North Dunedin is a place like no other. 20,000 students, textbooks in tow, eyes bleary from hours spent poring over readings and lecture recordings – and a bustling black market for Ritalin to fuel it all. From the artificial glow of Central Library during exam season, to the drunken depths of Castle at 3am, Ritalin – a Class B drug legally prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) – is sought after far and wide. A common side effect: students diagnosed with ADHD find themselves under pressure to market their medication. Critic Te Ārohi caught up with Remy, Amber, Lisa and Allison*, who have all experienced this and handled it differently – some openly selling Ritalin, others squirrelling it in their closets like the box of Iced Animals you suspect your flatmate of pilfering.
ADHD and Ritalin’s Role
Now in her second year of study at the University of Otago, Remy* was diagnosed with ADHD in Year 12 and has been relying on Ritalin ever since. She explained the disorder to me as I perched on her surprisingly comfortable flat couch. “There are two sides of your brain, right?” I nodded (I’m a psych student). “For most people, they’re working together.” She moved her hands together up and down like a wave. “And for people with ADHD, they’re both working, but not together.” Her hands fell out of time, undulating separately. “But if they take meds, the sides work together.” In Aotearoa, ADHD is primarily treated with methylphenidate-based medications such as Ritalin.
In big words, ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder – a group of conditions that affect brain development, usually starting in childhood and lasting throughout a person’s life. ADHD, in particular, affects the part of the brain that deals with planning, impulse control, considering consequences, and completing tasks. All pretty important stuff that comes into play pretty often, and helps us with questions like: how could I best get up to that stranger’s flat’s roof? Do I really need to sit on this stranger's flat’s roof? Could I eat shit falling off this stranger’s flat’s roof? Am I actually going to climb up there, or stand here and look at it until Campus Watch asks if I need help getting home?
Remy compared being unmedicated to swimming underwater – a kind of blurry, detached state. “I’ll be thinking a thought and then realise it's been five minutes and nothing will have gone into my brain. I can’t land on the word I’ll be looking for, I can’t motivate myself to start studying, I can’t keep up, I can’t understand concepts.”
Ritalin pulls Remy back to the surface, bringing her “up to base level” while calming her hyperactivity. To study, she occasionally combines caffeine, nicotine and Ritalin, calling it “a nuclear way to do it” (disclaimer: she does not recommend it). “I can imagine that if someone without ADHD just took Ritalin, they’d feel like me on all three: through the roof,” she said. “From base level, it gets you wired, so in unmedicated people you just get this big spike of energy and then a come down. That's why people do it for nights out: the spike.”
The Spike
Indeed, Ritalin is the budget-friendly drug of choice for those looking to mute the gnawing anxiety of assignments. For less than the price of a strawberry matcha, students can snag a pill that keeps them awake longer and helps them get drunk faster. Some have gone so far as to call it the dollar-store MDMA – for those whose course-related costs have been drained by the latest baggie split for Hyde Street.
Remy admitted to occasionally giving it to her friends for a night out, though it’s never turned into a side-hustle for her. “I just want them to have a good time, because I’m having a good time. I never really made a business out of it. I usually trade mine for a drink, or I’m just being nice as a friend. I don’t really feel the need to sell.”
Remy’s flatmate sat at their kitchen table as we talked. When we reached the topic of recreational Ritz, she added her two cents: “If I’m going to do drugs, I’m going to do DRUGS, y’know?” To her, Ritalin is a ‘baby drug’: “It’s like smoking cab instead of weed – no, it’s like drinking fucking sherry or something.” In a moment of flatmate telepathy, she locked eyes with Remy, and they both yelled, “IT’S LIKE DRINKING FOR THE TASTE, NOT TO GET DRUNK. WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT?”
While no one in their right mind drinks for the taste (or can’t afford to, anyway) “everybody wants Ritalin.” Describing BCom boys as “sluts” for it, Remy gave Critic Te Ārohi her best impression: “They’ll be like, ‘it helps you get on the piss bro, it keeps you up all night, it's just like MD but cheaper. Please, bro please,” she mimed a panting dog, “give it to me.” Remy admitted that she’d resorted to hiding her supply in halls last year, and thought it was “a bit sad that everyone relies on it here”.
Pills, Thrills and… Study Skills?
