Word: modafinil
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...believe it's time to have this ethics conversation. Why? For the most part, the ethical discussion is running ahead of reality, which is as should be. However, we already have alertness enhancers (caffeine, modafinil), athletic enhancers (steroids, EPO), sexual-performance enhancers (Viagra), immune enhancers (vaccinations) and concentration enhancers (Ritalin). One can expect improved versions of these to become available in the short term. In addition, memory enhancers are currently in clinical trials. Perhaps there will be compounds that facilitate trust - such as Oxytocin - and encourage pair bonding, or improved diet pills, or treatments that slow the rate of aging...
...Cocaine, amphetamines and methamphetamine all block dopamine transporters and leave dopamine in the extracellular areas," says Volkow. "Modafinil does the same." (Read "Can One Drug Cure Addiction to Another...
...Worse, the drug does not do its work indiscriminately. Modafinil binds to the same site on dopamine transporters as cocaine does, and one of the areas where dopamine levels then begin to climb is the nucleus accumbens - a spot researchers have come to recognize as a sort of addiction central for recreational meds. "The nucleus accumbens," Volkow and Fowler wrote, is a "brain region critical for the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse...
...there is anything that has so far prevented modafinil from becoming as widely abused - and as highly addictive - as some drugs, it's that it appears to lack the one-two punch of many other stimulants. Amphetamines, for example, don't just block the cleanup function of the dopamine transporters but actually boost overall dopamine output at the same time. That's a little like discontinuing your trash pickup at the same time you double the amount you're throwing away. Modafinil stops at step one - canceling the garbage trucks...
...Either way, you're going to make a mess, and surprisingly fast. Volkow points out that even without increasing dopamine output, modafinil blocks the re-uptake of more than half the amount the brain naturally releases. "This completely negates the argument that modafinil has no dopaminergenic effect," she says. "It does have the drug signature required to produce addiction." The safe party drug, once again, is not nearly as safe as it seems...