'Pleasure drugs' boom on way, says think-tank

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/14/ndrug14.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/07/14/ixportal.html

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.

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."

[jbane]

1. Oh boy!

soma, soma, soma...

[KG]

2. 'Pleasure drugs'

works for me!

[leveymg]

3. Don't worry, be happy! Let's go shopping!

Gotta love this stuff: new drugs help "unlearn addiction" and "erase memories of distressing events such as a terrorist attack."

Q. Who really won the last election?
A. Dunno, can't really recall. Please pass the Soma.
Q. I'm really upset. Did you know the gov't had forewarning of that terrible attack and 3,000 people died?
A. Here, take another pill. A gram in time saves nine!
Q. I feel so much better now. What were we talking about? Wanna go to the feelies?
A. No, let's just drive around for a while and then go to the mall.
Q. I'm so happy today. Aren't we just about the luckiest people on planet Earth?

[nashville_brook]

8. the thing about "erasing memories"

i remember hearing something on NPR about how women in labor produce cannaboid-type chemicals in their nervous systems to "erase the painful MEMORY" of childbirth. interesting, huh? that the body would produce a substance that allows a person to heal emotionally -- i guess if we remembered what a sucky experience labor is, we wouldn't ever have second, third or "n to the power of x" number of children after the first.

also explains why i can never find the bong.









just kidding folks.

[T_i_B]

4. Drugs to boost brain power will become 'as common as coffee'

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article299065.ece

A new generation of mind-enhancing drugs that act as "cosmetics" for the brain could become as common as a cup of coffee, according to an official investigation by leading scientists.

Powerful stimulants that improve memory, intellectual agility or other aspects of mental performance will almost certainly be developed over the next 20 years.

They will have few side-effects, little or no addictive properties and could be used for non-medical purposes such as boosting exam performance, making better business decisions or even eliminating bad memories, the scientists said.

The first of these "cognition enhancers" is already being developed from research into existing drugs designed to treat medical problems.

[Nihil]

5. Sounds like we can see where the test team live!

> They will have few side-effects, little or no addictive properties
> and could be used for non-medical purposes such as boosting exam
> performance, making better business decisions or even eliminating
> bad memories, the scientists said ...

... shortly before collapsing in a giggling heap ...

[HuckleB]

6. Strange headline.

Doesn't match the topic. Of course, nor does the journalist's need to bring up Huxley and Soma.

Piss poor science journalism just drives me nuts.

[nashville_brook]

7. we can all use more pleasure, imo -- oxy isn't exactly a pleasurable drug

i have to take it for a chronic back situation. yuk -- it makes me nauseated and itchy.

instead of ANTIdepressants we could have PROhappy pills. not a bad idea. something for everyone there.

philosophical questions: what if it were shown a "happy pill" has absolutely no negative effects. no addiction. no weight gain or cancer risk. no hangover or driving impairment.

how would you view such a drug?
would you be in favor of people having access to "instant happy?"
should everyone have access?
would you take it?

[smirkymonkey]

9. Well, if everyone was on it, there probably wouldn't be any wars

anymore. The trouble would be getting world leaders to stay on their meds.

Personally, I think it's about time - this world is getting to be a very grim place.

[nashville_brook]

10. i was thinking about this again this morning...

...thinking that we assume we deserve the pain we experience. maybe we did something to cause it, perhaps. or that pain is a good thing. at any rate, there seems (to me) to be value put on misery and pleasure is somehow suspect. or maybe we think that pain and misery are fleeting and not worth dwelling on in terms of correcting. just odd, i think.

[truthpusher]

11. Scientists predict brave new world of brain pills (The Guardian)

from the article: "However, the report said the widespread adoption of new brain-enhancing drugs was not without risks and would raise "significant ethical, social and practical issues."

....What is the ethical issue here?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1528069,00.html

Scientists predict brave new world of brain pills
----------------------
Common use of drugs to improve the mind poses ethical challenge
----------------------
Alok Jha, science correspondent
Thursday July 14, 2005
The Guardian
----------------------
Can't remember phone numbers, worried about an upcoming exam or desperately want to give up smoking? In future, the answer will be simple: just pop a pill.

The idea that an array of easily available and addiction-free drugs could be used to improve memory or increase intelligence is the stuff of science fiction dystopia - in Brave New World, Aldous Huxley created a whole planet under the spell of a pleasure drug called Soma.

But a new report by leading scientists in the fields of psychology and neuroscience argues that, very soon, there really will be a pill for every ill.

"It is possible that could usher in a new era of drug use without addiction," said the report by Foresight, the government's science-based thinktank.

"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."

complete story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1528069,00.html

[truthpusher]

12. My biggest ethical issue....

There are many other ways to achieve what these drugs are attempting to do....why support a corrupt pharmaceutical industry - while giving your mind over to the trust of the Pharm-co's as well?

[ScamUSA.Com]

13. self control... whats that? discipline? pop this daily.

[lateo]

16. Some people need help with self control.

Look at our President as an example.

[ananda]

14. what's the difference between..

.. a pleasure pill called Soma..

.. and all those psychotropes that so many are taking now?

One answer might be the dangerous and toxic effects which often exacerbate tendencies towards violence and suicide.

Sue

[Dogmudgeon]

15. They're already here

They're called "Smart Pills", and every couple of years, we can count on the media to trot out some bioethicist to wring his hands on camera.

There are also addiction-free euphoriants, too. One was sold as an antidepressant and was summarily pulled off the market. To hear the propaganda, you'd think they were the Devil's Eucharist.

--p!

[The Stranger]

17. Go read BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley.

Everything you need to know is contained in that little book.

[HuckleB]

18. Yeah, it's a great book.

Much more in line with what is happening to today's world than 1984. Still, the author's desire to link Soma to this topic is much more than a stretch. It's piss poor science journalism. Not that we aren't used to that.

[The Stranger]

19. I think both 1984 and Brave New World are prophetic, but each

captures a separate part of dystopia realized.

Most interesting are the final lines of 1984 and those of Brave New World.