io9: provigil

62 Percent of Pill-Popping Scientists Use Ritalin

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:25:02 PDT

Today, the results are in for a survey conducted by the scientific journal Nature on "enhancement" drug use among its readers. Turns out 1 in 5 of the 1400 respondents have taken drugs to enhance their performance (i.e., recreationally) rather than to cure a problem. The most popular of these drugs was speedy Ritalin: 62 percent of respondents had used it. It was followed closely by concentration-focusing Provigil (44 percent) and anxiety-reducing beta blockers (15 percent). These scientist drug users were of all ages — in this chart, you can see that drug use for "enhancement" is just as popular among the kids as it is among the seniors.

Four-fifths of all respondents in the Nature poll (not just the pill-poppers) thought people should be allowed to take these pills if they wanted to.

It's interesting to compare these results with those from an annual study done by the National Coffee Association, which reports that 1 in 5 people in the U.S. drinks espresso drinks. They also have a fascinating chart, similar to the chart done for the Nature study, showing what percentage of people drank coffee the day before the survey, and breaking down the answers by age. You can see that recreational coffee use is rampant — up to 70 percent of people drank coffee within the last 24 hours in 2007.

And yet coffee is a crappier stimulant than Ritalin or Provigil, with lots of bad side-effects. So the lesson here? Scientists get the good shit, and the rest of us are left clutching a shakes-inducing mug of Starbucks. Charts via Nature and the National Coffee Association.

Poll Results: Look Who's Doping [Nature]

Provigil is the Cocaine of the Twenty-First Century

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:28:18 PDT

Provigil (AKA modafinil) has been called a wonder drug: it can keep you awake and alert for hours without side-effects, and it's even recommended as "the professor's little helper" by neuroscience researchers writing in the prestigious journal Nature. Provigil, approved by the US food and drug administration for the treatment of narcolepsy, is often prescribed "off label" for ailments like severe jet lag, ADHD, and even problems with sleep cycles. But this drug, which is supposed to be a non-addictive stimulant because it doesn't get you high, turns out to be potentially as euphoria-inducing and addictive as cocaine.

In March 2006, researcher Stefan Kruszewski wrote in The American Journal of Psychiatry:

Modanifil is reinforcing, as evidenced by its self-administration in monkeys previously trained to self-administer cocaine.

And back in 2002, an article published in Behavioral Pharmacology states:

Modafinil and cocaine dose-dependently increased heart rate and blood pressure. The results of the present study suggest that modafinil has minimal abuse potential, but should be viewed cautiously because of the relatively small sample size. Future studies should further characterize the abuse potential of modafinil using other behavioral arrangements, such as drug discrimination or drug self-administration. A full characterization of the abuse potential of modafinil will become important as the use of this drug increases.

Other reports suggest that Provigil isn't addictive at all, and would in fact work well as a cure for methamphetamine addiction. Here's a snippet from a 2006 article from Current Psychiatry Reports:

In early trials, several candidate medications—bupropion, modafinil, and, to a lesser extent, baclofen—have shown promise in treating aspects of methamphetamine dependence, including aiding memory function necessary to more effectively participate in and benefit from behavioral therapies.

With more and more people getting prescriptions for Provigil, and the drug fast catching up with Viagra for most spammy ads online, shouldn't someone be investigating just how addictive it is?

A Performance-Enhancing Drug for Scientists and Professors

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:00:59 PST

Barry Bonds isn't the only guy trying to better his game with drugs. If you're trying to compete for the best grants and patents in the cut-throat science industry, you might be taking modafinil (AKA Provigil). Named "professor's little helper" in a Nature commentary today, modafinil is a stimulant that its users compare to a double shot of espresso. The best part? It's totally legal, and is available online. Find out more about it from the experts.

Two neuroscience experts interviewed in Nature, Barbara Sahakian and Sharon Morein-Zamir, talked about mind performance-enhancing drugs for healthy people who aren't suffering from disorders like ADHD or Alzheimers. They say:

In academia, we know that a number of our scientific colleagues in the United States and the United Kingdom already use modafinil to counteract the effects of jetlag, to enhance productivity or mental energy, or to deal with demanding and important intellectual challenges.

Sahakian and Morein-Zamir argue that as long as people are taking performance-enhancing drugs under the care of a doctor, prescriptions should be granted on a case-by-case basis. Soldiers and air-traffic controllers, they say, are obviously prime candidates for performance-enhancers.

And, apparently, so are professors.

Professor's little helper [Nature Commentary]