From what I understand, Ritalin is prescribed precisely because it has much less of that 'euphoria' than, say, Dexedrine. In my completely subjective experience, Ritalin causes less 'euphoria' than caffeine. Granted, I think Caffeine, especially the first sip after going several days without, feels quite good. But, if I am on vacation; I mean, real vacation where I am not working on anything, I don't take the Ritalin. I feel better without it, if I'm not trying to do something.
It is very important, if you do use psychoactive drugs, to have some sort of external metric. When I was undergoing various ADD treatments, I had my boss evaluate me every week. I found that what I was doing before (that is, using unusually large amounts of caffeine) was not better than baseline me.
Stimulants feel good, regardless of their other effects. People will always want to rationalize continuing to do something that feels good. Again, regardless of the other effects both positive and negative.
The difference here is that this rationale is culturally acceptable. It's become good to use these drugs for this reason. The PR submarine[1] is out in full force[2], building positive associations (Take these drugs and you'll get into Harvard!) and diminishing negatives ones ("Progress often carries risk.") That, to me, is what makes this tend unsettling, far more than the drugs themselves.
[1]:http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html [2]:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/mindenhancing-drug...