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Candidate for U.S. Congress Wants Drug Testing for College Students

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat is reporting that Bill Haas out of Missouri who is looking to make his mark on the U.S. legislature said that he would like to see colleges randomly drug test their students for the illegal use of the prescription drug Adderall. Adderall is a highly addictive schedule II Narcotic that is frequently prescribed for treating attention deficit disorder (ADD). College students who do not have ADD are taking the drug illegally to help them focus during exam preparation.

A study by the University of Kentucky reported that 34 percent to 60 percent of undergraduates use Adderall or similar drugs. Of those students, 97 percent use them illegally to improve their grades. The study cited that students said they thought using the drug had improved their grades by one to two letter grades.

Haas's proposed legislation would apply to all students at colleges and universities that get federal funding for student financial aid. Haas suggested that the legislation could take away that funding from schools that do not do random tests to determine if students are using Adderall.
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