Meet the future: Brain enhancement

Ben's story:
I'm a high school student who took several smart drugs on the morning of my SAT and aced the Critical Reading section. Could I have done it without them? Maybe, but why bother? I don’t use amphetamines, being skeptical about their side-effect and addiction profiles, but the only reason I don't constantly use enormous amounts of clarifying supplements on a daily basis is the cost. I can only imagine that professionals are using the best and most expensive available. Not only have the substances aided me on tests and cleared up many a case of writer's block, they have made me more sociable and better at networking. Meet the future - safe, powerful, cognitive enhancement for the daily cost of a cup of coffee.

As Benedict Carey writes in the NY Times of March 9:
The public backlash against brain enhancement, if it comes, may hit home only after the practice becomes mainstream. Dr. Anjan 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."

Advice: Go ask your mother.

Browse for related stories in the index at the very bottom of this page, or read an Adderall story.

Thanks to the source comment on the news blog web site of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

I get bottles at a time: Abuse of Adderall for ADHD

"Todd" is a senior at Needham High School, outside of Boston. He has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD, or ADHD) by a psychiatrist and regularly takes Adderall to help him focus. His friends have often asked him for a tablet or two before SATs, tests, or just for focusing on homework.

"I get bottles at a time so I can afford to give it out, but I don’t like to. People ask me because they feel really overloaded with work and feel like they need the extra push to keep up. They’ll pay me or even do me favors to get it. I could name at least ten people who took Adderall to get better scores and they got it easily from friends."

Another senior commented, "I have a friend who gets prescribed Adderall and doesn’t even take it; he only sells it. He sells each pill for five or ten bucks."

About 5% of the American population has ADD, according to the ADD Association, and Adderall is widely used. It may well be abused in many other neighborhoods with highly competitive high schools.

Advice: We need to come back down to Earth and be more understanding of human flaws, say Becca Pryor and Sarah Kristeller, and create a healthier competition among our kids.

Read another of our ADHD stories, or read the source story by Becca Pryor and Sarah Kristeller in the May/June issue of The Hilltopper.

Warning on ADHD Drugs: Adverse drug reactions

Yesterday, U.S. government health officials ordered the makers of drugs for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD) to write Patient Medication Guides to alert patients about the drugs’ adverse effects on patients’ hearts and brains. ADHD affects 5% of school-age children and almost as many adults, and use of these drugs by adults has more than doubled since 2000. The drugs include Adderall, Concerta, Daytrana, Desoxyn, Dexedrine, Focalin, Metadate CD, Methylin, Ritalin, and Strattera.

Advice to people taking drugs for ADHD: Read the FDA press release and draft medication guides. Work with your physician to develop a treatment plan that includes a careful health history and evaluation of current status, particularly for cardiovascular and psychiatric problems (including assessment for a family history of such problems).

When you’re taking more than one drug: Drug-drug interaction

Since his son had the flu, a friend of ours went to the local pharmacy to get a decongestant. The father asked the pharmacist’s advice on what to take. The pharmacist alertly asked what other drugs the boy was taking. When told he was on Adderall XR (for kids with Attention Deficit Disorder—ADHD), the pharmacist recommended against a certain common decongestant because of the interactions. The pharmacist recommended an alternative. There was no error in this case, because of the pharmacist’s alert question. (Thanks, CVS!)

Often, however, a pharmacist or prescribing doctor will not ask about the other drugs a patient is taking. Sometimes one drug will interact with another one in surprising and harmful ways. In the case of Saleem, it was fatal.

Advice to people taking more than one drug: Look up the possible interactions the new drug may have with other drugs, or with foods, here. Or scroll down on this blog to the Resources and Links section, on the right margin, below “About our Blogger in Chief.”

Tell your friends about this.