Smart Drugs for smart people ?

   

   Around the world, it is not so uncommon to hear about athletes embroiled in drug scandals. Drug scandals sponsored by governments, drugs prescribed as a part of rehabilitation, and drugs forced on athletes by greedy coaches. It is all too common. The athlete is fined, debarred, stripped of his medals and almost isolated from the very sporting fraternity that he had grown up with. But what about us?  What about normal people taking cognitive enhancement drugs? Why is this not curbed? How many of us even know that students of high profile colleges live with a dose of cognitive enhancement drugs every day?

  Cognitive enhancements are prescriptions usually taken to treat Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder. Drugs are not supposed to be used unless you have certain diagnosis, but Cognitive enhancements are widely used by normal people to improve their productivity. Imagine using drug to improve productivity in office, improve grades in college, and for anything that require mental alertness and sleep deprivation. The day is not far behind when such drugs would be as common as a strong cup of coffee to keep you awake on the day before the exam. Is this acceptable?

  Why have different yardsticks for different situations? If enhancing physical strength through drugs is an offense, so is enhancing mental strength through drugs.  If an athlete like Lance Armstrong^* can be punished for his alleged decisions on drugs, why not a top grader from an elite college? Should there be a drug test just before the exam?

  To give a little twist on the argument of enhancements in general, why should the idea of enhancement be seen as cheating or unnatural? Why can’t we see it as improving oneself knowing the consequences of the side effects?  What if everyone has free access to performance improving drugs? More like coffee, a stimulant, but not perceived as one because of the wide availability. As we evolve, we find more reasons and ways to run fast in this rat race of high performance and productivity. Smart drugs is just a speck of what the scientific world has in store for us. 

  After all why would smart people need smart drugs, aren't they smart already? Your thoughts on using such drugs are welcome.

 

   ^*Lance Armstrong, one of the big names whose influence went beyond cycling and Tour de France. He was a living example of inspiration, and resilience of the human species. We would never know the complete truth about the chain of events that led to his ouster, all we know is that his position in the history as an inspirational sportsman is now questionable.