The not so clever, clever pills. – Professionals and students are turning to drugs to get ahead in the workplace-but what effect is this having on our body and what is next for these so called ‘clever pills’

Imagine becoming superhuman. Not Clarke Kent superhuman, but superhuman of the Office. The colleague that everybody envies for their ability to be the first at the office whizzing through work day in, day out without seemingly any troubles at all. What if we could gain complete focus, total composure and utter genius level clarity of thought from the drop of a pill?

Well, professionals all over the world seem to think they have cracked it, with a little help from “clever pills”. Business men, bankers and even some Doctors are waking up and taking drugs in order to boost their productivity and concentration at work. These drugs, known in the medical world as Modafinil and Ritalin, are cognitive enhancement drugs and are usually used to treat conditions such as sleep apnoea.  Paola Mitchell, a nurse who has studied the use of these drugs intensely, tells me that “these drugs are used to promote wakefulness; they are designed to produce dopamine and noradrenalin when released on a healthy brain, which improves concentration, alertness and performance of an individual when taken”.

Therefore, it is no surprise that a recent study by science journal Nature found that as many as one in five people in the UK have tried cognitive enhancing drugs to get ahead in their workplace. Originally prescription drugs, nowadays, type modafinil or Ritalin into google and hundreds of links will pop up to sites where these are easily available for around £4.50 and delivered straight to your door, no questions asked. Yet, how easily accessible  they are, has led to the drug unsurprisingly cutting across professional and class lines, appealing to students, parents, soldiers and pretty much anyone who might need to stay alert for long periods of time.

 Dom, a professional who frequently took modafinil at work after hearing about it from a friend at uni, is eager to warn others away from it. “I didn’t take them every day, but I did take them quite a lot, probably weekly. When I knew I had a big workload or an important day coming up, I would make sure I took them. I just felt invincible on them. I wasn’t addicted to the actual drug, but I was addicted to the effects. The initial effects didn’t change, they were just as strong but I found that afterwards there were a lot more side effects. I’d get home and feel sick, my head felt like it was constantly being bashed, I was scatty and forgetful, couldn’t sleep all night and I didn’t care about anything- my girlfriend said I was selfish and lacked empathy when I was on them and that I was all over the place.”  Dom, like many other individuals became reliant on the drugs to do his job yet his personal life, confidence and health suffered because of it.  Even the experts aren’t sure about long-term effects but given that people take risks with their health every day – when they puff on a cigarette or buy that bottle of wine to have with dinner – many individuals hold the view that everyone holds the responsibility to put what they want in their body.

However, it is alarming the rate that the use of these drugs is going up without anyone really knowing the long term effects, not forgetting that the use of Ritalin is illegal. As Nurse Paola Mitchell tell me “ in addition to physical risks, there is also the risks such as if they are driving a car, one of the drugs is actually a class be drug, easily obtainable, but if the individual has an accident and this is found in the system then there is a risk there as well.” However, with so many people from different walks of life taking these with a united motivation, the demand for smart drugs is only going to become higher and GPs can only see one future result, modafinil and Ritalin legalised and available upon request from a doctor within 5-10 years. Add to this the development in drugs being printed at home via 3D printers within 15 years and this could lead to a generation relentlessly becoming dependant on drugs in the workplace.

To conclude our interview, Dom tells me “if I could have one wish in my life, it would be to go back to 2012, and make the decision to never ever take a single F****** pill”.