Intelligence drugs for the future*

A new generation of drugs that make people more intelligent may be what
students and businessman take in the future to pass exams and boost work
performance.

By Nicole Martin
Last Updated: 1:57am BST 18/04/2007

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: a new generation of drugs
that make people more intelligent.

But they are precisely the kind of mind-altering substances that
students and businessman could be taking in the future to pass exams and
boost work performance.

Foresight, a Government think-tank, believes that "cognitive enhancers"
could be "as common as coffee" within a couple of decades to help a
person think faster, relax and sleep more efficiently.

The Department of Health has become so concerned about these drugs that
it has asked the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) to assess the
potential impact of the substances, some of which are licensed in
Britain to treat narcolepsy or acute tiredness.

They are already being bought illegally over the internet in the US by
people who think they will enhance their performance in the classroom
and in the office.

Researchers at Cambridge University recently examined the effects of
modafinil, a drug available in Britain for people who fall asleep
involuntarily, and found that it dramatically improved performance.

Within two hours of taking the drug, healthy volunteers were better at
remembering strings of numbers, were less impulsive and had a better
short-term memory.

AMS has already held a series of workshops across the country to gauge
the public's view. Apart from concerns over the possible long-term
damage to health, it found people were generally uninformed. One woman
wondered whether she would be putting her children at a disadvantage if
she did not give them access to such drugs.

The AMS study, which will be published this year, follows on from
research by the Foresight think-tank published two years ago.

In addition to drugs that boosted pleasure and sexual performance, the
Foresight research raised the possibility of drugs that caused selective
amnesia, for instance of a bomb attack, after the discovery that drugs
called beta blockers could reduce memories of stressful situations.

The report stated: "In a world that is increasingly non-stop and
competitive, the use of such substances may move from the fringe to the
norm, with cognition enhancers used as coffee is today." Other
possibilities, it said, would be drug testing of children before they
took exams to ensure that some did not cheat with cognitive enhancers,
or "cogs".

"The ethical debate about whether or not to use drugs to improve
performance in normal schoolchildren and students will probably be
resolved over the next 20 years," said the report. "Similarly, there
will be continued debate about the ethics of using cognition enhancers
in the workplace."

One problem raised by the report is that the pharmaceutical industry may
change its focus from drugs that treat mental health to cognitive enhancers.

Nick Hillier, an AMS spokesman, said: "We are looking at how these drugs
will potentially impact on our society.

"For example, will students be taking 'smart pills' before an exam to
help them recall facts and retain information?"