Scientists Back Brain Drugs for Helathy People

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

Scientists back brain drugs for healthy people
By MALCOLM RITTER (AP Science Writer)
From Associated Press
December 07, 2008 5:07 PM EST
NEW YORK - Healthy people should have the right to boost their brains with pills, like those prescribed for hyperactive children or memory-impaired older folks, several scientists contend in a provocative commentary. College students are already illegally taking prescription stimulants like Ritalin to help them study, and demand for such drugs is likely to grow elsewhere, they say.

- snip -

As more effective brain-boosting pills are developed, demand for them is likely to grow among middle-aged people who want youthful memory powers and multitasking workers who need to keep track of multiple demands, said one commentary author, brain scientist Martha Farah of the University of Pennsylvania."Almost everybody is going to want to use it," said Farah.

- snip -

The seven authors, from the United States and Britain, include ethics experts and the editor-in-chief of Nature as well as scientists. They developed their case at a seminar funded by Nature and Rockefeller University in New York. Two authors said they consult for pharmaceutical companies; Farah said she had no such financial ties.

Some health experts agreed that the issue deserves attention. But the commentary did not impress Leigh Turner of the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics. "It's a nice puff piece for selling medications for people who don't have an illness of any kind," Turner said. The commentary cites a 2001 survey of about 11,000 American college students that found 4 percent had used prescription stimulants illegally in the prior year. But at some colleges, the figure was as high as 25 percent. "It's a felony, but it's being done," said Farah.

Read more: http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20081207/493b5850_3421_1334520081207-1215654596

[Donnachaidh]

1. I wonder which pharmaceutical company is behind this *commentary*

Follow the money - you'll find who will benefit from these scientist's findings. You might even find some of their cash in the scientist's accounts. :sarcasm:

[Psephos]

31. Riiiigggghht, the editor of Nature, the world's most prestigious scientific journal, is scamming

Because a few extra criminal bucks are totally worth risking his reputation and prestige.

Ritalin is a generic these days, btw. Which means there's no incentive for a major pharma to goose it.

[lapfog_1]

2. I'd like to meet Leigh Turner

perhaps over a cup of coffee.

[bean fidhleir]

*snork* good one.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. There are non-drug alternatives.

Frontal-lobe eeg biofeedback, for example. You can learn to activate the "executive" areas of the brain at will, thereby focusing your attention where you want it. This method is already used, very effectively in about 80% of cases, as an alternative for drugs like Ritalin.

[kimmerspixelated]

10. Yes, and Fish oils and CoQ10 and

numerous other superstars of the nutrition world that can go a long way towards boosting brain health. Another overlooked boost for the brain is sleep! Most people don't get enough!

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Not to mention ginkgo & a few other herbals.

[LongTomH]

27. Put a list of some of these alternatives in the Health board

along with recommended doses and links to references. This is a serious request - I'm getting too damn many 'senior moments' these days!

[Kutjara]

4. The brighter you burn, the quicker you burn out.

College kids will always use stimulants to "boost performance" (read "make up for the fact they drank away 3/4ths of the term and now have to learn a year's material in a week"), but pushing such drugs onto the general populace is a recipe for an even more work-obsessed, drone like existence than we have now.

[Jackpine Radical]

15. The drugs will burn you out; the non-drug alternatives will make your brain healthier.

[Kutjara]

17. Agreed. I use a few "natural" supplements...

...that (allegedly) keep my various brain chemicals at their optimal levels. I don't know if I'm any smarter, but I don't want to take the chance of stopping and finding out I'm a lot stupider. That would just be depressing (for which I'd need a bunch of other drugs).

[bain_sidhe]

25. "a recipe for an even more work-obsessed, drone like existence"

And in my best corporate overlord voice, I ask... Where's the problem with that?

:sarcasm:

[bemildred]

5. People have been using psychoactive drugs since they knew where to get them. nt

[Jackpine Radical]

20. Well, it's only LEGAL drugs

whose use I oppose.

[bemildred]

24. But who informed you they were legal?

What if they were mis-informed too? You jut don't know where to take a stand.

[Jackpine Radical]

29. I may not know where to take a stand,

but provide me with the opportunity and I'll show you I know how to take a toke.

[bemildred]

30. Well, I can definitely stand a take, or stake a stand.

I am so like staking a stand.

[entanglement]

6. As a member of the Helathy tribe, I'm highly offended by this news

:evilgrin:

[kimmerspixelated]

8. Me, too!

Society in general should be insulted as hell! We have far,far too many available drugs and they are extremely dangerous, to say the least.

[Jackpine Radical]

21. Helaths of the World, Arise!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. You really should be used to this sort of thing by now.

You've had 500 years of experience getting screwed. Haven't you gotten with the program yet?

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Boston Legal had just such a case in the show last week. A very bright

girl who was valedictorian in HS, had gotten almost perfect score on the PSAT, got 800 on the SATs. She was accepted to Harvard..the goal of her life.
She was interviewed by a local paper and mentioned that she had taken a drug to help her focus...perhaps Ritalin. I do not recall.
When the person at Harvard in charge of admissions heard about this, she revoked the admission to Harvard.
The girl asked Crane, Pool and Schmitt to sue Harvard to reinstate her.
The case was pled VERY eloquently, but she was not reinstated. The justification is that what she did was illegal since she did not have a prescription for the drug.

[GoesTo11]

9. To what end?

To Compete globally? Do these make life better? Other than being better at work, would we be happier with these drugs? Or are they just like steroids? Early in my career, it would have been tempting to use them, and certainly if others were using them I might have felt I have to. At this point, whatever.

[vegleftie]

11. Big Pharma scores again

This reminds me of the study a few weeks ago that recommended statin drugs even for people who don't have heart problems, despite the serious and sometimes fatal side effects of these drugs (I have a friend who had to undergo two leg surgeries as a result of statin drug side effects). And curiously, that same week, there was another article about how vitamins C and E were basically useless and a waste of money! The pharmaceutical industry is behind this craziness for sure.

[madmom]

12. Hey they let old men take drugs so they can have a young dick so why not?

[stillcool]

13. Well, in my day..it was black beauties..

if I had any money to invest for the coming years I'd go with pharmaceuticals, booze, and weapons.

[drm604]

16. I would question the safety of regularly using medically unnecessary drugs,

but I do wonder if maybe informed adults shouldn't be able to make that choice for themselves.

[gristy]

18. The key word here is "informed". Who is doing the informing? What is the likelihood

that the supposedly informed person will make the wrong choice due to incorrect or incomplete information, or even in the presence of good and complete information? And if he does make the wrong choice, for whatever reason, and ends up needing medical care or disability pay, who pays?

[bemildred]

19. Indeed. How do we even know whether anyone is informed?

Whose word can we trust? I think I need a drink.

[Jackpine Radical]

22. I'm informed.

I'll let you know when I think you need to know something.

[bemildred]

23. But can I have a drink?

Please?

[Jackpine Radical]

28. Yes. One.

[w4rma]

32. No. And then companies will *require* the use of these drugs, at first unofficially and later...

officially, regardless of their long-term effects. Bad idea to even get this ball rolling.