CAMBRIDGE, MA (February 5, 1998) — Student.Com, the Web site for college students, reports today that college students are increasingly abusing the prescription drug Ritalin on campuses nationwide. The article is the first to document the trend with evidence from a variety of colleges across the nation.

“This story tells the truth about Ritalin abuse, that for some college students, it has become as popular as Coca Cola and coffee as a study aid,” said Chris Johnson, Student.Com managing editor.

Ritalin is the brand name for methylphenidate, a prescription drug manufactured by Novartis that helps to alleviate the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder.

The Student.Com article, written by University of Wisconsin at Madison sophomore Chris Tennant and based on interviews with dozens of students across the country, reveals:

* A “black market” for obtaining Ritalin without a prescription has developed on some campuses. “People will pay $5 or $6 for one pill,” says a sophomore at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

* To increase its potency, some students have started to crush Ritalin pills and sniff the drug like cocaine.

* Health officials are growing concerned about Ritalin abuse on campus. The director of university health services at Harvard University says that he is “sure” students at Harvard abuse Ritalin.

* Novartis sent information to several hundred thousand doctors and pharmacies last spring alerting them to “incidents of improper use and abuse” of Ritalin.

The article is available on the Student.Com Web site (http://www.student.com).

Student Net Publishing LLC was founded by six students at Yale and Columbia universities in 1995 to provide college students with high-quality online content. Today it is a leading Internet publishing company, led by a highly regarded management team and backed by US WEST Media Group.

The company publishes Student.Com (http://www.student.com), a critically-acclaimed Web site that combines the writing of the nation’s top collegiate journalists with some of the most innovative uses of Internet technology to create a comprehensive, in-depth site devoted to college life.