Smart Drugs

Abstract

Smart drugs have been increasingly taken by healthy people with the aim of improving cognitive functioning. These are prescription drugs that users are primarily consuming for neuroenhancing purposes, contrary to its licensed use. The range of drugs used in this manner were initially used in the therapeutic environment as treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, depression and Alzheimer's disease. Currently, the more commonly used smart drugs are modafinil and methylphenidate and it appears that they have differing properties and side effects, leading to a comprehensive review suggesting that modafinil is the “world's first safe smart drug”. The non-medical use of prescription drugs to enhance cognitive functioning seems to predominantly appear in the context of students at colleges and universities. However, they are becoming increasingly popular beyond the student population, in business, academia and professions in which workers require long periods of concentration and focus such as pilots and doctors. The side effects of smart drugs in healthy individuals are important to be noted, yet the lack of literature indicates there should be a safety concern to those taking it for non-therapeutic use as the risk–benefit ratio cannot be determined clearly. The ethical dilemma associated with smart drugs and views upon this subject range widely. Concerns about the unfair advantage, distributive fairness and indirect coercion exist and these ethical issues are likely to remain, regardless of future scientific research. If smart drugs are to be introduced into a more mainstream audience, this must be analysed further to give a well examined answer. The expanding interest of smart drugs within different groups of individuals emphasises the importance of not only further research into its use in the healthy population, but also the development, assessment and regulation of these drugs. One day smart drugs could, no doubt, have an enormous impact on the lives of both users and third parties.