Dr. Nora Volkow
Chemistry test tomorrow and you feel ready to give up? Business proposal only half done and the right words refuse to surface? Just pop a Ritalin or Adderal. And if you really want to be trendy, take Modafinil. Before you know it, you’ll be ready to move full speed ahead!
The idea of jump-starting our brains with a pill is no longer a fantasy, according to the cover story of this month’s Scientific American. College students, leaders of industry and college professors everywhere are popping pills to help get the cobwebs out of their brains.
In an online poll, in the British science journal Nature, answered by 1,400 people in 60 countries, 1 in 5 admitted to using brain boosting drugs for non-medical reasons to sharpen their focus, concentration and memory. Only about half had a prescription and a third bought the drugs over the internet. Even though about half reported side effects, 4 out of 5 felt that healthy adults should be allowed to take whatever drugs they want to.
Critics argue more time is needed before the drugs become commonly prescribed to help enhance cloudy minds.
“The reality is that there is very little research to document whether these drugs are universally beneficial, whether they could be detrimental, what are the long-term outcomes, what are the side effect. There’s really very, very limited knowledge,” says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a US government agency.
According to Vitals.com, Dr. Volkow received her medical degree at Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico and got her degree in psychiatry at New York University.
Ritalin and Adderall (soberliving.com)
It troubles Dr. Volkow how the dangers of these drugs is downplayed, equating them with drinking coffee, “which is to say the least, an irresponsible way to present it and an inaccurate tone.”
Some researchers wonder if by creating an advantage on one part of the brain is a deficit created in another part of the brain? And would the change be permanent? There is also a serious concern that some users will become addicted. A small study has shown that Modafinil might increase the level of dopamine which plays a major role in addiction.
Nature magazine chose to take very provocative stand in suggesting that these drugs should be made widely available to improve performance in the classroom and the boardroom. Taking performance drugs is a way for our species to improve itself. In fact if it is found that there are no safety issues then they should become an over the counter purchase like aspirin.
But ethicists have a problem with the glibness of comparing enhancement drugs with getting glasses to improve vision.
Would employees feel pressured to use brain boosting drugs to win promotions or even to keep their jobs? If you were a 58 year-old executive competing with forty year-olds, this could assist in maintaining a competitive edge. For students, is it fair for one to do better then another on an exam with pharmaceutical assistance? Everyone wants to function at their optimal level.
Which brings the argument, what does it mean to perform at an optimal level? Does performing differently mean we are less ourselves? Would this be the equivalent of selling our soul to the devil?
More research and studies will provide more answers. But there is no denying that being able to reach the unreachable is a powerful temptation. Just a pill away.
this crazy lady doesn’t have a clue what it is like to have trouble concentrating. I am a law student and I need to STAY AWAKE. Screw these wimpy idiots complaining about brain enhancing drugs. Get a life and stop global whining.
This crazy lady has no idea of what it means to have concentration problems. I am a law student and I need to stay awake. Screw these idiots complaints about doping agents Wimpy brain. Get a life and stop global whining.
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