A 15-page paper to write. A major final exam to study for. When the pressure is on, college students sometimes feel they need a little help to make sure they can concentrate. Sometimes that help is a pill.With more and more people being medicated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), drugs like Ritalin and Adderall are readily available, even for those not diagnosed.

“It is relatively easy to get,” said Henri DeFrance, 18, a freshman at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, about ADHD prescription medication. “People take it to concentrate once in a while.”

With classes for the fall semester ending and finals beginning at universities across the country, the pressure increases for students to finish projects and get good grades. Increasingly, some turn to prescription drugs intended for others.

Those age 18 to 25 who said they had nonmedical use of prescription-type drug in the last month increased to 6.3 percent in 2005 from 5.4 percent in 2002, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health Rates by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

In another study, 75 percent of students who reported using prescription stimulants illicitly in 2004 chose Amphetamine-dextroamphetamine products like Adderall, whereas 24 percent used Methylphenidate drugs like Ritalin. That Web-based survey by a pharmacy professor at Northeastern University and other researchers was conducted with a random sample of 4,580 full-time undergraduate students.

The primary motive cited for illicit use was to enhance academic performance.

Janice Kessler, a licensed clinical social worker, addiction specialist, and alcohol and drug coordinator at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, is aware of the trend.

“There have been students who have reported taking friends’ Ritalin to try to focus or for fun” in the past, she said, but she has not heard anything about it lately.

The buzz at WestConn right now is that ADHD medications can be had for a low price.

“There is a lot of Adderall in our building,” said Mat Hamilton, 18, a freshman from Branford who lives on the midtown campus in Danbury. He and other Litchfield Hall residents said they know someone who sells ADHD medication for $5 a pill.

Ryan Malkin, 18, a freshman from New Milford who lives in Litchfield Hall, said he’s heard of students taking Ritalin before a big exam. He believes there could be side effects from taking a drug not prescribed for the user.

“It happens,” said freshman Amie Marcou, 18, of North Attleboro, Mass., of other students using ADHD drugs. With pressure to have good grades and compete in college, some students turn to those drugs to get everything done. She pointed out that at least they are not illegal substances, like cocaine.

WestConn freshman Chris Luzon, 18, of Rockaway, N.Y., sees little harm in taking ADHD pills if one takes them only once in a while to help with studying.

“I have never heard of anyone OD-ing (overdosing) on Adderall,” Luzon said.

But there are many possible side effects and health issues, warned Sharon Guck, WestConn’s alcohol and substance abuse program coordinator.

“It is never a good idea to take any medication that is not prescribed to you,” she said.

Guck explained that even if a drug does not get a person high, “it is still a controlled substance. Because it is not a narcotic, they don’t think it is a drug.”

TV commercials for prescriptions to treat anything from sleep disorders to depression can lead students to think prescribed drugs are acceptable for everyone. Drug companies have “desensitized the whole generation” to believing that medications are not controlled substances, Guck said.

“It is a problem — students abusing ADHD medications,” she said.

About two years ago, the staff added information about prescription drug abuse to the substance abuse education programs on campus, from brochures to talks in dormitories. Officials stress that students should not drink alcohol and take medications.

“It is a synergistic effect,” she said of the danger of mixing alcohol and prescription drugs.

Liz Jorgensen of Insight Counseling in Ridgefield said teens in high school are also taking other students’ ADHD medications to be able to pay more attention to their studies or to lose weight.

“It is fairly common,” she said, and has been for a few years. “I knew quite a few kids who wanted to take them for the SATs.”

Some students pressure those who have been prescribed the drugs to give or sell them some. That is why she recommends students not tell others they take these medications.

“Kids will lie to their doctor and say they lost them,” Jorgensen explained, to get more pills if they are giving or selling them. “They are very easy to get.”

There needs to be more constant supervision of drug prescriptions by parents, she said.

Most students who legitimately need ADHD medicine know that without it they can’t function or get things done, so they don’t want to give it away if their doctor is strict about how much they can have.

Dr. Simon Ovanessian, of the Department of Psychiatry at Danbury Hospital Center for Child and Adolescent Services, said ongoing ADHD medication follow-ups with patients are most effective in helping prevent students from misusing them.

There are red flags, including if a student is prescribed medication but doesn’t seem to get better over time. That could mean the medication is not working or that a patient is not taking it.

If there is suspicion, Ovanessian will sometimes recommend a urine test be done to see if the patient is properly taking the medication.

Pediatric neurologist Dr. Martin Kremenitzer, of Associated Neurologists of Danbury, said his practice has a system of checks and balances to try to prevent ADHD medication abuse.

He tries to meet with a student and his parents when diagnosing and giving medication. He then makes sure to meet with the student about every three months to see that the medication is working and if not, why. He then follows up with parents and college advisers.

“There is an obligation to follow up frequently,” Kremenitzer said, especially with ADHD prescription drugs, which are “regarded as extremely abused and misused.”

Kremenitzer said it’s a shame when the drugs are abused by some people, because parents might then be reluctant to let their child take medication he really needs.

He is always careful about giving extra medication, he said. He has had college-age students tell him they lost their medication, it was stolen or they accidently put it in the washing machine, but he had to resist giving them more to make sure they were not misusing the drug.

The ADHD drugs must be handled strictly, he said.

With safer, legal ways to stay awake and alert to study and focus, some students don’t see the point of buying or using ADHD medications.

“I think coffee, energy drinks are more suitable,” said Jon Hansen, 19, a freshman. “Why would you want to harm yourself to stay up a few more hours?”

“I have heard of friends taking it at other schools to stay up late to do papers,” said Sarah Turco, a junior, originally of Wallingford, but she thinks “it is kind of stupid” to take pills unless you need them.

Her philosophy is “drink coffee, wake up early.”

Senior Clay Eles, who commutes from Fairfield, also thinks caffeine will do the trick.

“That is what coffee is for,” he said of staying alert to study. “It is less harmful to your body.”