Like most college students who choose to avoid doing their homework through mindless bouts of Netflix and Hulu, I started a new show and became quickly sucked in to the world of Grown-ish, the spinoff from ABC's amazingly hilarious Black-ish. Grown-ish deals with Zoey Johnson, the Johnson's eldest daughter who is starting her first year in college. Like all new tv shows, the first episode deals with character introductions but in the second episode, the topic immediately deals with Adderall and the students' dependence on them to juggle schoolwork and their social lives. This show doesn't glorify this addiction but it also doesn't show the dire consequences of it either. Instead, the only repercussions Zoey suffers after taking some Adderall is a spending spree on shoes that amounts to a fee of over 500 dollars. And while regret is shown, Zoey is still shown taking it at the end of the episode. This is a departure from a Save By The Bell where an episode had Jesse experience a breakdown after being confronted by Zack for abusing caffeine pills (I had to look up caffeine pills because I didn't understand how this was dangerous because I assumed it's just like drinking a ton of coffee. Apparently, I'm right. Minus some side effects. Actually, never mind, don't listen to me, I'm an over caffeinated, cheap college student). That episode had a serious tone and, ironically, has spawned many meme's and jokes despite the seriousness of it. It's also interesting how the setting of school has changed over the years. Back then, hearing about an addiction like that created a life teaching lesson while nowadays, it's more like:
"I took some Adderall for my exams so I could stay up late to study"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah"
"Those exams were super hard dude. I literally knew nothing"
"Oh my gosh, right?"
and that's how the conversation would probably go. Of course, this is my view from past experiences with friends so this doesn't apply to everyone. Just wanted to clarify that.
So to sum it up, Grown-ish treats Adderall addiction like a habit that most college students have or know of. If I had just watched this episode with no prior knowledge of the side effects (loss of appetite, weight loss, dry mouth, stomach, upset/pain, nausea/vomiting, dizziness, headache, diarrhea, fever, depression) or that it's a controlled substance that can be easily abused and snorted (I had no idea that was a thing) then I wouldn't think that much of it. But of course it's an issue because anything that's taken in excess is always a problem. That's the common sense part.
You make a great point. Often in media from the 80s and 90s do you see a character struggling with an addiction and the show focusing on the ramifications of such a choice. I do wonder if that has to do with the political climate of when those shows were filmed though. That was the era of "Your Brain on Drugs," the War on Drugs by the US government, and the initiation of such school programs like DARE. That is strange that a major network allowed such writing to be aired, especially when the US is dealing with such an increase of substance abuse in the form of opiates.
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