The latest "smart drug" to be thrust into the limelight is the prescription pill known as modafinil. The pill is said to produce an intense focus and strong work ethic- much like similar drugs such as Adderall or Ritalin, but without the amphetamines.
NYMag - The entrepreneur Daniel Tenner used modafinil to launch his first company while still working for the consulting firm Accenture. "Every day," he wrote on swombat.com, a site for entrepreneurs, "I would sleep at 11 p.m. sharp. I would then wake up at 4 a.m., work until 7 a.m., then nap for an hour before going to work at my day job. I then also worked weekends."
Used by Wall Street traders, tech engineers, and students, the rise of the drug has caught the attention of medical professionals worldwide. Modafinil was originally believed to be non-addictive and withdrawal free, however some users are telling a slightly different story.
Skip a dose, and there would be hell to pay. "I really would feel it. It was sort of like being thrust into dirty, messy reality, as opposed to a clean, neatly organized place. It was like crashing, and I actually found what would happen is the anxiety that got dialed down on the way in, when you were coming off it, all of a sudden you went through the reverse. So I got incredibly anxious. Eventually that concerned me." He stopped after three weeks.
To many, the benefits outweigh the costs; more time in the day, an increase in productivity, and higher quality of work generated. Unless modafinil can make me look like Bradley Cooper, chances are I'll be staying far away from this pill.
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