UK science chief advocates "smart drugs"

The UK government's chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, says that smart drugs that improve memory, reduce tiredness and aid concentration, will be commonplace within the next 20 years. He made these comments in an address to government ministers at Number 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence, reported the UK's Sunday Times. Sir David said that, in the coming years, "recreational psychoactive substances" could be used by healthy individuals to enhance their daily lives, in addition to revolutionizing the way in which mental disorders are treated.

This call adds weight to the argument of some members of the scientific community that restrictions on the use of such products should be relaxed. The attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment Ritalin (methylphenidate), which is marketed by Swiss drug major Novartis, and modafinil, the principal constituent of USA-based Cephalon's anti-narcolepsy treatment Provigil, are often cited as examples of medications that are used by healthy individuals to enhance concentration and cognitive reasoning. Ritalin, according to some research, is used by around 20% of US college students prior to examinations to aid study efficacy.

Among those critical of the suggestion was Paul Howard-Jones, a neuroscience and network coordinator at the University of Bristol in the UK, who, according to the Sunday Times, said that future availability of smart drugs would require regulation of some sort to avoid the development of an illegal market for them.