Tag: Provigil

Nature Commentary Piece on Cognitive-Enhancing Drugs

Nature has an interesting commentary piece about the use of cognitive-enhancing drugs like Adderall, Ritalin, and Provigil and that are currently being used for their cognitive-enhancing properties by otherwise healthy people, along with drugs on the horizon that are likely to be “abused” in this way.

The piece by Henry Greely et al starts by recognizing that even though the use of drugs like ritalin without a prescription is illegal in the United States, it is becoming fairly routine and common on college campuses in this country,

Yet one survey estimated that almost 7% of students in US universities have used prescription stimulants in this way, and that on some campuses, up to 25% of students had used them in the past year. These students are early adopters of a trend that is likely to grow, and indications suggest that they’re not alone.

The commentary generally comes down in favor of sensible regulation of cognitive-enhancing drugs, arguing that “based on our considerations, we call for a presumption that mentally competent adults should be able to engage in cognitive enhancement using drugs.”

Hell yes, they should.

The authors call for ensuring that cognitive-enhancing drugs are safe, but that we don’t go too far and demand that such drugs meet higher standards of safety than other types of drugs.

An evidence-based approach is required to evaluate the risks and benefits of cognitive enhancement. At a minimum, an adequate policy should include mechanisms for the assessment of both risks and benefits for enhancement uses of drugs and devices, with special attention to long-term effects on development and to the possibility of new types of side effects unique to enhancement. But such considerations should not lead to an insistence on higher thresholds than those applied to medications.

We call for an evidence-based approach to the evaluation of the risks and benefits of cognitive enhancement.

This, of course, makes far too much sense to ever actually become policy in the United States, but it is at least a useful exercise in outlining an alternative to the inevitable war on smart drugs.

Better Living Through Provigil?

A couple years ago I mentioned up-and-coming lifestyle drugs melanotan and provigil. Salon.Com’s Larry Smith sampled some provigil, but unfortunately his experience with the drug was not good.

Provigil is billed as an drug to keep people awake without the nasty side effects attendant with commonly used stimulations. Smith, however, found the drug similar to cocaine and aborted his usage of the drug after a few days.

It’d be interesting to see how someone without the extensive recreational drug use history that Smith apparently has would handle the drug.

The other problem at the moment is cost. Even if you’ve got a really good health insurance plan, it’s not going to cover provigil for recreational use and a month’s supply is going to set you back $250 or so.

The other lifestyle drug I mentioned, melanotan, tans the skin, increases sexual desire and suppresses appetite. Unfortunately, its still in pre-clinical testing as far as I can tell.

Source:

Better waking through chemistry. Larry Smith, Salon.Com, November 12, 2004.

Better Living Through Chemistry: Bring On Melanotan and Provigil

Some people just can’t stand seeing other people happy — especially if that happiness is “unnatural.”

In Wired, for example, Wil McCarthy takes on the wonder drug Melanotan. Melanotan has chemical properties that sound like a pharmaceutical marketer’s dream come true. The drug’s major effect is to create a deep, healthy tan. And it also just happens to be an anti-inflammatory, increases sexual desire and suppresses appetite.

McCarthy derisively refers to Melanotan as “the Barbie drug.” He concludes his noting that by the end of this decade Melanotan and drugs like it will be common adding that, “this decade is a breathing period, a chance to prepare for our cultural destiny: the drug-fueled extreming an professionalization of shallowness itself.”

For McCarthy, using chemical compounds to increase the sheer joy of life is inherently shallow and a waste. To McCarthy, drugs like Melanotan are proof that “Yesterday’s drugs were about need; today’s are about desire.”

Much the same criticism was directed against Viagra when it first appeared. A drug to produce erections? Aren’t children still dying of malaria in Africa? Who needs Viagra?

Similar handwringing was on display over Provigil. Provigil has been used for years to treat narcolepsy. The drug’s maker wants the FDA to approve Provigil for more widespread use.

Provigil doesn’t increase sexual desire, but it does act as a stimulant to keep people awake — with very little side effects. Stimulants commonly used by people to stay awake tend to make people jittery or are addictive and all tend to keep a person awake for hours only to bring him or her crashing down later.

In studies Provigil keeps people awake for long periods without the jitters, addictiveness, and other problems associated with other stimulants.

The major concern about Provigil is that it may be abused, but certainly caffeine and other stimulants are already used excessively by many people.

Personally, I’d love to get my hands on either drug. Why should not used drugs not only to treat/cure disease, but also to improve our general well being? These sorts of drugs need to be safe and have potential side effects disclosed, but I would hope that once those criteria are met that we would not slip into McCarthy’s brand of biomedical Puritanism that sees the pursuit of joy and happiness as inherently shallow.

Sources:

Thin! Tan! Hotter than Hell! Wil McCarthy, Wired, June 2002.

Stay-awake pill keeps users alert. Dan Springer, Fox News, May 2, 2002.