Why universities need a ‘smart drug’ policy

Brainpower enhancing substances, such as Ritalin and modafinil, are being taken by an increasing number of students. New research from the US has discovered that at an average university, one in six students have experimented with some kind of performance enhancing drug. With their popularity growing in the U.K. also, universities need to develop a ‘smart drug’ policy.

Ritalin, the medicine given to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is fairly easy to buy online. Heightening the mind’s alertness, it improves concentration and short term memory. In short, everything you want to be at its best on exam day. It’s not expensive either – around £3-£5 a pill. If it’s real. A huge counterfeit market is emerging, to satisfy the increasing demand for the drug. Coming mainly from Pakistan, there are many fake pills on the market for cheaper prices, usually £1-£2. These counterfeits are often just a mix of caffeine and ephedrine, yet these placebos are said to often still work. Similarly, modafinil is prescribed for the treatment of narcolepsy and excessive daytime sleepiness. It stimulates the mind, keeping it alert and able to process things quickly. Many students use it as a revision aid, helping them to put in even longer hours into revision.

Whether taking these drugs counts as cheating needs to be established. On the one hand, Ritalin is not an illegal drug to those who obtain it through prescription. For those who obtain it otherwise, it is a Class B drug, alongside cannabis and some amphetamines. Surely for those obtaining it through prescription, it is legal and right for them to be able to take it into an exam? After all, you wouldn’t stop somebody bringing in a prescribed asthma pump. However, it seems as though something fundamental changes when the person taking the drug has not obtained it through prescription. Speaking to students at the University of Manchester, they all thought that taking a drug to overcome some deficiency was fine, but to heighten the brain to some unnatural level gave the remaining students an unfair disadvantage. If the university agrees, the question is then left what they should do about it.

In some universities in the US, they have already brought in random drug testing before exams. Liberty University, the largest university in Virginia, subjects its students to ‘random, mandatory drug tests’.  Students coming to the university sign a contract agreeing to cooperate fully with Liberty University’s drug testing program, including the supervised furnishing of hair, urine or blood samples at a time and place determined by the University. A similar system could be brought into UK universities, where a random selection of students are drug tested before every exam. Many people, even those who believe taking ‘smart drugs’ does count as cheating, are against such an intrusive and untrusting system. It would subject many innocent people to quite invasive testing; an arguably stressful experience right before an exam. Furthermore, we treat other forms of cheating in a completely different way. For example, to tackle people sneaking notes into an exam, there are invigilators walking up and down the aisles. There are not mandatory random strip searches as you walk into the exam room. It would seem silly to bring in invigilators to look out for people who look like they might be taking a performance enhancing drug. There are no outward signals to look for. What, then, should the universities do?

One option would be for universities, and other institutions who feel they might have students or employees taking performance enhancing drugs, to put pressure on the government to develop stricter drug rules. As the majority of Ritalin sold in the country comes from unwanted prescriptions, there must surely be a case for tightening up how freely these prescriptions are given out. This is an option that will require time and effort, it will not solve anything in the short run.

Another option would be for the universities to invest in sniffer dogs. Trained specially for ‘smart drugs’, certain sniffer dogs can detect Ritalin and modafinil, amongst others. This would be a less intrusive method, with the benefit of checking everyone for the performance enhancers.

If universities want to maintain the credibility of their exam results, they need to formulate a comprehensive ‘smart drug’ policy. The usage of them is becoming more and more frequent, as is other students’ dissatisfaction at the fact their university is doing nothing about them. There is no obvious route for universities to take, but doing nothing is not an option.