First step on a slippery slope

Seven scientists have published a call for legalizing the use of attention disorder drugs for the healthy. The full article in Nature entitled "Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy" can be found here. A summarized shorter version can be found on Wired here.

The authors claim that these drugs are already being used by about 7% of US students, and at some campuses, the use might be up to 25%. I know cocaine is being used by a portion of the population, but this is not a compelling case to legalize it. Trying to be objective, I still see several problems: are these drugs safe ? Is it fair ? Will it separate the over-achievers in those who take drugs and those who do not? Will it force everybody to take them to compete? How is this different from performance enhancing drugs in sports? Basically, is this cheating, unatural or dangerous??? The authors are calling for the implementation of an evidence-based approach to the risks and evidence of cognitive enhancement. Also for work to be done on policy of use and education (of doctors and potential users no doubt).

I have an uneasy feeling about this as it probably goes against my protestant work ethic upbringing, which might be cultural. The legal availability of such drugs will be a first step in the disconnecting of the effort of learning from the acquisition of knowledge. Besides the accumulation of facts, learning also helps us to forge our personalities and gives us a framework for decision making. If each of our individual brains are modified by each encounter, each experience that we make (brain plasticity), then will this enhancement of the uptake of knowledge affect our development? By extrapolation (OK I realize this is a stretch)- are we ready to have knowledge on demand - why not experience ? Take a pill and you have instant fluent chinese; or you will know instantly how to react in a complex management situation without having put in the years of experience? And how will this affect how we treat older people if their experience is no longer valued because accessible by all on demand?

Comments

[Martin Walker (of brain fitness pro)]

Hello, Beth.

You raise some fascinating ethical questions. Great post.

It seems that we could parse the various objections to the proposal into two camps -- possible danger to health (the cocaine analogy), and questions of ultimate value (should we condone performance enhancement in a pill).

Even if the drugs were to pass the first test, we're left with the second.

Emotionally, I side with your perspective. But rationally I wonder whether I'm not just caught in perspective of the time I live in.

I wonder whether vitamins were once considered by some an unethical means of getting nutrients. (I know that I used to feel I should be able to get my nutrients from the food I was eating.)

In any case, thank you for raising these issues,
Martin