The Guardian and The Independent warned of two prescription drugs were set to divide the university scene in this country. Imagine never feeling hungry, buzzing on two hours sleep, and orgasming on the idea of a 9am lecture….the thought is tempting. Cognitive enhacement drugs first developed in the late 50s to treat ADHD but are now being sought out by healthy students to boost their brain performance. Healthy pill poppers pester their GP to write prescriptions for drugs like Ritalin or Modafinil, or buy from unlicensed on-line pharmacies. Doctors now prescribe an average of 30,0000 per month thought to be significantly beyond the incidence of diagnosed ADHD within society and according to leading science magazine Nature, among 10,000 university students 20 were reported to have used these drugs to enhance performance.

To a certain extent, stimulants form a part of a normal life; you’ve probably been in a coffee shop today, taking mild stimulants in the form of caffeine, in a very trendy mug. My colleagues joke about my Tetley addictions, but my eyes don’t open in the morning without it, and “I pro-plussed it through the exam” is common chatter. Students tend to adopt casual attitude towards stimulants, yet in 2008 a chemistry undergraduate at Cardiff University consumed four cartons of Pro Plus pills (384) and died.

Intended for narcolepsy, Modafinil is another stimulant that improves short-term memory, attention span and reaction time without caffeine’s withdrawal symptoms. No small wonder it is the new night-time study buddy. “It makes learning fun, you could be tasked with learning the most monotonous subject and have a blast well under the influence” said a Modafinil fan at the University of Nottingham “It’s like the Lamborghini of caffeine, you get slightly brighter colours, sounds and thoughts. I call it clarity in a bottle”. He conveniently forgets to mention hypertension, palpitations, nausea and gastric problems…and potentially a criminal record.

Students are increasingly using amphetamines to help them study and revise for longer periods. An anonymous student stated that their friend “took MDMA before he goes out, parties all night, returns home straight into a deep sleep, and wakes up clear and fresh and ready to work”. The same source however mentioned that another unfortunate friend overdosed on Speed, now has schizophrenia and was unable to complete his A levels. Take this into account. But are these drugs really the miracle cure? Danny Kushlick of the Transform Drugs Policy Foundations feels “these drugs are not going to turn someone who’s not very bright into a genius, they’re not going to change the nature of the work that they turn in. Maybe students should have to declare useage, like in the sports in industry, but then they would also have to declare things like ‘I drank five cups of coffee while writing this essay.’”

Such a startling increase however, suggests that more than ever students are feeling under pressure to perform. A physics student told me last week that if he added up his contact hours and study hours there would not be enough ‘natural’ hours in the day to keep up optimum grades. No wonder students are feeling like they need the help of the miracle cure. So just how easy are these drugs to get hold of?

Doctors claim the drug requires many clinical interviews and assessments. Yet two minutes into Ask Jeeves’ ‘recommended website’ and I am hounded with black-market prescriptions: 30 tablets of Adderall for $79.50 with ‘special price for members’. Whilst considering purchasing my  ‘student discount’ Adderall I was offered alternative Speed substitute concoctions like Phenimetrazine, Phentermine and Reductil, Tenuate, Xenadrine, Xenical. It’s not far from choosing your lethal cocktail at a nightclub.