Pro Counter-Strike player admits drug use at recent tournament: ‘We were all on Adderall’

Athletes caught using the ADHD drug Adderall face suspensions, but that’s not the case in the world of esports.

Canadian pro gamer Kory Friesen, also knows as Semphis, talked openly in an interview this week about his use of Adderall when playing the first-person shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He implied that use of the drug — prescribed to sufferers of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy but also thought to give increased focus to non-sufferers — is widespread in pro gaming circles. It’s a concern for backers of esports — a market worth an estimated $465 million by 2017 — that hope it can earn widespread acceptance as a genuine sporting spectacle.