Blog Article on: “Are ‘smart drugs’ safe for students?”

Article

Summary:
More and more students use smart drugs these days to get through university. Medication developed for people suffering from narcolepsy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are being used by students to be able to get through lectures when hung-over, to be able to do everything in their very busy timetable or to study all night for a test. The students believe they need the pills and that it’s no cheating because the pills are just like using coffee. They get the pills through Google and online pharmacies. Universities UK (the body representing the heads of British universities) has grave concerns about the drug use because it poses great health risks. Barbara Sahakian, professor of clinical neuropsychology at Cambridge University’s psychiatry department, warned that the use of smart drugs has enormous implications and that universities must act on them.

My opinion:
I believe the use of smart drugs by students is something universities should be very worried about, because the consequences of using medication such as modafinil and Ritalin are often unclear to the students. They do not have knowledge about the risk of addiction, about the possible side-effects, about whether their personal health can be a problem when using these drugs, etc. In short, I just believe no-one should use these drugs when they do not have a prescription from their GP or psychiatrist, because without consulting a medical specialist, I believe one behaves very irresponsible and has a high risk of medical problems. Out of personal experience, I know Ritalin can have pretty severe side-effects, and I was flabbergasted to find out people actually use that without prescription and without consulting a medical specialist.