfied."
1170
01:07:48,189 --> 01:07:51,317
We can ask, "Do you want great sleep?"
1171
01:07:51,400 --> 01:07:54,153
"Yes" or "No, thanks, I'm satisfied."
1172
01:07:54,236 --> 01:07:57,782
If they hit "No," it moves on to,
"Do you want more focus?"
1173
01:07:57,865 --> 01:08:00,159
If they hit "Yes,"
they go straight to the OptiMind LP.
1174
01:08:03,370 --> 01:08:04,538
How can I help you today?
1175
01:08:05,289 --> 01:08:08,751
[man on speaker]
What if your brain could do more? It can.
1176
01:08:08,834 --> 01:08:13,380
Sometimes people put us in the same boat
as prescription stimulants,
1177
01:08:13,964 --> 01:08:15,758
and I hate that because we're not.
1178
01:08:15,841 --> 01:08:19,345
We're meant to help healthy people
achieve their purpose.
1179
01:08:19,428 --> 01:08:21,347
I don't have ADHD.
1180
01:08:21,430 --> 01:08:27,610
I'm a healthy person looking for things
that can help make me
1181
01:08:27,144 --> 01:08:32,191
the optimal and ultimate version of me
that I have in my mind.
1182
01:08:32,274 --> 01:08:33,442
I think internally,
1183
01:08:33,526 --> 01:08:37,696
everybody is looking for that
ultimate next version of themselves.
1184
01:08:37,780 --> 01:08:42,326
We started AlternaScript
taking ingredients that had been studied
1185
01:08:42,409 --> 01:08:45,790
by the top neuroscience institutes
in the world,
1186
01:08:45,162 --> 01:08:46,997
and saying,
"Do any of these actually work?"
1187
01:08:47,665 --> 01:08:49,542
And then things started to take off.
1188
01:08:51,430 --> 01:08:54,922
One day, all of a sudden,
we're on the front page of VICE News
1189
01:08:55,500 --> 01:08:58,634
about how cognitive enhancement pills
are going commercial.
1190
01:08:58,717 --> 01:09:00,940
This research is out there.
1191
01:09:00,177 --> 01:09:04,598
And now it's just up to entrepreneurs
to put it all together into something
1192
01:09:04,682 --> 01:09:06,225
that people can take every day.
1193
01:09:06,308 --> 01:09:09,687
[man on speaker]
The mind is a beautiful thing.
1194
01:09:09,770 --> 01:09:10,771
Unleash yours.
1195
01:09:10,855 --> 01:09:11,772
Matt, anything you'd add?
1196
01:09:12,648 --> 01:09:14,817
You said excited and dedicated.
1197
01:09:14,900 --> 01:09:18,863
I'd just do one more take
of that first phrase.
1198
01:09:18,946 --> 01:09:21,282
And maybe try picking one or the other
1199
01:09:21,365 --> 01:09:24,326
just to drive straight through
to the point.
1200
01:09:24,410 --> 01:09:26,787
-What about excitacated?
-"Excitacated"?
1201
01:09:26,871 --> 01:09:28,455
[laughing]
1202
01:09:28,539 --> 01:09:31,333
-Sounds like a new prescription.
-[laughs]
1203
01:09:37,890 --> 01:09:40,500
Cognitive enhancement is not going away.
1204
01:09:40,759 --> 01:09:43,596
It's the future of the human species.
1205
01:09:44,471 --> 01:09:46,150
All of this is inevitable.
1206
01:09:46,980 --> 01:09:48,934
The nootropics movement with microdosing,
1207
01:09:49,180 --> 01:09:51,395
with using things like modafinil,
1208
01:09:51,478 --> 01:09:55,858
people are taking steps
to get to that next level,
1209
01:09:55,941 --> 01:09:58,986
whether it's physically or cognitively.
1210
01:10:00,946 --> 01:10:05,784
In parts of Silicon Valley now, people are
very interested in micro doses
1211
01:10:05,868 --> 01:10:10,915
of LSD and psilocybin
for enhancement purposes.
1212
01:10:10,998 --> 01:10:16,962
And in a culture in which
innovation is given such a high priority,
1213
01:10:17,460 --> 01:10:19,506
I can imagine ways in which
that might play into
1214
01:10:19,590 --> 01:10:23,385
the idea of having
a more expansive view of things
1215
01:10:23,469 --> 01:10:26,472
at the same time that you can get
some of the benefits of focus.
