Will Hill: Some players need Adderall or 'there's going to be problems'
Adderall capsules at a Long Island pharmacy (January 12, 2012) Credit: Newsday/Audrey C. Tiernan
Now that Will Hill’s suspension is over, he believes the league should change it’s policy in regard to Adderall, the prescription drug he was caught using that violated the NFL’s performance-enhancing substance policy.
“It is a medical condition and people do take it for medical (purposes),” said Hill, who began taking it last spring for his ADHD. “I know there are other people who do take it for like, to be up, to have fun, things like that, but some people really need to take it because if they don’t take it, then what? There’s going to be problems. People are going to be agitated and things are going to go on. There’ll be people like me, I can’t take it no more.”
Hill has been trying to find ways to live with ADHD all his life.
“As a kid, my grandmother tried to give me Ritalin to slow me down because I was all over the place,” he said. “When I was in college they had different things. I had multiple tutors. I had like three tutors in one class with me so I could get things down. There was always a different way to go around my disability.”
This spring, before he signed with the Giants, he was prescribed Adderall. Then he was signed by the Giants after a tryout. Then he was told that Adderall is a banned substance. Then he knew he was in trouble.
The league does allow players to take the medicine. Teammate Andre Brown does. They just have to go through the proper venues and file for an exemption. That’s why Brown’s suspension was lifted. Safety Tyler Sash was also suspended four games for, he claimed, using Adderall.
The league does not disclose the substance that players were caught using when they are suspended, so it’s only the players’ word when they say they have taken Adderall. Many players throughout the league have used the “Adderall defense,” although the league usually upholds the suspensions.
Hill said he knows he can file to use the drug now that he’s back in the good graces of the league and once he’s activated by the Giants. Until then, he’ll have to manage without the drug.
“I have to find a different solution,” he said.
