# Cognititive Enhancement Drugs



## tonynyc (Mar 21, 2008)

In the era of sports doping (the latest 'steriod' infraction occuring in of all sports "Billiards" ) it's only become a matter of time that the use enhancement drugs would enter the arena of academia and other fields. 

What are some of your thoughts on Brain Enhancement Drugs? 

Here's a recent article from the Sunday NY Times March 9th 2008 

========================================================== *Smartening Up
Brain Enhancement Is Wrong, Right? *

*By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: March 9, 2008
SO far no one is demanding that asterisks be attached to Nobels, Pulitzers or Lasker awards. Government agents have not been raiding anthropology departments, riffling book bags, testing professors urine. And if there are illicit trainers on campuses, shady tutors with wraparound sunglasses and ties to basement labs in Italy, no one has exposed them.


Yet an era of doping may be looming in academia, and it has ignited a debate about policy and ethics that in some ways echoes the national controversy over performance enhancement accusations against elite athletes like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. 

In a recent commentary in the journal Nature, two Cambridge University researchers reported that about a dozen of their colleagues had admitted to regular use of prescription drugs like Adderall, a stimulant, and Provigil, which promotes wakefulness, to improve their academic performance. The former is approved to treat attention deficit disorder, the latter narcolepsy, and both are considered more effective, and more widely available, than the drugs circulating in dorms a generation ago.

Letters flooded the journal, and an online debate immediately bubbled up. The journal has been conducting its own, more rigorous survey, and so far at least 20 respondents have said that they used the drugs for nonmedical purposes, according to Philip Campbell, the journals editor in chief. The debate has also caught fire on the Web site of The Chronicle of Higher Education, where academics and students are sniping at one another.

But is prescription tweaking to perform on exams, or prepare presentations and grants, really the same as injecting hormones to chase down a home run record, or win the Tour de France?

Some argue that such use could be worse, given the potentially deep impact on society. And the behavior of academics in particular, as intellectual leaders, could serve as an example to others. 

In his book Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution, Francis Fukuyama raises the broader issue of performance enhancement: The original purpose of medicine is to heal the sick, not turn healthy people into gods. He and others point out that increased use of such drugs could raise the standard of what is considered normal performance and widen the gap between those who have access to the medications and those who dont  and even erode the relationship between struggle and the building of character. 

Even though stimulants and other cognitive enhancers are intended for legitimate clinical use, history predicts that greater availability will lead to an increase in diversion, misuse and abuse, wrote Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and James Swanson of the University of California at Irvine, in a letter to Nature. Among high school students, abuse of prescription medications is second only to cannabis use.

But others insist that the ethics are not so clear, and that academic performance is different in important ways from baseball, or cycling. 

I think the analogy with sports doping is really misleading, because in sports its all about competition, only about whos the best runner or home run hitter, said Martha Farah, director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. In academics, whether youre a student or a researcher, there is an element of competition, but its secondary. The main purpose is to try to learn things, to get experience, to write papers, to do experiments. So in that case if you can do it better because youve got some drug on board, that would on the face of things seem like a plus.

She and other midcareer scientists interviewed said that, as far as they knew, very few of their colleagues used brain-boosting drugs regularly. Many have used Provigil for jet lag, or even to stay vertical for late events. But most agreed that the next generation of scientists, now in graduate school and college, were more likely to use the drugs as study aids and bring along those habits as they moved up the ladder. 

Surveys of college students have found that from 4 percent to 16 percent say they have used stimulants or other prescription drugs to improve their academic performance  usually getting the pills from other students. 

Suppose youre preparing for the SAT, or going for a job interview  in those situations where you have to perform on that day, these drugs will be very attractive, said Dr. Barbara Sahakian of Cambridge, a co-author with Sharon Morein-Zamir of the recent essay in Nature. The desire for cognitive enhancement is very strong, maybe stronger than for beauty, or athletic ability.

Jeffrey White, a graduate student in cell biology who has attended several institutions, said that those numbers sounded about right. You can usually tell whos using them because they can be angry, testy, hyperfocused, they dont want to be bothered, he said. 

Mr. White said he did not use the drugs himself, considering them an artificial shortcut that could set people up for problems later on. What happens if youre in a fast-paced surgical situation and theyre not available? he asked. Will you be able to function at the same level? 

Yet such objections  and philosophical concerns  can vaporize when students and junior faculty members face other questions: What happens if I dont make the cut? What if Im derailed by a bad test score, or a mangled chemistry course?

One person who posted anonymously on the Chronicle of Higher Education Web site said that a daily regimen of three 20-milligram doses of Adderall transformed his career: Im not talking about being able to work longer hours without sleep (although that helps), the posting said. Im talking about being able to take on twice the responsibility, work twice as fast, write more effectively, manage better, be more attentive, devise better and more creative strategies.

Dr. Anjan Chatterjee, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania who foresaw this debate in a 2004 paper, argues that the history of cosmetic surgery  scorned initially as vain and unnatural but now mainstream as a form of self-improvement  is a guide to predicting the trajectory of cosmetic neurology, as he calls it.

We worship at the altar of progress, and to the demigod of choice, Dr. Chatterjee said. Both are very strong undercurrents in the culture and the way this is likely to be framed is: Look, we want smart people to be as productive as possible to make everybodys lives better. We want people performing at the max, and if that means using these medicines, then great, then we should be free to choose what we want as long as were not harming someone. Im not taking that position, but we have this winner-take-all culture and that is the way it is likely to go.