1216
01:10:29,350 --> 01:10:31,769
[Lily] It's not like a glass of wine
or a joint,
1217
01:10:31,852 --> 01:10:35,640
or any way that people use to decompress.
1218
01:10:35,147 --> 01:10:39,485
I really see it as a supplement,
as a tool.
1219
01:10:41,320 --> 01:10:43,155
So I microdose every four days.
1220
01:10:43,989 --> 01:10:48,619
I grind the mushrooms into a powder,
1221
01:10:48,702 --> 01:10:51,330
and I put them in capsules
1222
01:10:51,413 --> 01:10:55,376
that measure out to 0.2 grams.
1223
01:10:56,877 --> 01:11:00,500
Microdose is about a tenth to a twentieth
1224
01:11:00,890 --> 01:11:04,134
of a conventional dose
of a psychedelic substance.
1225
01:11:04,218 --> 01:11:06,387
That includes the classic psychedelics,
1226
01:11:06,470 --> 01:11:11,600
LSD, psilocybin, mushrooms,
mescaline, peyote.
1227
01:11:11,684 --> 01:11:15,312
You can expect zero psychedelic effects.
1228
01:11:15,396 --> 01:11:17,731
The rocks don't glitter even a little,
1229
01:11:17,815 --> 01:11:20,693
the flowers have no great interest
in you personally.
1230
01:11:20,776 --> 01:11:25,239
In fact, if you have anything like that,
that's too high a dose.
1231
01:11:26,657 --> 01:11:29,868
[Lily] In college,
I got Adderall from other kids.
1232
01:11:29,952 --> 01:11:31,996
I didn't fill my own prescription.
1233
01:11:32,830 --> 01:11:35,582
After college,
I felt this mounting pressure from work
1234
01:11:35,666 --> 01:11:39,128
to start using my prescription again,
1235
01:11:39,211 --> 01:11:42,298
and it was 90 milligrams a day.
1236
01:11:42,381 --> 01:11:44,758
The mentality around here is
it should have been done yesterday,
1237
01:11:44,842 --> 01:11:47,594
and move fast, break things.
1238
01:11:47,678 --> 01:11:50,723
I hate that phrase,
but that's something everybody uses.
1239
01:11:50,806 --> 01:11:53,580
You shouldn't be 28 and 29
and talking about
1240
01:11:53,142 --> 01:11:55,602
significant burnout and breakdowns.
1241
01:11:58,731 --> 01:12:01,817
Are there better, safer, simpler,
1242
01:12:01,900 --> 01:12:07,720
less physiologically
disruptive substances,
1243
01:12:07,156 --> 01:12:09,241
and that have better side effects?
1244
01:12:09,325 --> 01:12:15,122
The substance has never any side effects.
They're all effects.
1245
01:12:15,205 --> 01:12:16,832
It's just which ones you wanna...
1246
01:12:16,915 --> 01:12:19,918
If you're selling,
you go for one set of effects.
1247
01:12:20,200 --> 01:12:23,547
If you're looking at helping people
who are being tortured
1248
01:12:23,630 --> 01:12:26,884
by their pharmaceutical,
you look at other effects.
1249
01:12:26,967 --> 01:12:28,927
[Lily] When you take Adderall,
there's a sense of urgency
1250
01:12:29,110 --> 01:12:30,846
to get through things
as quickly as possible,
1251
01:12:30,929 --> 01:12:34,516
but this is, you're comfortable
with taking your time,
1252
01:12:34,600 --> 01:12:37,895
and you realize that you can
take your time to execute properly.
1253
01:12:37,978 --> 01:12:42,483
The clue came to me some years ago,
where I learned that Albert Hofmann,
1254
01:12:42,566 --> 01:12:45,694
who was the man who first synthesized LSD
1255
01:12:45,778 --> 01:12:50,783
said that this very low dose area
was incredibly under-researched.
1256
01:12:50,866 --> 01:12:55,287
And he said, had Sandoz, his company,
been more active,
1257
01:12:55,371 --> 01:12:57,623
there would have not been
a market for Ritalin.
1258
01:12:57,706 --> 01:13:00,834
[Lily] But instead, we have this
really highly addictive substance
1259
01:13:00,918 --> 01:13:03,921
that is a moneymaker for companies
and doctors.
