More powerful performance-enhancing drugs are in the pipeline, and may cause serious problems for universities in the future.
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PARIS: Students who use performance-enhancing drugs to stay alert and learn faster could pose a major dilemma for universities, and they may even face future urine tests, warns an Australian expert.
Writing in the Journal of Medical Ethics, psychologist Vince Cakic of the University of Sydney, says that ‘nootropics’ – drugs designed to help people with cognitive problems – are already being used off-label to boost academic performances.
Amphetamines and methylphenidates, marketed as Dexedrine and Ritalin, are time-honoured stimulants used by as many as a quarter of students in some U.S. colleges, especially those with competitive admission standards, according to figures from U.S. research quoted by Cakic.
More powerful drugs on the way
These drugs are used medically to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and uncontrolled sleepiness. A newer-generation temptation of the same class of drug is modafinil.
For boosting memory retention, says Cakic, the potential drugs include donepezil, used to treat Alzheimer's disease, as well as galantamine and piracetam. For more get-up-and-go, there is the drug selegiline.
So far, these drugs offer only a modest perk in performance, but more powerful versions are in the pharmaceutical pipeline and may well have a potent allure, said Cakic.
"The possibility of purchasing 'smartness in a bottle' is likely to have broad appeal to students with normal or above-average cognitive functioning," he argues.
Dangerous and impossible to control
Cakic says the experience of campaigns to stamp out doping in sport should serve as a warning.
Performance–enhancing drugs may not only be physically dangerous, addictive and have unwanted mental side effects, they would also be near-impossible to control, he says.
"One conjures to mind the scenario of students taken to one side, cup in hand, and asked to provide a urine sample to test officials.
"Scandal would erupt and rumours abound when the magna cum laude [top of the class] is stripped of his title for testing positive for modafinil – a drug that gave him near-superhuman levels of mental endurance.
"As laughable as it may seem, it is possible that scenarios such as this could very well come to fruition in the future,” he writes.
"Given that the benefits of nootropics could also be derived from periods of study at any time leading up to examinations, this would also require drug testing during non-exam periods."
RE: 'Smart drugs' set to cause trouble
I do not see the problem as long as everyone has access.
If a drug can help the students learn and retain more then why not use it? As far as side effects, that would be a problem for the user and possibly would need regulation should they be overly severe. However if the drug in question is safe, then I see it as no less a tool than any other educational tool.
Perhaps some guidelines/rules would be needed for educational competitions/rewards but otherwise use them if you got them.
So where can we get these?
Not just students, but employees in a competitive market.
Burning the midnight oil?
Urine test are a great idea.
I don't know a university student who hasn't at least once resorted to amphetamines to get through another all night session, preparing for an exam or finishing off that paper they had forgotten all about at the last minute. Do you?
And is that somehow a lesser form of cheating that the athlete taking steroids or HGH? I think not.
But it's ok. The next generation will be cheating evolution entirely by chosing smarter designer kids.
You can imagine the conversations between expectant mothers at pre-natal classes, 'Well, we've already got an academic, so we're going for a sporty type for our second.'
Thank god for Dr Strangelove.
Denis
Most brains are quite able as they are
There are some kids out there that may really "need" these, but for kids with normal cognitive abilities, there can be a lot of problems. For starters, it totally shoots normal study skills in the foot. If someone begins to rely on pills to get through school, it's easy to begin to feel like you simply do not have the self-discipline to study on your own. And a lot of people who don't need them use them most frequently to aid them in staying up all night to study. I know that most people who have been to college have pulled at least one all nighter (probably more), but with enough frequency, lack of sleep is much more damaging to ones memory than a pill can make up for.
Academic Super Drug
Everyone knows, if there is a supply and demand for these super drugs for academic imporvement, someone is going to find a way to acquire them. The world is a competive place to begin with, especially now since the economy is in a slump and a lot of people are out of work. I for one don't condone the abuse of any drug, but moderation is the status quo. Power, prestige, acceptance, and greed; those who have it want more of it and those with out it steal to obtain it.
Drugs
It was my understanding from a prior study that although
an amphetamine may keep one alert and thinking more clearly,
the information is not translated from the short term to the long term memory. In other words, learning while under the influence, does not stick. Have these new drugs helped the brain to assimilate information absorbed while under the "influence"?
First Step
These 'performance enhancing' drugs seriously need research and thought. They could be the very early stages of 'injecting knowledge': something that humankind has theorised and fantasized about for years!
'Smart' drugs
If they are legal go for it! Are we going to try and ban caffine too?
Silly
Unlike sports, if these smart drugs can improve cognitive function then it may aid the engineer, scientist or the doctor in discovering something significant for the benefit of mankind. For the Medican scientist or the doctor, it may provide for a cure for many diseases currently considered incurable. For the engineer, something revolutionary such as renewable fuel that can replace currently used and abused fossil fuels. Think ahead, because in the end all we want is to live happy life pursue our passions.