Are "Smart Drugs" the Magic Pill to Getting a Workplace Edge?
To the Point
KCRW
4.4 • 583 Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2015
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
College students, programmers, musicians, all sorts of people looking for an edge are finding it in a flood of new over and under the counter drugs that promise to make them faster, sharper, and more alert. We look at the rise of Modafinil and other "smart drugs."
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, I'm Josh Barrow, your new host of Left, Right, and Center. |
| 0:02.9 | Every week, join Rich Lowry, Bob Shear and Me for a contentious yet civilized debate of the week's big political stories, from ISIS to the U.S. economy to this 47 candidate presidential election we're having. |
| 0:13.7 | You can find Left, Right, and Center on KCRW's iTunes page. |
| 0:17.8 | From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point. |
| 0:26.3 | Smart drugs, Olympic doping for your brain. |
| 0:32.3 | I'm Barbara Bogave sitting in for Warren Only, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International, |
| 0:36.8 | a daily look at the issues Americans care about most. If there were a pill that would make you think quicker, be more alert, better at your job, with a few effects, would you take it? Ask that of a college student, they may say, hey, I do already, that's modafinil. It's a drug so popular that it's been called the next Adderall. |
| 0:59.8 | It's just one in a burgeoning market of cognitive enhancers available under the table and over the counter. |
| 1:04.7 | Smart drugs, are they miracle pills, pathways to addiction, or just plain cheating? |
| 1:10.6 | And on today's talking point, if it wants you don't succeed and it nearly kills you, should you try, try, try again. The story of three champion mountain climbers who just had to bag an unscailable peak. |
| 1:16.0 | First News. |
| 1:19.6 | Listen to KCRW's 24-hour all-news channel. |
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| 1:27.9 | Continuous coverage and accessible via our smartphone app or online at kCRW.com. |
| 1:37.8 | Support for To the Point comes from the members of KCRW and from the Public Radio International Program Fund. |
| 1:45.3 | This is to the point. I'm Barbara Bogavin for Warren Olney. Just ahead, college students, programmers, |
| 1:50.7 | musicians, really all sorts of people looking for an edge, are finding it in a flood of new drugs |
| 1:55.7 | that promise to make them faster, sharper, and more alert. The rise of modafinal and other smart drugs that's coming up. |
| 2:03.0 | And on today's talking point, the new documentary, Mayru, captures not one but two attempts |
| 2:08.4 | at scaling one of the most treacherous peaks in the world. |
| 2:11.4 | We'll talk with the climber who carried the cameras. |
| 2:14.4 | First, this news update, Saudi Arabia's King Salman is in Washington today to finalize |
... |
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