Is There a Difference?
I was working on my promised article on alternatives to praise, and this popped across my desk. Okay, I’m stalling; I also thought this was interesting.
There are a number of scientists that have landed on the side of legitamacy for brain performance enhancing drugs. Being a Thomas Szasz fan, I am of the mind that what people put in their bodies “aint nobodies business but their own,” as long as they are adults and are not hurting anyone else. Like anyone else, if that turned out to be someone close to me I may sing a different tune. I’m human. Shoot me.
The BoredAt Web sites—which allow college students to chat idly while they’re ostensibly studying—are filled with messages about Adderall. Posts like these, from the BoredAtPenn site, are typical: “I have some Adderall—I’m sitting by room 101.10 in a grey shirt and headphones”; “I have Adderall for sale 20mg for $15″; “I took Adderall at 8 p.m., it’s 6:30 a.m. and I’ve barely blinked.” On the Columbia site, a poster with an e-mail address from CUNY complains that her friends take Adderall “like candy,” adding, “I don’t want to be at a disadvantage to everyone else. Is it really that dangerous? Will it fuck me up? My grades weren’t that great this year and I could do with a bump.” A Columbia student responds, “It’s probably not a good idea if you’re not prescribed,” but offers practical advice anyway: “Keep the dose normal and don’t grind them up or snort them.” Occasional dissents (“I think there should be random drug testing at every exam”) are drowned out by testimonials like this one, from the BoredAtHarvard site: “I don’t want to be a pusher or start people on something bad, but Adderall is AMAZING.” — New Yorker
On the other hand, as you can see from some of the quotes above from the New Yorker Article, there is probably a bit of drug abuse going on as well. Drugs are tools; when someone takes a dose of chemotherapy for cancer or hepatitis C, no one says, well, gee if one is good, two must be better.
As society changes, and drugs change, and attitudes change, the norms and rules about the use of mood alterers change. With the financial situation in the country today, marijuana is closer to being legalized than it ever has in the past.
Where do you stand on the “mental enhancement drugs”?
Mike
Photo via Kyle Jones’ photostream