1260
01:13:04,400 --> 01:13:06,340
LSD and mushrooms aren't that.
1261
01:13:09,593 --> 01:13:10,677
[Eben whistles]
1262
01:13:10,761 --> 01:13:14,932
When I count to four, you do it.
One, two, three, four.
1263
01:13:15,150 --> 01:13:16,767
[woman on TV] Starts now on Disney Junior.
1264
01:13:16,850 --> 01:13:17,684
I got it.
1265
01:13:19,812 --> 01:13:23,190
What? What was that face for?
1266
01:13:23,273 --> 01:13:28,737
I haven't had any urge to take Adderall
since my career ended, really.
1267
01:13:28,821 --> 01:13:30,739
My mindset is totally different.
1268
01:13:30,823 --> 01:13:36,912
I used to need that energy
and that mental chaos. [chuckles]
1269
01:13:37,871 --> 01:13:40,374
[woman on speaker] It's easy to forget
that on the most basic level,
1270
01:13:40,457 --> 01:13:44,503
we are alive and breathing.
We may have problems...
1271
01:13:44,586 --> 01:13:46,797
[Eben] Now, meditation has
helped tremendously
1272
01:13:46,880 --> 01:13:50,801
with my focus, my mental clarity.
1273
01:13:50,884 --> 01:13:55,139
So, of course, I have days where I'm like,
"Fuck, man. I was in the NFL."
1274
01:13:56,560 --> 01:13:59,590
As a rookie coming into the League,
people are telling you,
1275
01:13:59,143 --> 01:14:01,186
"You're not gonna be
a football player forever.
1276
01:14:01,270 --> 01:14:03,897
The NFL, it stands for 'Not For Long.'"
1277
01:14:03,981 --> 01:14:08,193
But you're a 21-year-old kid
who's just realized his dream.
1278
01:14:08,277 --> 01:14:11,280
All that shit's
going right over your fucking head.
1279
01:14:11,363 --> 01:14:14,366
I really took it as far as I could.
1280
01:14:14,450 --> 01:14:15,701
I gave everything I had
1281
01:14:15,784 --> 01:14:19,204
until the day came
when I just couldn't do it anymore.
1282
01:14:22,400 --> 01:14:25,419
[Brit] The moment
Eben was ready to retire,
1283
01:14:25,502 --> 01:14:28,505
I said, "What are you going to write?
Start writing."
1284
01:14:28,589 --> 01:14:30,591
[exhales heavily]
1285
01:14:32,259 --> 01:14:33,760
[Eben] Sometime in high school,
1286
01:14:33,844 --> 01:14:37,806
I fell in love with the idea
of becoming a writer.
1287
01:14:37,890 --> 01:14:41,727
I started reading Bret Easton Ellis,
Less Than Zero.
1288
01:14:41,810 --> 01:14:45,314
I just felt in my gut,
I was like, "Creative writing's for me."
1289
01:14:45,397 --> 01:14:49,318
So, as my career came to an end,
1290
01:14:49,401 --> 01:14:51,278
my wife really encouraged me
1291
01:14:51,361 --> 01:14:55,532
to take these stacks of journals I had
1292
01:14:55,616 --> 01:14:58,785
of writing from my experience
in the league.
1293
01:15:00,370 --> 01:15:04,249
"Riding lightning, that's the best way
I can describe taking Adderall.
1294
01:15:04,333 --> 01:15:07,669
I took two that Monday night
before kickoff."
1295
01:15:15,594 --> 01:15:20,641
It's really exciting to be able to
be on the verge of figuring out
1296
01:15:20,724 --> 01:15:24,728
who am I gonna be in this life
after football.
1297
01:15:26,104 --> 01:15:27,856
[cell phone ringing]
1298
01:15:28,941 --> 01:15:31,944
-Hey, my baby.
-[Rahiem] Yes, Mother.
1299
01:15:32,270 --> 01:15:35,822
Don't text me, "I'm at the game, Ma."
You answer the phone when I call you.
1300
01:15:35,906 --> 01:15:38,158
I show him this picture all the time.
1301
01:15:38,242 --> 01:15:42,746
I'm like, "See, this is what happens
when you don't take your medication."
1302
01:15:42,829 --> 01:15:46,708
He kept getting into physical altercations
with another student at the school,
1303
01:15:46,792 --> 01:15:48,544
and Rahiem's nose got broken.
