Wall Street’s continuing troubles have pushed young bankers to the brink, with some resorting to snorting crushed Adderall at their desks to escape grueling workdays lasting more than 22 hours, according to wall street journal,
According to the Journal, the use of stimulants, including prescription drugs like Adderall and Vyvanse as well as high-caffeine energy drinks, is prevalent among young bankers. The report suggests insensitivity towards the use of such substances within the industry.
Mark Moran, who interned at investment banking giant Credit Suisse in New York, managed to get a prescription for Adderall from a local pharmacy, even though a psychologist in his family didn’t think he had ADHD. He shared that he needed something to get him through the grueling 90-hour weeks.
“They gave me a script and within a few months I was on board,” Moran, 33, told the Journal. “You become dependent on it to function.”
The tough demands of Wall Street workers came under scrutiny after the death of 35-year-old Bank of America investment banker Leo Lukenas III from an acute coronary artery thrombus earlier this year.
In the weeks before his death, Lukenas, a former Green Beret, was regularly working 100-hour days to complete a $2 billion acquisition project.
A Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that Bank of America often ignored its own policies designed to prevent employees from taking on dangerously heavy workloads.
The revelations prompted companies such as Morgan Stanley to impose strict measures, including limiting junior bankers to a maximum of 80 hours per week.
Several industry professionals interviewed by the Journal admitted to relying on stimulants to cope with the demands of the job. Trevor Lunsford, who works in the mergers and acquisitions division of Ascend Capital in Washington, DC, shared that he has been taking Adderall for the past seven years.
“It’s a very core, integral part of my life and it’s a very important tool to me,” he said.
Lunsford described a grueling travel schedule that included frequent business trips from Washington, DC to Denver. For an entire month, he would wake up at 6 a.m. to catch an early weekday flight to Detroit, then catch a connecting flight to Denver.
Upon arriving in Denver, he will meet with clients and then participate in an eight-hour management presentation.
“For some days of the week, it was pretty regular 20- to 22-hour days,” Lunsford told the Journal.
“If I wasn’t able to take Adderall it’s something I wouldn’t be able to focus on and make quick decisions.”
Jonah Frey, who worked as a healthcare investment banker for Wells Fargo in San Francisco in 2020, shared that he relied on Adderall to manage his rigorous schedule. His day often started at 4 a.m. and continued until about 2 a.m. the next morning.
In 2021, Frey moved to a role at Leerink Partners, the former investment banking division of New York-based Silicon Valley Bank.
“My workload increased at least two or three times and that’s when things started going bad,” he said.
To manage the intense demands of her job, Frey increased her dosage of Adderall, which she obtained through the online healthcare provider Teladoc.
The effects of the drug left him disoriented, often not knowing what day it was. He also experienced a loss of appetite, leading to a weight loss of approximately 25 pounds.
“I started taking it once in the morning and then once in the afternoon, five days a week at first and then it became seven days a week because I was working most weekends,” he said.
In 2022, Frey decided to quit his job and stopped using Adderall.
“I came to understand the negative risks of using Adderall,” he said.
“But the reward was to make managing director and get a seven-figure salary. I felt I had to have the edge to make it.”
