By Joel Garreau
Washington Post, June 11, 2006
A Dose Of Genius
'Smart Pills' Are on The Rise. But Is Taking Them Wise?
Studying with diligent friends is fine, says Heidi Lessing, a University
of Delaware sophomore.
But after a couple of hours, it's time for a break, a little gossip:
"I want to talk about somebody walking by in the library."
One of those friends, however, is working too hard for dish -- way too
hard.
Instead of joining in the gossip, "She says, 'Be quiet,' "
Lessing says, astonishment still registering in her voice.
Her friend's attention is laserlike, totally focused on her texts, even
after an evening of study. "We were so bored," Lessing says.
But the friend was still "really into it. It's annoying."
The reason for the difference: Her pal is fueled with "smart pills"
that increase her concentration, focus, wakefulness and short-term memory.
As university students all over the country emerge from final exam hell
this month, the number of healthy people using bootleg pharmaceuticals
of this sort seems to be soaring.
Such brand-name prescription drugs "were around in high school,
but they really exploded in my third and fourth years" of college,
says Katie Garrett, a 2005 University of Virginia graduate.
The bootleg use even in her high school years was erupting, according
to a study published in February in an international biomedical and psychosocial
journal, Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Mining 2002 data, it noted that
even then, more than 7 million Americans used bootleg prescription stimulants,
and 1.6 million of those users were of student age. By the time students
reach college nowadays, they're already apt to know about these drugs,
obtained with or without a prescription.
Comparable accounts are common on other campuses, according to dozens
of interviews with university students in Virginia, the District, Maryland
and Delaware, as well as reports in student newspapers serving campuses
in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, Indiana and Missouri.
"I'm a varsity athlete in crew," says Katharine Malone, a George
Washington University junior. "So we're pretty careful about what
we put in our bodies. So among my personal friends, I'd say the use is
only like 50 or 60 percent."
Seen by some ambitious students as the winner's edge -- the difference
between a 3.8 average and a 4.0, maybe their ticket to Harvard Law --
these "brain steroids" can be purchased on many campuses for
as little as $3 to $5 per pill, though they are often obtained free from
friends with legitimate prescriptions, students report.
These drugs represent only the first primitive, halting generation of
cognitive enhancers. Memory drugs will soon make it to market if human
clinical trials continue successfully.
There are lots of the first-generation drugs around. Total sales have
increased by more than 300 percent in only four years, topping $3.6 billion
last year, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information company.
They include Adderall, which was originally aimed at people with attention-deficit
disorder, and Provigil, which
was aimed at narcoleptics, who fall asleep uncontrollably. In the healthy,
this class of drugs variously aids concentration, alertness, focus, short-term
memory and wakefulness -- useful qualities in students working on complex
term papers and pulling all-nighters before exams. Adderall sales are
up 3,135.6 percent over the same period. Provigil is up 359.7 percent.
In May, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America issued its annual attitude-tracking
study on drug use. It is a survey of more than 7,300 seventh- through
12th-graders, designed to be representative of the larger U.S. population
and with an accuracy of plus or minus 1.5 percent, according to Thomas
A. Hedrick Jr., a founding director of the organization. It reported that
among kids of middle school and high school age, 2.25 million are using
stimulants such as Ritalin without a prescription.
That's about one in 10 of the 22 million students in those grades, as
calculated by the U.S. Department of Education. Half the time, the study
reported, the students were using these drugs not so much to get high
as "to help me with my problems" or "to help me with specific
tasks." That motivation was growing rapidly, Hedrick says.
Why should we be surprised? This generation is the one we have pushed
to get into the best high schools and colleges, to have the best grades
and résumés. Computer nerds are culture heroes, SAT scores
are measures of our worth and the Ivy League is Valhalla. Hermione Granger
in "Harry Potter" is a heroine despite being such a goody two-shoes
that she doubles up her course load with a spell that allows her to be
in two places at once. This is the kind of focused overachievement that
is addressed by smart pills.
A student Web site for a consortium of tony Philadelphia prep schools
makes the point with one of those jokes that's not really a joke: You
know you are part of this elite educational set if:
· "You applied to Penn as a backup school."
· "You tend to think anything below a 1400 is a mediocre
SAT score."
· "You could get adderall in less than 5 minutes at practically
any time of the school day."
Smart-pill use has not been the focus of much data collection. This comes
as no surprise to researchers such as Richard Restak, a Washington neurologist
and president of the American Neuropsychiatric Association, who has written
extensively about smart drugs in his 2003 book, "The New Brain: How
the Modern Age Is Rewiring Your Mind," as well as his forthcoming
"The Naked Brain: How the Neurosociety Is Changing How We Live, Work
and Love."
Contributing to this dearth, he points out, is that these drugs are not
famous for being abused recreationally and they are not being used by
people with a disease.
This is not "the type of data collected by the FDA," he says.
Law-enforcement activity has been sparse. "Who is the complainant?"
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