Drugs that improve memory concentration and performance are now available on the internet, and will no doubt be coming to a pharmacy near you soon. The most feted is Modafinil, originally prescribed to treat narcolepsy but now widely taken by thrusting young lawyers to get them through those 15 hour-a-day corporate mergers and give them the edge over colleagues already face down on their keyboards and dribbling into their CPU’s. (The previous drug of choice was of course cocaine, which was allegedly couriered to firms in the city, however the addiction, expense and criminal conviction for possession was off putting. Some companies introduced drug testing to discourage useage. So much easier to take a legal drug, albeit non-prescribed. In fact how long before some firms install free vending machines?)
Will we now need to introduce drug tests after exams to detect for the presence of cognition enhancing drugs? If some students take them surely the pressure is then on all? The long term side effects of usage are unclear, but Ruthie can’t help thinking you rarely get something for nothing. How easy to get accustomed (addicted?) to the benefits.
Readers will however be reassured to learn that some studies suggest that Modafinil is no more effective than the geek drug of choice, caffiene. Cheap and widely available, with no particular side effects (unless you drink a lot) Ruthie is a particular coffee affecionado and recommends Jamaican Blue Mountain.
BTW, anyone who thinks cocaine is cool, is welcome to spend an evening in the cells at Heathrow with the barely literate drugs mules who swallow around 30-40 condoms full of cocaine, in a desperate (and often futile) hope of getting some money to drag their children out of poverty. You can let them know that if any one of the condoms burst inside them they will be dead instantly, ‘cos I got bored of telling them. Oh and when you shove it up your nose consider that it may have passed through someones anus.
However talking of anuses and the products of addiction my favourite coffee would be Kopi Luwak the bean fermented by passage through the digestive tract of a Civet cat. However $600 a pound (
) is a bit rich even for my tastes.
That coffee is reserved for royalty. However you can get Monkey picked tea for far cheaper.
http://www.firebox.com/?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=617
As to the mind drugs, I’m all for people pushing themselves to succeed by any means possible. If a student wants to wreck their brain and develop paranoid psychosis through working 15hrs a day whilst on Modafinil then it simply shows a healthy competitive spirit. Economic success needs such enthusiastic young things.
Personally I’d prefer to wreck my brain spending 15hrs a day in a hammock listening to reggae whilst stoned.