People already use legal performance enhancers, he said, from high-octane cafe Americanos to the beta-blockers taken by musicians to ease stage fright, to antidepressants to improve mood. So the question with all of these things is, Is this enhancement, or a matter of removing the cloud over our better selves? he said.

The public backlash against brain-enhancement, if it comes, may hit home only after the practice becomes mainstream, Dr. Chatterjee suggested. You can imagine a scenario in the future, when youre applying for a job, and the employer says, Sure, youve got the talent for this, but we require you to take Adderall. Now, maybe you do start to care about the ethical implications.*

*Related Story- "The Adderall Advantage" - Andrew Jacobs NYT July 31,2005*

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/31/education/edlife/jacobs31.html?ref=weekinreview

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## TallFatSue (Mar 21, 2008)

tonynyc said:


> What are some of your thoughts on Brain Enhancement Drugs?


There's one Brain Enhancement Drug I absolutely swear by: *chocolate*.

At this point, I don't know whether dark chocolate or milk chocolate or some other form of this miracle medicine is most effective. I'm willing to investigate this for years or decades to come. :eat2:


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## tonynyc (Mar 21, 2008)

Sue: I couldn't agree more " Chocolate Rules" :eat2: - here is another thread where food and other brain enhancers discussed.... 

*11 steps to a better brain-being -human-28 May 2005-New Scientist*

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18625011.900-11-steps-to-a-better-brain.html



TallFatSue said:


> There's one Brain Enhancement Drug I absolutely swear by: *chocolate*.


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## Dr. Feelgood (Mar 21, 2008)

I swear by coffee as a means of promoting alertness, especially during meetings: it's either that or paint eyes on my eyelids.


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## Ned Sonntag (Mar 22, 2008)

Madness, madness
They call it madness
Madness, madness
They call it madness
It is plain to see
That is what they mean to me
Madness, madness
I call it gladness

Madness, madness
They call it madness
Madness, madness
They call it madness
I'm about to explain
That someone is losing his brain
Madness, madness
They call it gladness

Propaganda ministers
Propaganda ministers
I've got a heavy due
I'm gonna walk all over you
'Cause

Madness, madness
I call it gladness
Well if this is madness
Man I know I'm filled with gladness
It's gonna be rougher
It's gonna be tougher
And I won't be the one who's gonna suffer
Oh no, I won't be the one who's gonna suffer
You are gonna be the one who's gonna suffer


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## love dubh (Mar 23, 2008)

Adderall isn't confined to colleges. My HS was rife with adderrall abuse. Had I been the doping kind, I would have been valedictorian. I used caffeine pills, mostly. But I've heard that da' Ad does exactly what that professor described - and you better have a project waiting for you when you pop those babies, otherwise you'll be a ball of energy and motivation with nothing to do.


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## LillyBBBW (Mar 23, 2008)

I wouldn't be for them in competative sports, billiards, spelling bees, etc. I don't know that much about Aderall. Does it have side effects? Will things like alzheimer and parkinsons show up years later? If the stuff poses no danger I don't see why scientists, surgeons and other such persons shouldn't use it to come up with cures and treatments that benefit mankind. Again, I'm unaware of what this drug does or how it works but if it can't harm you then why not?


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## GenericGeek (Mar 30, 2008)

LillyBBBW said:


> I wouldn't be for them in competative sports, billiards, spelling bees, etc. I don't know that much about Aderall. Does it have side effects? Will things like alzheimer and parkinsons show up years later? If the stuff poses no danger I don't see why scientists, surgeons and other such persons shouldn't use it to come up with cures and treatments that benefit mankind. Again, I'm unaware of what this drug does or how it works but if it can't harm you then why not?



Adderall is a mixture of different forms of amphetamine ("mixed amphetamine salts".) It's used to improve focus in people with AD[H]D, and to combat excessive daytime sleepiness in people with narcolepsy and other sleep disorders.

Adderall, like Ritalin, is a powerful stimulant. _Used responsibly, these meds can be a godsend for folks who really need them._ But, in the US, they are tightly regulated by the DEA as "Category II" drugs, and shouldn't be used casually by folks who just need to cram for an exam.

Long-term amphetamine _*abuse *_can lead to psychosis , among other things. Long-term stimulant _*use *_ by ADDers and narcoleptics can lead to successful, happy, productive lives, however.


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## GenericGeek (Mar 30, 2008)

tonynyc said:


> ...One person who posted anonymously on the Chronicle of Higher Education Web site said that a daily regimen of three 20-milligram doses of Adderall transformed his career: Im not talking about being able to work longer hours without sleep (although that helps), the posting said. Im talking about being able to take on twice the responsibility, work twice as fast, write more effectively, manage better, be more attentive, devise better and more creative strategies.



Holy crap!!! That's a dose of *60 mg/day*. Which is twice the dose I take for excessive daytime sleepiness (i.e., not just the joy of playing Superman.) Unless this guy weighs at least 400 lbs *and * has an underlying medical condition which warrants taking *that *much speed...

I'd bet that he'll be very burnt out, if not dead, before five years have passed. It's amazing how stupid smart people can be sometimes... :doh:


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