There's a startling opinion piece just published in _Nature_ , made freely available for a week to stimulate discussion. One of its authors is the neuroscientist well known to psychologists, Michael Gazzaniga. The co-authors appear similarly eminent and well-qualified.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/456702a.html Greely, H. et al. Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy. Nature , | doi:10.1038/456702a; Published online 7 December 2008 [BTW, if printing a pdf like this out direct from the journal produces a strange garble of text (mine often does) the solution is to first save to a file, then print]. The commentary concerns "cognitive enhancers" such as Ritalin and the anti-narcolepsy drug Modafinil. These drugs are currently used legally to treat people with ADHD and narcolepsy, and are starting to be used to help people with cancer-associated severe fatigue. The military also prescribes them to enhance alertness and performance. They are increasingly used illegally by college students and their professors for the same purpose. The commentary makes the jaw-dropping suggestion that these drugs should be made legally available to healthy people for cognitive enhancement purposes. In their words, which they provide in italics, "We call for a presumption that mentally competent adults should be able to engage in cognitive enhancement using drugs". [I think they need a comma after "enhancement" to clarify what they're proposing] Yeah, right. That's about as likely as the US legalizing marijuana any time soon. Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
