Taking drugs to boost brain power/GPA/productivity...

[Anonemous]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT_sgbrmBJk&feature=player_embedded

Anybody catch 60 minutes tonight? Some of the students who took ritalin (illegally) were saying they could boost their GPA by one to two grades since it allowed them to stay awake and focused. They even interviewed a Harvard lecturer/professor who admitted using these neuroenhancing drugs since undergrad so he can write books or academic papers.

Now would you take drugs to get a better gpa which could in turn land you that big paying job/med school?

Update: 60 minutes segment: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6430949n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

 

[Udgnim]

ADD is a nemesis to us all

 

[ahenkel]

yea I'd be able to do a lot too if I was taking speed all the time

 

[guyver01]

Taking drugs to boost brain power

i think if you ask ZaneJohnson.... you'll discover it does quite the opposite.

 

[xanis]

yea I'd be able to do a lot too if I was taking speed all the time

Seriously. If I was all cranked-up on Adderall or Ritalin I'd be able to get more shit done too.

 

[Leros]

I haven't seen it personally, but my girlfriend says that about 1/3 of her classmates take performance enhancing drugs for school.

 

[Anonemous]

Basically these neuroenhancing class of drugs are also used by truck drivers/air force pilots/surgeons to stay focused after long hours.

 

[MJinZ]

Yea, it's called Coffee.

 

[Dumac]

No. If you need drugs to stay on top in school, maybe you should try easier material.

 

[Leros]

No. If you need drugs to stay on top in school, maybe you should try easier material.

I dunno. I've had to sacrifice a lot my social life in order to make good grades in my classes. If I had performance enhancing drugs, maybe I could have a more balanced life with school and a good social life.

 

[tokie]

I haven't seen it personally, but my girlfriend says that about 1/3 of her classmates take performance enhancing drugs for school.

I personally know a lot of people who take these drugs, and do well in school. I don't buy that they actually have ADD, I just think that doctors are more liberally giving out prescriptions for the drugs.

 

[preslove]

Stimulants can be too harsh on me. Hell, if I drink coffee after 3 or 4 I will often be unable to get to sleep that night. I did some adderall in college, but it was too much for me and stopped taking them.

A friend of mine was always using it to help her study and get things done, so she just got a prescription from her psychiatrist. I mean, isn't that what it's prescribed for?

 

[Anonemous]

No. If you need drugs to stay on top in school, maybe you should try easier material.

Tell that to body builders or weight lifters or athletes who take performance enhancing drugs to stay at the top of their material... LOL

 

[Bibble]

I don't think Adderall really offers an unfair advantage to those who use it illegally. I've heard of people doing this at my school but I've never encountered someone who takes it with the mission of boosting their GPA above what it could be without it. In my experience the reason is something more like "Oh shit, I haven't done any work all semester and I need to read three books and write 20 pages in two days, now I need Adderall to stay up for 48 hours straight." (Note: I have completed that workload over the same amount of time and only needed Coca-Cola and peanut M&Ms, really bizarre two days).

Could the drug potentially be used in a way more similar to steroids (i.e. taking a regular regimen to stay up all night twice a week to study)? Yes, but people who do that are A) really committed, so more power to them, and B) few and far between. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of illegal users obtain the same grades or worse as they would if they could just manage their time properly.

 

[ahenkel]

In middle school and half of high school I was on Ritalin. What I found odd during that time is my grades improved over all cause i got real good at doing the homework but when it came to the tests I did poorly. like it got hard for me to recall things.

 

[MJinZ]

I dunno. I've had to sacrifice a lot my social life in order to make good grades in my classes. If I had performance enhancing drugs, maybe I could have a more balanced life with school and a good social life.

Performance enhancing drugs do not make you read faster or smarter. You'll retain faster and remember more, energy is the most important boost you get.

You might get better grades but I doubt it would help you with a better social life.

 

[Anonemous]

Here's the 60 minutes segment:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6430949n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

 

[JulesMaximus]

It's the American way...gotta support the machine!

 

[Anonemous]

It's the American way...gotta support the machine!

Go big Pharma!

There was even a commentary published in Nature about it saying we should take these drugs to maximize our mental potential.

 

[Leros]

Performance enhancing drugs do not make you read faster or smarter. You'll retain faster and remember more, energy is the most important boost you get.

You might get better grades but I doubt it would help you with a better social life.

Hmm, I could see that helping with some of the core classes I had to take (English, History, etc). I have a terrible memory. I nearly failed English because I couldn't remember the 100+ short poems we read and had a really hard time with the test.

A better memory wouldn't really help in my engineering classes. You don't need to remember much and you usually get a page to write down the few formulas you might need to remember.

 

[Matthiasa]

Hmmm maybe thats what I'm missing to do well in my classes.
To bad the only stuff I can verify the people I know use is just... which would have the opposite effect.

 

[MJinZ]

Hmmm maybe thats what I'm missing to do well in my classes.
To bad the only stuff I can verify the people I know use is just... which would have the opposite effect.

Don't try cramming for Organic Chemistry in college. One of the few classes that brought my GPA down with a B... :\

 

[rcpratt]

Very, very rarely (once a semester) I use some adderall when I'm pulling all-nighters. Really helps the focus through the night and into the exam.

 

[zerocool84]

cocain is a hell of a drug

 

[Locut0s]

One wonders what the long term effects of these drugs will turn out to be.