According to the free market, the value (to a student) of a nearly complete night of studying is $30. How did I arrive at this figure? Sophomore year, I was prescribed Ritalin, a mental stimulant, to counter the effects of some other medications I was on. The side effects were too unpleasant, and I ended up not using most of the bottle. Somebody found out I had leftovers, and soon a couple acquaintances offered me $30 per pill. I declined, of course, and threw the pills away.

Ritalin is often prescribed to help ADD/ADHD children concentrate on their work. Even for people without ADD/ADHD, it is a stimulant, making it easier to stay awake and concentrate.

The appeal to students is obvious: a dose of Ritalin can help you stay up all night studying, with reduced need for breaks to relax the mind. The people that asked me for Ritalin were studying for exams, and wanted an edge in their preparation. And rather than study regularly for that edge, they found it easier and more convenient to pop a stimulant for a couple nights before their exams.

They’re not alone. A study from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor found that three percent of the student body had illegally used Ritalin in the past year (2,250 students participated in the study). Men and women reported equal levels of use.

Based on my informal research, students are taking one of three types of study drugs. First, there are the methylphenidates: Ritalin and its stronger, longer-acting brother Concerta. They are similar in many ways to cocaine. Next, there’s Adderall, an amphetamine chemically related to crystal meth that has a high potential for addiction and abuse. Finally, we have Provigil, which is not a traditional stimulant; it promotes wakefulness and possibly boosts memory, but doesn’t aid concentration.

Generally speaking, I’m not so worried about the side effects of these drugs; if students want to take the risk, it’s their body. What really concerns me is the potential that Provigil, Concerta and Adderall will become one more advantage rich students have over poor students.

Performance enhancing drugs have long been part of college academic life. Caffeine has been around and consumed as a stimulant for centuries. For the really needy (i.e., medical students), there was speed.

The difference between the old guard and the new wave is efficacy, safety and cost. Caffeine and speed were two different trade-offs of efficacy and safety. Caffeine is relatively innocuous, but it’s not that potent. Speed, on the other hand, will make sure you’re up to finish that term paper, but it’s incredibly addictive and has serious adverse effects. And none of these drugs were that expensive or hard to find 30 years ago. Everybody had effective access to them.

The new drugs are both quite potent and relatively safe. They are FDA-approved both in terms of efficacy and safety, so odds are you’ll have a good experience. Granted, there are still side effects, but overall, there’s little disincentive to taking these drugs. Except cost. As I noted before, one Ritalin pill goes for $30 on campus, and I’d be surprised if Provigil or Adderall went for less.

Sure, if you have ADD or narcolepsy, you can get these drugs by prescription and have your insurance cover it, but in that case the drugs aren’t enhancing your performance, they’re just bringing you up to the norm. As performance enhancers, these drugs are strictly black or gray market, which explains their hefty price tag. For a rich kid, spending a few hundred dollars per semester on these drugs isn’t a problem. But I doubt the poorer among us can afford that.

Like test prep courses and private schools, Adderall and company will become one more way rich students get an edge over their peers. As drugs advance, there will be even fewer drawbacks to their use, further widening the gap. Those who want to keep up in the meritocracy will have to invest in chemically-enhancing his or her academic performance. It may be expensive, but you won’t be able to afford not to.

Naturally, the biggest beneficiaries of any arms race are the arms dealers. Had I not thrown that bottle of Ritalin away, I could have been $600 richer. And it would have been easy to convince my psychiatrist that I still needed the drugs, for a tidy profit of $900 a month, minus my $4 insurance co-pay.

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