Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jul 2005
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: 2005 Telegraph Group Limited
Contact:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/114
Author: Roger Highfield, Science Editor

'PLEASURE DRUGS' BOOM ON WAY, SAYS THINK-TANK

Mind-altering drugs could be as common as coffee within a couple of
decades to boost performance at school and at work, to "unlearn"
addiction and to erase memories of distressing events such as a
terrorist attack, according to a government think-tank.

Society may end up realising Aldous Huxley's vision of a Brave New
World in which people take a supposedly perfect pleasure-drug, Soma -
though the report shies away from discussing whether future
governments will be tempted to encourage the use of "happy pills" for
social control.

The Foresight think-tank points out that psychoactive substances have
been part of society for thousands of years. It heralds the
development of new recreational drugs, some of which might be less
harmful than those already costing society around ?13 billion
annually, mostly due to crime.

"We have not reached a ceiling for recreational drug use," it said.
"Psychoactive drug use may spread more across the life course and may
become more common than is currently evident in middle-aged or even
older age groups."

One of the team that produced the report, Drugs Futures 2025?, Prof
Gerry Simpson, of Imperial College London, said: "If there is such a
thing as Huxley's Soma, that really does raise crucial questions for
governments around the world about how legitimately to regulate a
substance like that."

Sir David King, the Prime Minister's chief scientific adviser, who led
the think-tank, said: "We are on the verge of developments that could
possibly move us into a world where we could take a drug to help us
think faster, relax, sleep more efficiently or even subtly alter our
mood to match that of our friends."

In addition to drugs that boost pleasure and sexual performance, the
report raises the possibility of drugs that cause selective amnesia,
for instance of a bomb attack, after the discovery that substances
called beta blockers can reduce memories of stressful situations.

But the report warns that there are potential abuses of a tool that
makes people forget, "examined in a number of films such as Total
Recall or The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, where characters
are able to forget about painful relationships".

Other possibilities would be drug testing of children before they took
exams to ensure that some did not cheat with cognitive enhancers, or
"cogs".

"The ethical debate about whether or nor to use drugs to improve
performance in normal schoolchildren and students will probably be
resolved over the next 20 years," said the report. "Similarly, there
will be continued debate about the ethics of using cognition enhancers
in the workplace."

However, it added: "In a world that is increasingly non-stop and
competitive, the individual's use of such substances may move from the
fringe to the norm, with cognition enhancers used as coffee is today."

One problem raised by the report is that the pharmaceutical industry
might change its focus from drugs that treat mental health to
cognitive enhancers, "mental cosmetics" and treatments for addiction.
"The pharmaceutical industry may not make new medicines for mental
health conditions," he said.

The report lists existing cognitive enhancing drugs, such as modafinil
(Provigil), which was developed for sleeping disorders, and
methylphenidate (Ritalin), a treatment for attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder. Both are already being used to improve
alertness and performance, including by students.

"Modafinil improves working memory, that is your ability to remember
telephone numbers, to give you an extra digit or two, and improve your
planning when you are tackling chess-like problems," said Prof Trevor
Robbins of the University of Cambridge. "The drug makes you less
impulsive and more reflective about a problem."

Sir David said yesterday that the findings of the think-tank were
"independent of government and don't constitute government policy. It
is for government to respond."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin