Smart drugs: Implications of student use.

The use of Smart Drugs to enhance intelligence, improve memory and maximize cognitive functioning in healthy individuals has attracted the attention of the popular press. This paper discusses the implication of the nonmedical college student use of "nootropic" Smart Drugs, a class of pharmaceuticals legally available in other countries to treat diseases associated with mental decline or dysfunction. Nootropic drug use is compared to steroid use in a student population. In a survey of college students, 5% of the males reported casual use of a drug to increase their intelligence, enhance their memory and make them smarter: 2.5% of these students probably used a nootropic drug.