On the other hand, many students turn to Ritalin for something closer to its intended purpose: locking in. The widespread issue of, often overwhelming, academic pressure and stress helps explain why Ritalin is in such high demand.
Competitive entry programmes are a clear example of the pressure students are under. Over 1000 students take HSFY each year, with less than 300 places in Medicine. Similarly, last year over 700 students did first-year Law, competing for just 250 places. A 2024 Youthline survey found that 55% of New Zealanders aged 15-24 considered stress to be the biggest issue they faced, with the main cause being school or university, exams, and studying.
“It definitely got massive at the end of last year in exam season,” Remy said about Ritalin. “You could hear it being talked about all the time.” Packets were spotted strewn about her hall as evidence of students’ silver study bullets. After a moment's thought, Remy added, “I guess some people just want more energy; you can get so drained in uni as a student.” Amber, another second-year student diagnosed with ADHD more recently and struggling with finding the right medication, told me that she could also empathise, saying many students take Ritalin to “cope” with the pressure as well as a form of escapism. “Lots of people do it to get away, to have a night off,” she said.
But while neurotypical students may think that Ritalin and other ADHD medication helps them focus, a 2023 study from the University of Cambridge has shown that these drugs can actually have the opposite effect. Taking methylphenidate-based drugs such as Ritalin for simple tasks meant that while motivation did increase, it also made people erratic and careless. This meant that not only did their accuracy and efficiency decrease, the time and effort that the tasks took increased. Instead, people taking the placebo in the studies actually did exhibit an increase in performance.
Remy’s flatmate had pitched the placebo theory from her kitchen perch. “It's like a kind of a placebo I think sometimes. Like, ‘Oh I’ve just taken this thing, I'm going to work so hard now’ and so they do.” Call to mind that one Harry Potter scene: Harry tricks Ron into thinking he’s slipped him a lucky potion before Quidditch trials, revealing after Ron’s spectacular performance that it was a trick of the mind. Placebo – it’s about believing it works.
No medication comes without a long list of potential side effects, and Ritalin is no different. These can include long-term effects on the chemistry of your brain, increased levels of anxiety, personality changes, increased risks of heart problems, and just generally feeling like shit. For those without ADHD, however, their likelihood increases – especially when mixed with alcohol. Which is a lot of the time.
A third-year student, Lisa*, refuses to sell her Ritalin, and has thought a lot about the ethics behind it. She believes that selling Ritalin can absolutely put people in danger and, on a deeper level, people selling their medication can actually invalidate people with ADHD. “People will take it and think, ‘Oh, this just helps you focus for a few hours, therefore the people getting ADHD diagnoses are just doing it to have access to this, or to have access to it as an extra source of income.’” Worried about the casual way ADHD medication is misused by students, Lisa believes selling can undermine those with the condition, especially because for every student she’s met who has ADHD “Ritalin doesn't just help with studying, it’s so much more than that, it helps with every aspect of life. Even for the ones who do sacrifice their treatment and sell their drugs.”
Mind the (Treatment) Gap
It seems everyone spoken to had something to gain from Ritalin. While Remy said she could see the appeal for the masses – “people love magic things, I get the appeal; there's no pamphlet or support service that can just give you six hours of focused study” – she had concerns about those who need the medication finding it difficult to get their hands on it. “There are people without prescriptions that want to use it every single day, and just can’t get it.”
The treatment gap in NZ for ADHD is huge. An estimated 2.6% of the adult population have the neurodevelopmental disorder, but only 0.6% are receiving treatment – leaving more than 100,000 Kiwis without the medication they need.
A lot of people also give up on the exhausting path to diagnosis because of just how long the process takes. In Amber’s words, it’s a “fucking long journey.” For her, it was years and years of being bounced from one health professional to another. First doctor’s appointments, then a private psychologist who referred her to a private psychiatrist after another year or two. The psychiatrist diagnosed Amber in one session, leading her to conclude, “In the public system you just won’t get through.”
Amber’s story rang true for Lisa, who had a similar experience. “You pretty much have to go the private route, unless you want to wait like four years to get a diagnosis,” she agreed. Allison, another third-year, moved to New Zealand from overseas and had to get reassessed. This took two years, and she said if she hadn’t gone private she would still be on a waitlist. She added, “If you have ADHD people will not listen to you, especially if you’re a woman. Bitches just be crazy, apparently.”
