Originally published on January 13th, 2009

Several leading academics have suggested that students should not be punished for the use of brain boosting drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall for academic purposes.

Despite the stigma long attached to the use of prescription drugs by the healthy, staff from the Universities of Cambridge and Manchester have said that “given appropriate research and evolved regulation, cognitive enhancement has much to offer individuals and society”.
Such views were published in a report in Nature magazine, and entailed that should relative side effects be marginal, the use of such drugs should be viewed not as unethical but in a similar category to more traditional means of cognitive enhancing, including information technology, good health habits and even education.

This was based on the claim that brain function can be altered by any factor which enhances cognition, ranging from exercise to reading. Drugs should therefore not be automatically dismissed as unethical and amounting to substance abuse, but be judged according to the nature of their specific effects and availability, the report concluded.
One fourth year biology student said, “It depends on the sort of benefit a drug delivers that determines its acceptability. If it just keeps keep you awake and able to work longer, I don’t see anything wrong since people drink coffee and energy drinks all the time for the same reason. However if a drug actually made you ‘smarter’, maybe by improving your memory or analytical skills, I would consider that an unfair advantage and thus view it as cheating, much like steroids in sports.”

A fourth year anthropology student said “It’s about priorities, because the truth is that most students are tired because they’re out drinking and partying and then want to sleep when they have to do schoolwork. I think most people are up in arms because of the health issues or the legal issues, and the moral and academic issues become inseparable with these in their heads. People get nervous about any sort of drug, but you hit a human element when you start talking about prescription drugs and whether or not they’re needed.”