1304
01:15:48,627 --> 01:15:52,297
I actually had to press charges
against the other kid.
1305
01:15:53,298 --> 01:15:58,220
And I felt like
I could no longer handle him,
1306
01:15:58,303 --> 01:16:02,307
so I allowed him
to go live with his father in New Jersey.
1307
01:16:05,727 --> 01:16:08,230
That's his oldest brother. He's 18.
1308
01:16:09,640 --> 01:16:13,443
There was plenty of incidents.
And the day he turned 15, he stole my car.
1309
01:16:14,903 --> 01:16:16,290
[interviewer] To do what?
1310
01:16:16,113 --> 01:16:18,730
He just stole my car.
1311
01:16:19,324 --> 01:16:22,619
I went to go look for my car,
and it was gone.
1312
01:16:22,703 --> 01:16:25,455
Parents are crying.
By the time they get to the doctor,
1313
01:16:25,539 --> 01:16:27,958
they're crying, they're hurting.
1314
01:16:28,410 --> 01:16:29,668
They don't know what to do
1315
01:16:29,751 --> 01:16:31,461
with these little people
when they act like that.
1316
01:16:32,450 --> 01:16:34,798
[Sherry] There's so much negativity
going around,
1317
01:16:34,881 --> 01:16:38,218
saying that if a kid does this too much,
if a kid does that too much,
1318
01:16:38,302 --> 01:16:41,805
a doctor automatically wants to say
that they're ADD or ADHD
1319
01:16:41,888 --> 01:16:43,640
to just give them medication.
1320
01:16:43,724 --> 01:16:47,185
Me being a parent
that actually has a child with it,
1321
01:16:47,269 --> 01:16:51,773
and I can tell the difference
between Rahiem and my oldest son.
1322
01:16:52,357 --> 01:16:56,528
And as a parent, sometimes
it's disheartening because...
1323
01:16:59,114 --> 01:17:03,327
you feel like you're not doing everything
that you can do for your kids.
1324
01:17:14,671 --> 01:17:16,715
I still try and encourage him from here.
1325
01:17:17,299 --> 01:17:18,592
I ask him every day I talk to him,
1326
01:17:18,675 --> 01:17:22,638
"Did you take you take your meds?"
And he goes, "Yes, Mom, I took my meds."
1327
01:17:22,721 --> 01:17:28,143
But... I'm hoping this is a good move.
1328
01:17:28,894 --> 01:17:30,937
'Cause I'm missing him like crazy.
[chuckles]
1329
01:17:35,776 --> 01:17:38,695
[Regina] I don't think he'd have gotten
through high school without Adderall.
1330
01:17:38,779 --> 01:17:40,489
He would have gotten through,
1331
01:17:40,572 --> 01:17:42,574
but I can't say
that he would be where he is,
1332
01:17:42,658 --> 01:17:44,451
to be honest, if he wasn't on it.
1333
01:17:44,534 --> 01:17:49,998
As much as I think he's very angry at me
for putting him on the Adderall,
1334
01:17:50,820 --> 01:17:53,877
I think that he appreciates
me being the heavy,
1335
01:17:53,960 --> 01:17:57,500
because if I wasn't, you know...
1336
01:17:58,674 --> 01:18:00,300
where would we all be?
1337
01:18:04,805 --> 01:18:06,390
[Nathanael] I was very fortunate.
1338
01:18:06,473 --> 01:18:11,561
I started this process on New Year's,
2016, and said,
1339
01:18:11,645 --> 01:18:15,107
"Erin," my girlfriend,
"I think I'm going to do a boot camp."
1340
01:18:15,190 --> 01:18:20,112
And then I did all of the things
that I had to do
1341
01:18:20,195 --> 01:18:22,322
to make that happen.
1342
01:18:22,406 --> 01:18:24,282
One of those things
was getting on Adderall.
1343
01:18:27,536 --> 01:18:29,287
I pretty much got everything I wanted.
1344
01:18:29,371 --> 01:18:33,375
The pay's great,
and a recruiter from Google approached me.
1345
01:18:33,458 --> 01:18:36,878
And that's crazy. For me, that's crazy.
1346
01:18:36,962 --> 01:18:39,381
There's no way any of that
would have been possible
1347
01:18:39,464 --> 01:18:40,716
without the medication.