To Sell or Not to Sell
For those looking to dip their toes into the underground market of Ritalin – whether for a one-off party or as a combatant to phone distractions in exam time – all eyes turn to those with prescriptions. But there’s a mixture of opinions among those with the goods on whether or not to reap the rewards.
“I’m so grateful I got that diagnosis and I got that opportunity because lots of people can’t,” said Remy. “Why would I sell mine when people are trying so hard to get access to them, when I’ve been lucky enough?” Lisa doesn’t sell at all, partially for this reason. She believes that people selling their ADHD medication absolutely makes it harder for other people to get prescriptions since doctors don’t want to diagnose people who they think are just gonna give their medication away.
Allison disagreed. “If you're using it to study then you obviously need it. It's like if you take Ibuprofen and your pain goes away, then you know that you have pain. If you take Ritalin and your brain noise goes away, then you know that you have brain noise.” In this context, the illegal sale of Ritalin is a way to bridge the gap, allowing undiagnosed and unmedicated students to function at the level they would if the healthcare system actually met their needs.
Not only is the process of getting diagnosed with ADHD long and challenging, it’s also incredibly expensive. Amber’s appointments altogether cost over $4000 and the diagnostic session over $1000. Remy agreed that this was pretty much the norm – “$800 for two sessions is pretty standard,” adding that “that's just two one hour appointments.” Even for Allison, who had already been diagnosed and was just getting reassessed, it still cost a “good couple thousand dollars.” On top of that, Allison also had to fill the first dose out of pocket, to prove that it worked. “If I wasn't privileged enough there would be no way that I would have Ritalin and then I would have to get it illegally.”
Now, Allison sells her leftovers “every now and then” since it costs “an arm and a fucking leg” to get diagnosed. “I might as well make some bank back." While most people, like Remy and Allison, are only giving away the occasional pill for a drink or so their friend has a good night, some people are selling their whole supply. Someone once came into Remy’s room asking for one, triggering her to ask: “What? You literally have ADHD.” The Ritz-seeker replied: “Nah, please. I sold them all.” Remy knows people who have made good money, but then get poor exam marks. “It's definitely a tradeoff.”
Amber also would typically sell her whole supply, although she would also just give them away as freebies half the time. “I didn’t charge a rate, I didn’t give a fuck about the money,” she said. Instead, Ritalin, and other variations of methylphenidate, didn’t work at all for her. She figured that other people can use them: “They aren’t doing anything for me.”
Pill Problems
Issues with methylphenidate-based medication are common in New Zealand, with many facing challenges in accessing consistent and effective ADHD treatment.
Methylphenidate-based medications include Ritalin and Rubifen, both available in immediate release, and long-acting forms, and Concerta which is only available as long release medication. Dexamfetamine-based medications are the only other stimulant option available in NZ and until recently were only available in short-acting form.
Pharmac has now decided to also fund lisdexamfetamine (branded Vyvanse). This decision not only expands treatment options for people like Amber, it also eases the pressure on the supply of methylphenidate ADHD medication in New Zealand – of which there is currently a shortage.
Amber is hopeful that more treatment options will make a difference: “I’m giving myself two years to sort out the medication, and then I’ll try again at med.” She believes strongly that there is something deeply wrong with the current system in New Zealand. “If universities had systems that could diagnose, it would be so beneficial and decrease the amount of people doing what I did and giving it out when they shouldn’t be. I just wanted to help people in need,” she said.
Ritalin: A Symptom?
It would seem the huge demand for Ritalin is more than just classic Dunners students looking for anything they can snort on a night out, or searching for study hacks after skipping all their lectures and running out of Monster energy drinks in the library vending machines. Instead, it reflects a system of wider issues – from the overwhelming academic pressure put upon students, to the level of underdiagnosis in the New Zealand system. In a country where getting assessed for ADHD can cost thousands of dollars and take months, it’s hardly surprising that students have lost faith in the healthcare system and instead turned to each other.
Until universities and healthcare systems in New Zealand address these root causes – by providing improved academic support, and making diagnosis and treatment for ADHD more accessible – students will continue to seek their own solutions.
*Names changed.