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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

BBC presenter Benjamin Zand recently took what he believes was a nootropic, or smart drug. The reporter is uncertain since he ordered the tablets online. In this downbeat report [bbc.com], he recounts the effects of the presumed modafinil [wikipedia.org]:

Many so-called smart drugs have conventional uses - a popular one, modafinil, is used to treat excessive need for sleep caused by narcolepsy or shift work. But they are also being taken, in growing numbers, by people looking to work more effectively. Modafinil was dubbed the "world's first safe smart drug" by researchers at Harvard and Oxford universities who suggested its effects were "low risk" when taken in the short term. But side effects can include insomnia, headaches and potentially dangerous skin rashes, and there is a lack of long-term data.

Nevertheless, having read such positive reviews online - some claiming smart drugs had drastically improved their university grades - I decided to take it as an experiment. While it is illegal to sell modafinil in the UK without a prescription, it is not illegal to buy. There are many websites, often based in India, which make it available to purchase.

[...] The following day, a train journey presented what I expected to be a perfect opportunity to get some work done with the aid of a smart pill. I was wrong. I became distracted - more so than normal. While the drug made me focus, it was on the wrong things - such as playing video games on my smartphone. As the time passed, I began to develop a very bad headache, I lost my appetite and I needed to use the bathroom - constantly. While my brain wasn't working any faster, my bladder certainly was.

That evening, I began to feel the effects of modafinil's "wakefulness promoting agent". When I tried to get to sleep, I found myself unable to switch off until the early hours of the morning. I also found an itchy lump on the back of my leg - one on my arm appeared too the following day.

My experiences seemed a far cry from those of others. Jason Auld - an athlete and entrepreneur from Edinburgh - says he feels like he can achieve virtually anything on modafinil. "It just makes you feel as if you're operating at 100%, you're putting in all you can put in. Usually you don't think that's possible, but modafinil allows me to do it."

Related:

Cognitive Enhancement is Ethically Risky Business [soylentnews.org]
Drug Unlocks Malleable, Fast-Learning, Child-Like State In Adult Brain [soylentnews.org]
Ethics and the Enhanced Soldier of the Near Future [army.mil]
Cognitive Enhancement May Not be All It's Cracked Up To Be. [soylentnews.org]

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