1348
01:18:40,799 --> 01:18:44,344
That might be because
I have really severe ADHD,
1349
01:18:44,428 --> 01:18:47,764
and have a hard time
performing in the ways needed.
1350
01:18:47,848 --> 01:18:51,435
It might be because it was jet fuel
and it got me where I needed to go.
1351
01:18:51,518 --> 01:18:53,812
I don't try to draw a line between those.
1352
01:18:55,939 --> 01:18:59,670
[interviewer] Have you tried
any of the stimulants yourself?
1353
01:18:59,151 --> 01:19:02,904
One time, in that first Ritalin study.
1354
01:19:02,988 --> 01:19:05,907
It was sort of late afternoon.
1355
01:19:05,991 --> 01:19:11,790
I felt like it was
such an enhancement of my day.
1356
01:19:12,122 --> 01:19:16,126
So, yes, you know,
it was a good experience,
1357
01:19:16,209 --> 01:19:21,631
and thank goodness I did not decide
to dip into that barrel ever again.
1358
01:19:26,511 --> 01:19:28,540
[interviewer] Did you get your grades
back already?
1359
01:19:28,138 --> 01:19:31,850
I got one grade back from the exam
I took this morning at 10:00.
1360
01:19:32,684 --> 01:19:34,186
And I got an A.
1361
01:19:35,200 --> 01:19:37,939
The stress really
doesn't ever leave entirely.
1362
01:19:38,230 --> 01:19:44,404
But I'm excited, once I graduate,
to be able to leave that at work.
1363
01:19:45,697 --> 01:19:47,491
I have a pretty good feeling
1364
01:19:47,574 --> 01:19:50,760
that this will be the end
of my relationship with Adderall.
1365
01:19:50,160 --> 01:19:54,498
Hopefully, in the adult world,
I'll manage my time well enough
1366
01:19:54,581 --> 01:19:58,960
that there won't be a time where
I need to take prescription drugs,
1367
01:19:59,440 --> 01:20:00,712
to get my work done.
1368
01:20:00,796 --> 01:20:01,880
Hopefully, it's the end.
1369
01:20:01,963 --> 01:20:05,467
I don't know where I will be,
but when I picture it,
1370
01:20:05,550 --> 01:20:07,969
I don't picture myself taking Adderall.
1371
01:20:09,120 --> 01:20:11,807
[Blue] The purpose of Adderall for me
is to focus on work.
1372
01:20:11,890 --> 01:20:14,935
If I can get to a place
where work is running itself
1373
01:20:15,180 --> 01:20:18,210
and things are okay, then I don't need it.
1374
01:20:18,104 --> 01:20:20,398
If I hit
for $200 million dollars tomorrow,
1375
01:20:20,482 --> 01:20:21,942
I'd never take Adderall again.
1376
01:20:22,250 --> 01:20:23,985
But then I need my Adderall
to remember to play,
1377
01:20:24,690 --> 01:20:27,300
'cause I keep forgetting
to play the lottery. [chuckles]
1378
01:20:29,282 --> 01:20:31,785
[Ariana] I'm just so much more boring
when I'm on my medication.
1379
01:20:31,868 --> 01:20:33,787
Also angrier.
1380
01:20:33,870 --> 01:20:37,123
But yesterday, I had to study all day,
so I was on Vyvanse,
1381
01:20:37,207 --> 01:20:39,709
and I took an Adderall,
and I was wired the whole time.
1382
01:20:39,793 --> 01:20:42,879
[chuckles] Felt like shit,
but I got my work done.
1383
01:20:42,963 --> 01:20:46,490
So, it's just this balance
you have to figure out.
1384
01:20:50,428 --> 01:20:52,472
[Delaney] I'm just getting
a little disillusioned
1385
01:20:52,556 --> 01:20:54,683
with this higher education thing.
1386
01:20:54,766 --> 01:20:56,977
You need a bachelor's degree
to be anybody.
1387
01:20:57,600 --> 01:21:00,856
And we're all high on ADD meds
as a group of 20-something-year-olds
1388
01:21:00,939 --> 01:21:03,191
just fighting each other for...
1389
01:21:03,275 --> 01:21:05,735
For what? To set the curve in a class?
1390
01:21:07,112 --> 01:21:09,531
[Schwarz] What you have here is a dynamic
1391
01:21:09,614 --> 01:21:15,745
of not only people using what is
a dangerous drug,
1392
01:21:15,829 --> 01:21:17,831
particularly when used improperly.
