Drugs as drugs to improve work and performance study, boom in the EU – Medicine

The use of drugs used inappropriately to improve attention, study or improve work performance. In a survey of tens of thousands of people in 15 countries around the world, 14% reported using "smart drugs" or "smart drugs" at least once in the last 12 months in 2017, compared to 5% in 2015, with 9% growth in two years. Growth peaks are recorded in Europe: 13% in France and 18% in the UK. It launches the alarm a study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy and taken up by Nature Online.

To be badyzed is the use of substances normally prescribed in the treatment of attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity (ADHD), so drugs designed to treat sleep disorders in the night shifters; but also illegal stimulants such as cocaine. The highest utilization rate was reported in the US: in 2017, almost 30% of respondents reported using smart drugs at least once in the last 12 months, up from 20% in 2015 But the biggest increases: from 2015 to 2017, use in France rose from 3% to 16%, in the UK from 5% to 23%, in the Netherlands from 10% to 24%, in Ireland from 4% to 18%. Nearly half (48%) of people said they had these drugs through friends; 10% bought them from a retailer or the Internet; 6% got them from a family member; and 4% said they had their own recipes. "Participants in the Global Drug Survey are more likely than the general population to be interested in drug use, which could affect the results," says Larissa Maier, a psychologist at the University of Toronto. California in San Francisco, who led the study. However, he adds, similar percentages of non-medical smart drug use are also seen in general population studies, which "suggests that the survey results are robust." "There is a growing use of lifestyles for drugs that improve the cognitive abilities of healthy people, which raises ethical concerns," notes Barbara Sahakian, neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge in the UK who is not involved in work. (ANSA).