Neuroenhancers Should Be Banned

Introduction

According to one study as much as 34% of students in a large public institution in the United States of America have used ADHD material illegally (Desantis and Hane par. 5) This alarmingly high number begs the questions: Are these drugs dangerous? Do people think that its okay to use neuroenhancers? And could they potentially benefit people?

Neuroenhancing drugs are mostly used to increase the focus and concentration of someone with a mental disorder such as ADHD. Although illegal, these drugs are often used without a prescription by students. In one American university, 6.9% of students had admitted to using Adderall at least once in college (Desantis and Hane par. 4) This same study found that, 81% of participants think that

Nunez “certainly understand[s] how the biochemistry of the brain works” and explicitly stated right at the beginning that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for students to be using neuroenhancers. He went on to say that “without proper medical advice, students can be really hurt [if they use these drugs.]” This could potentially be true as no research has been done into the side effects of illicit use of neuroenhancers mostly because illicit use of these drugs is illegal and so it would be unethical to conduct such a study. That being said, the medical community clearly do not think that neuroenhancers are drugs that should be taken without a medical reason because they are currently prescription drugs. Despite this, students thought that “the potential dangers of these drugs detailed by these same health experts were exaggerations at best, if not conspiratorial lies.” (Desantis and Hane Par. 21) These same students contradicted themselves in showing trust in pharmacies and doctors who they think wouldn’t sell neuroenhancers if they were harmful (Desantis and Hane par. 21) . This contradiction weakens the students’ argument for the use of ADHD stimulants and demonstrates a lack of rationale on the students’

If these drugs do increase focus and concentration in the general population with no significant side effects, then I believe that they should be made available to the general public to use. They would not be much different than vitamin or protein supplements which are seen by many as healthy. If this happened, “teachers will find enhanced pupils more receptive to learning” which would help improve grades and overall education (Farah, Illes, Cook-Deegan, Gardner, Kandel, King, Parens, Sahakian, Wolpe par.18) The drugs would also be helpful with increasing productivity at work which would increase efficiency of the company and on a larger scale potentially boost the economy of the country. This however does assume that the consumers use the drug to focus on studying or work which may not always be the