1393
01:21:17,914 --> 01:21:21,459
But you also find
a bit of an arms race building up
1394
01:21:21,543 --> 01:21:26,506
where if enough people see
that their competition is doing it,
1395
01:21:26,590 --> 01:21:29,301
they feel like they kind of
have to do it, too.
1396
01:21:30,260 --> 01:21:34,848
[Chatterjee] I think focusing on the use,
or abuse,
1397
01:21:34,931 --> 01:21:37,183
depending on how people feel about this,
1398
01:21:37,267 --> 01:21:39,644
is symptomatic of something broader.
1399
01:21:40,812 --> 01:21:44,357
This highly competitive environment
1400
01:21:44,441 --> 01:21:48,361
in which people feel compelled
1401
01:21:48,445 --> 01:21:52,320
to compete beyond their possibilities
to get ahead.
1402
01:21:53,533 --> 01:21:56,328
This kind of focus
1403
01:21:56,411 --> 01:22:01,166
on material progress and productivity...
1404
01:22:02,250 --> 01:22:03,960
What's the cost of that?
1405
01:22:04,440 --> 01:22:07,297
And is that a cost
we're willing to live with?
1406
01:22:08,423 --> 01:22:11,760
[Sherry] I wouldn't say
that I'm happy to have Adderall,
1407
01:22:11,843 --> 01:22:15,347
but I'm happy that
Adderall is an option for him.
1408
01:22:18,934 --> 01:22:20,477
[Jasper] After not being on it
all the time,
1409
01:22:20,560 --> 01:22:24,522
I feel more comfortable with who I am,
with my body and stuff.
1410
01:22:27,567 --> 01:22:30,111
I would never put my kid
on Adderall, ever,
1411
01:22:30,195 --> 01:22:32,238
'cause I know what it does to you,
1412
01:22:32,322 --> 01:22:34,741
and it's not fun being on it.
1413
01:22:35,617 --> 01:22:36,868
I feel like it was too easy to put
1414
01:22:36,952 --> 01:22:40,664
a kid on something close to meth
and not question it.
1415
01:22:41,581 --> 01:22:45,126
There's other things you can do.
Just teach him how to focus.
1416
01:22:51,633 --> 01:22:53,426
It was about being the best.
1417
01:22:55,762 --> 01:23:02,727
The NFL is a symbol of that level, really.
1418
01:23:04,620 --> 01:23:08,900
[interviewer] Do you wish that
you had not taken that Ritalin?
1419
01:23:10,235 --> 01:23:11,403
[inhales deeply]
1420
01:23:11,486 --> 01:23:15,115
No. I mean, I was doing what I had to do,
1421
01:23:15,198 --> 01:23:20,537
and I'm happy to be on this
next chapter of my life.
1422
01:23:20,620 --> 01:23:25,709
It's never so bad that
you can't climb out of the hole.
1423
01:23:27,877 --> 01:23:31,600
[Brown] Adderall, the drug of our time.
1424
01:23:31,923 --> 01:23:36,970
I suppose the question of what's lost
if we all were in an Adderall world,
1425
01:23:37,530 --> 01:23:40,223
is the question, "What is it all for?"
1426
01:23:43,351 --> 01:23:45,145
I just lost my thought.
Hang on one second.
1427
01:23:45,228 --> 01:23:48,398
I had it. I had an example.
1428
01:23:49,858 --> 01:23:56,310
What we also might say is lost
is what human beings do
1429
01:23:56,114 --> 01:24:00,493
when they muse and when they reflect
1430
01:24:01,327 --> 01:24:03,913
and when their thoughts wander.
1431
01:24:05,810 --> 01:24:06,458
I know what I'll do. Okay.
1432
01:24:07,420 --> 01:24:10,300
And out of that comes, what?
1433
01:24:10,860 --> 01:24:13,480
Creativity, art,
1434
01:24:13,965 --> 01:24:17,302
extraordinary moments of human connection.
1435
01:24:18,970 --> 01:24:23,641
Of course, also moments
of intense human pain and grief,
1436
01:24:24,225 --> 01:24:29,522
but I would describe them
as the experience of being human itself.
1437
01:24:40,283 --> 01:24:42,285
[synth music playing]
119256
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