As ‘smart drugs’ rise (see Modafinil’s case) one may expect the subsequent repressive actions – and abusers. In this post co-written with Michael Brandt:
“(…) Nootropics, and other biohacks are now drawing mainstream scrutiny and controversy as more and more people are using legal, off-label, and unscheduled “research chemicals” as nootropics to enhance their academic or work performance.
(…) many nootropics currently sit in a regulatory void…(…) sold on the open market as “research chemicals” and cannot be labeled for human consumption.
(…) pouring private R&D dollars into large-scale trials that definitely classify substances doesn’t make sense from a conventional intellectual property standpoint.
(…) We propose a path uniting both industry and government to create a new regulatory framework to push the nootropics industry forward.(…)
Step 1: Allow companies to sell new technologies (e.g. research chemicals) for human consumption. (…) Require labeling of research chemicals which discloses that preliminary data suggests safety and effectiveness, but that there is a lack of longitudinal data.
Step 2: Tax all products containing research chemicals.
Step 3: Use tax money to fund clinical research (…)
Step 4: For chemicals that are shown to have benefit but minimal harms, classify the compound as a supplement. (…). Enforce misleading trade and marketing practices on mislabeled claims with sanctions and fines.
This framework treats people like adults. (…) the regulatory framework around it should enable two key ideas:
1. giving people freedom of choice and make decisions around enhancement, and
2. providing the structure to generate tax revenue to further push the cutting edge of research that would not happen otherwise (…)” Read full original post