Crew are working with researchers from University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Science to learn about people’s experiences of smart drugs/nootropics. We are launching a survey to find out more so that we can create a specific harm reduction resource based on the findings.
We know that study drugs (sometimes called ‘nootropics’ or ‘smart drugs’) are a growing phenomenon in the UK. These are a variety of drugs, some medications, some illicit, some unregulated, which are often taken to enhance cognition.
Students are a particularly important population who are often prone to use these drugs for a variety of reasons.
Examples of typical smart drugs are: modafinil, Ritalin (methylphenidate), Adderall, ‘nootropics’ and other stimulants. The term can also cover recreational drugs taken in a way intended to enhance cognition such as micro-dosing with LSD. We are also interested to learn how drugs may be used to mitigate the effect of other drugs, for example, Xanax and other benzodiazepines used to mitigate prior effects of stimulants.
We decided to launch this confidential survey after a period of consultation with people who shared their stories of taking drugs to enhance their attention or performance.
The survey will run until the end of the year and we hope to produce our resource by March 2019.
