No point is backing off from controversy now, so I might as well plunge head first.
A dear friend of mine is a newly minted PI in Texas (the fact that I have friends that are actual PIs is doing absolutely nothing for my firm intention to remain 12 years old on the inside). He has recently applied for his very first big NIH grant, an RO1. Besides the regular gigantic ball of worry, work, and stress that accompanies the writing of a grant, there was also the small issue of compliance with brand new NIH regulations.
Apparently, in order to be considered for funding this year, PIs have to submit a signed affidavit stating that they will refrain from using brain-enhancing drugs, such as Provigil, in the course of their research. Does that not strike y’all as slightly Big Brother-ish? Forgive me for gliding down a slippery slope, but what’s next? Are we only going to be allowed to drink decaf coffee while at lab? Perhaps LASIK will be forbidden so that some researchers don’t have an unfair advantage over others when it comes to microscopy or micro-surgeries?
Provigil, from my limited understanding, is pretty spectacular. Quinn Norton said (sorry, haven’t read the literature myself) that soldiers who were given Provigil performed better on tasks after three nights of staying awake than they did on the first day. Provigil basically eradicates the need for rest, while simultaneously enhancing cognitive abilities and general brain awesomeness. The problem arises when one takes too much of the drug. Rats who were administered Provigil for an extended period of time needed no sleep and performed well on tasks… until they dropped stone cold dead. No explanation and no warning. Just dead. Oy. Looks like you can’t fool Mother Nature for too long.
I am willing to look at the flip-side of the issue, for once. Perhaps the NIH is not simply trying to even the playing field of science (in the process potentially slowing the development of life-saving and world-shattering results), but also to protect a new drug abuse epidemic from taking hold in the scientific community. Drug abuse in other fields is well known and little concealed. The rumors of investment bankers doing lines of coke to stay up and alert for their 20 hour work days has been bouncing around for ages. I, unfortunately, know people who have fallen prey to it. Stock brokers on the market floor, not to mention long distance truck drivers, are no strangers to amphetamines of all colors and flavors. Are scientists next in the wave of “drug” abuse? Is Provigil going to be the scientists’ (or scienticians’, as I like to refer to them) crack cocaine? Are there going to be Provigil Anonymous meetings at every university? Not if the NIH can help it, it would seem.
Needless to say, my friend the PI signed the affidavit and with what I hope was not too heavy a heart, submitted his completed application for NIH funding. I am keeping my fingers crossed that he receives the grant and never ever needs to use Provigil, or enter a 12-step program for anything but his inherent – and endearing – dorkhood.
Provigil. I want some. I need some. Death? Just another awfully big adventure.
Does anyone have a distributor of these drugs that they trust?
I have a friend who has a friend who can get you anything you want…
FYI, there was a great discussion here on NN a couple of months ago on this topic. Discussion was mainly about whether people used these sorts of drugs, why and is it ethical for healthy people to use them.
Corie! They have conspired against you! Well, at least it took over a year before your NN baby rebelled…
The Academy of Finland is doing something similar.
It’s not the drugs off the street that concern me. It’s the gunner researchers who think they can synthesize the drug off their two semesters of organic chem in college. Bad things are going to happen, mark my words. Exploding things, if my stint in orgo lab is any indication!
Wow. I wonder if Caffeine will be next on the “do not use” list.
Here is the obligatory YouTube link for this topic.
According to a Scientific American article titled The quest for a smart pill, we ought not abandon or coffee yet. Here’s an aposite excerpt:
“We were
specifically interested in whether modafinil has any advantages over caffeine, which we find very good for reversing the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance. Plus it’s widely available, nonprescription and has a low side-effect profile,” she said. “So was there any benefit to modafinil over caffeine?” Wesenkten
and her colleagues organized a randomized, double-blind, placebo study in which 50 volunteers were kept awake for 54 continuous hours. After about 40 hours, the subjects received either a placebo, 600 milligrams of caffeine (a stiff dose equal to about six cups of coffee) or one of three doses of modafinil (100 milligrams, 200 milligrams or 400 milligrams). Then they were subjected to a battery of tests to assess cognitive function and side effects. The bottom line? The highest dose of modafinil, 400 milligrams, cut through fatigue and restored cognitive performance to normal levels—but so did caffeine. The reported side effects of modafinil were quite low—but so were those of caffeine. “What we concluded,” Wesensten said, “was that there didn’t appear to be any benefit to using modafinil over caffeine. It just wasn’t there. Both drugs looked very similar.”
When do you think they will start regulating the hours that researchers are allowed to work? Because to me, the Provigil affadavit sounds like they are trying to stop professors from taking the brain-enhancing equivalent of speed so they can work as much as they want…
I personally am A-OK with never going back to the 12 hr days in the lab (now that I’m out), but wonder if the NIH is perhaps going a bit too far with this one – is there a precedent? Seriously, which researcher decided to go on a Provigil bender?
I can’t believe I fell for this April Fools. It was a good one. I could believe some day that some body, maybe not the NIH, would try to crack down on this kind of drug use.