Word: smarted
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...smart-pill movement blossomed in 1990 with the publication of a little book called Smart Drugs and Nutrients: How to Improve Your Memory and Increase Your Intelligence Using the Latest Discoveries in Neuroscience, by gerontologist Ward Dean and science writer John Morgenthaler. It lists three dozen steroids for the brain, or, to the cognoscenti, "nootropics" (from the greek noos, for mind). The authors claim that these substances resuscitate memory, jump-start the intellect, fuel sex drive and even reverse the mental aging process. Some, like the drugs Hydergine and piracetam, are prescription medications that have been tested as potential treatments...
Steven Fowkes, editor of the recently launched newsletter Smart Drugs News, describes popping a couple of Hydergines before drawing up plans for a house renovation: "I walked in and was able to visualize all four levels of the structure at once -- where all the plumbing was, the electrical outlets -- without once referring to the blueprints." Another user recalls instantly becoming "witty and logical" after taking the amino acid pyroglutamate, while a third says that on Hydergine he suddenly could remember ordinary events that had occurred more than 20 years before...
Doctors warn about the risks of taking prescription drugs or even food supplements without medical supervision. One smart bar in San Francisco started serving drinks laced with a potion called DMAE, for dimethylaminoethanol, that has induced severe cramps, diarrhea and chills in some users. Prescription medicines like vasopressin, normally used to prevent dehydration in patients with a rare form of diabetes, can trigger heart attacks in people suffering from coronary-artery disease. Even some of the seemingly harmless amino acids, when given to animals in large doses, have proved dangerous and sometimes deadly...
...January the Food and Drug Administration began intercepting commercial shipments of prescription medicines from Europe and Mexico that were intended to be sold as smart drugs. Smaller supplies for personal use can still get through, however, thanks to a loophole in the law designed to help AIDS patients and others who want to try experimental therapies from overseas. The agency is considering tighter restrictions on nonprescription food supplements, like amino acids, which are being used for everything from muscle building to battling insomnia...
...likely that in years ahead, researchers will come up with drugs that can restore lost memory, especially for people suffering from Alzheimer's and other degenerative illnesses. Until such medications have been proved safe and effective, however, leaving smart pills alone may be the smartest move...