+ OPINION FREE-FOR-ALL » WE HEAR FROM YOU Text your #FFA submissions to 785-289-UDK1 (8351) Shoutout to emily for always getting low lottery numbers! Playing candy crush while you are drunk is still hard Save the Wall at McCollum. For a Memorial! It can be done! This whole "being a human and needing sleep" thing is really putting a dent in my life right now. Since when are instructor evaluations online? That was a valuable waste of class time. I sure hope you can name your dog Pizza cause that's my dog's name. My roommate left his clothes in the laundry for 3 months and it's still there... Uggs aka loaves of bread baked around your feet FOUR DAYS, FOUR DAYS, FOUR DAYS OF CLASS LEFT you're a warriors fan. i'm a warriors fan. your sister is a warriors fan. we're all warriors fans. 82-0. honestly crunchy chicken cheddar wraps are 3/4 of the reason I'm scared to graduate KANSAN.COM | MONDAY, DEC. 7, 2015 Do you believe in love at first sight? Absolutely, I fall in love with every dog I see. Not a coincidence that Netflix and Chill is only a D away from Netflix and Child So, the end of the semester means I'm really poor, but also it's Christmas, so I'm in trouble. Shout out to teachers who include 10,000 different pages, documents, and sub-pages on their Blackboard pages. I saw a cute old couple walking their doggies today and remembered their two dogs were litter mates and have grown up together, but didn't know the people's names. Priorities barack obama 2016 jaden smith 2020 still tbh READ MORE AT KANSAN.COM FILE PHOTO/KANSAN During finals, many students abuse the prescription drug Adderall to enhance their focus while studying so they can get better grades on their tests. If you don't want to seriously mess up your health, refrain from taking non- prescription stimulants to aid studying ABBY PETRULIS @apetrulis Plenty of students need prescribed medications like Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta or Vyvanse to focus on daily activities,and there's nothing wrong with that. However, just because these drugs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration doesn't mean they're guaranteed to be safe for your body, and using them without a doctor's recommendation can have serious legal and health implications. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency uses a system to classify drugs with higher potential for abuse called scheduling. Once a drug is added to a schedule, it becomes a controlled substance. Schedule I drugs are considered to have no medical use and are completely outlawed in the U.S. - like heroin. Schedule II drugs are drugs that have been found to have medical purpose but carry a high potential for abuse. This list includes pretty much all of the drugs commonly used to treat ADD and ADHD. There are also schedules III, IV and V drugs with decreasing amounts of abuse potential. Most drugs are unscheduled, like blood pressure medication, birth control or antibiotics. What a lot of people don't think about is that if you are in possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, you are committing a felony. In fact, even if you have a legitimate prescription, it is illegal to sell it to someone else. These drugs aren't like blood pressure pills or birth control — they're more regulated because they are so easy to abuse. Adder- all's chemical structure is different from the structure of meth by only one methyl group. (That's CH3, which those who have taken organic chemistry know is an incredibly small change.) Methamphetamine is arguably one of the biggest illicit drug problems in the country. Again, just because it's approved by the FDA doesn't mean it can't hurt you. However, it doesn't mean that people who need to take these stimulants to function are going to become meth addicts -it just means it should only be used for its medical purpose, not to provide extra energy or focus during finals week. Stimulants such as these work mostly by increasing the amount of neurotransmitters floating around in your brain, but that doesn't mean it only affects your brain when you pop a pill. They can also raise your blood pressure, so if you already have high blood pressure and then take a stimulant, it can be seriously harmful. These medications interact with some antidepressants as well as other drugs, which is why it's important only to take it if your doctor has prescribed it and your pharmacist has talked to you about it. Every time a pharmacy fills a prescription, a pharmacist has to run a drug interaction to make sure it's safe for you. If you take these drugs without knowing how they could affect other medications you take or any health conditions you might have, the implications could be serious. Additionally, many students don't think about what the strength of the pills they get are, or whether the pills are extended release or immediate release. If you're used to getting immediate release and you accidentally end up with extended release, it could have serious affects because of the different dosing regimen you can't take the extended release as frequently. However you choose to prepare for finals week, know that there are other options to pulling an all-nighter. Caffeine is a good option, but make sure you aren't drinking so much coffee that you reverse the good parts of caffeine. A lot of students turn to prescription drug abuse when they are panicked and it seems like the only option. Take five deep breaths, pour yourself some coffee, and focus on what you do know, not what you don't. Let's leave the prescription stimulant use to those who really need it. - Edited by Derek Skillett To succeed on finals, students should set goals manage their time and avoid costly all-nighters VANESSA ASMUSSEN @VanessaAsmussen The final weeks of the semester are upon us. As always, the time seems to have passed much more quickly than imagined, and students can be left feeling a bit stressed as they wrap up their classes with papers, projects and final exams. Although the end is in sight, much is left to do before students head home for winter break. Setting goals and practicing good time Many college students find it too easy to procrastinate, believing that they will have plenty of time to accomplish their goals the weekend before finals week. However, students should begin studying early and set goals to accomplish so they are not left with everything to do at the last minute. management in these last two weeks will help students avoid stress and produce their best work. For many, setting goals sounds a lot easier than actually following through with them. Even so, knowing that you will be doing yourself a favor in the long run can give you motivation to be productive. Students should take study breaks and reward themselves when a task is completed to keep their momentum going. If possible, students should try to avoid pulling an all-nighter to get everything done. While staying in the library all night to get last-minute studying in might seem like the best way to do well on a test, an all-nighter can actually make it more difficult to concentrate and recall information. Getting plenty of sleep the night before can help students feel refreshed, energized and ready to succeed. With the surrounding temptations of friends. Netflix and Stop Day celebrations, it can be hard to effectively prioritize schoolwork. However, if students haven't already started prepping for finals week, it would be in their best interest to start now in order to make it easier on themselves in the long run. Starting early, getting things done in a timely manner and getting plenty of sleep can help students better retain knowledge, feel confident and finish the semester strong. Vanessa is a junior from Neodesha studying journalism and sociology. — Edited by Rebeka Luttinger Check out KANSAN.COM for exclusive online content @KANSANNEWS /THEKANSAN @UNIVERSITY DAILYKANSAN HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR LETTER.GUIDELINES: Send letters to editor@kansan.com. Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the email subject line. Length: 300 words The submission should include the author's name, year, major and hometown. Find our full letter to the editor policy online at kansan.com/letters. CONTACT US Katie Kutsko Editor-in-chief kkutsko@ikansan.com Emily Stewart Advertising director estewart@kansan.com THE KANSAN EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Katie Kutsko, Emma LeGault, Emily Stewart and Anissa Fritz. + .