The ban on neurostimulators will force students to compete fairly

    Modern pharmacology produces a whole scattering of drugs that improve concentration and short-term memory: Ritalin, Adderall and other nootropics . These medicines are truly effective and are often used by students to prepare for exams. According to official figures, in 2009, 6.4% of all American students took adderall . It is estimated that in the United States up to 60% of students take various stimulants of the nervous system (except caffeine). With such a scale of drug use, it turns out that current performance indicators at American universities can be called the result of chemical exposure.

    It would seem that if these medicines are really effective, then should universities add them to the water and make students drink without fail? But in practice, everything turns out quite the opposite.

    In 2008, the British Academy of Medical Sciences recommendeduniversities to prohibit the use of "educational drugs" by healthy students as a form of cheating and unfair competition, comparing them with doping in sports. This is not about the harm to health from specific drugs, namely, unfair competition. Even in the case of developing new nootropics without any side effects, students should pass urine for tests to confirm purity from doping, say academics of this authoritative organization. Moreover, they even want to prohibit the reception of “doping” by intellectual workers, although this directly contradicts the practice now accepted in private companies, which in order to squeeze the maximum out of an employee give out free coffee in an unlimited amount.

    Last October, the first precedent happened: Wesleyan University of Connecticutofficially included the use of nootropics in the list of student code violations ( The Code of Non-Academic Conduct ), for which the student can be expelled from the school.

    This interpretation of the use of drugs causes intuitive discomfort. Universities consider nootropics an unethical medicine because a student gains an unfair advantage over other students who cannot get the medicine or have no money for it. Really unfair. Universities cannot equalize students by prescribing pills without fail, because it is illegal, after all, drugs have some side effects, for example, the same Ritalin, according to some studies, is addictive and prohibited in many countries, including including in Russia.

    Therefore, the only way to create fair competition is to prohibit other students from taking medication.

    From a philosophical point of view, this is another proof that the model of modern society works on the principle of creating maximum competition. See for yourself: the system offers monetary incentives for winners at every stage of this endless race. School graduates compete among themselves in entrance exams, students compete for a scholarship, and then for a better job. After employment, they continue the battle for promotion, and employers themselves compete with each other for a market share.

    From this point of view, students taking medications to improve concentration and memory really equate to cheating. It doesn’t matter that the student learns better and improves his grades. It is important that he violates the rules of fair competition.

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