Mind enhancing drugs in racing

[Ciro Pabón]

I don't know if everybody has read about mind-enhancing drugs, like Ritalin, Adderall, and Dexedrine, that allegedly, can improve your attention (they're used for attention disorder, in the first place) and "... for about four hours, they make everything interesting". http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/ ... ordSteroid

I find a relatively obscure abstract about the effects of methylphenidate (translation: Ritalin).

Methylphenidate had significant effects on performance of the tests of spatial working memory and planning but not on the attentional and fluency tests. When the drug was taken on the first test session, performance on the spatial tests was enhanced by the drug compared to placebo. However, when the drug was taken second, performance accuracy was impaired whereas response latencies were decreased.

My translation: the first time you drive like the gods, the second time you make mistakes, but in a very fast way.

Provigil and Inderal, another beta blocker were used (with Ritalin) by 20% of Nature magazine readers. They allege that

... just as one would hardly propose that a strong cup of coffee could be the secret of academic achievement or faster career advancement, the use of such drugs does not necessarily entail cheating

Yeah, sure...

http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/2008040 ... ting-drugs

Wired magazine ran its own poll after that Nature poll and added Focalin to the list of "focus enhancing drugs" used by their readers.

At the end of this article, we detail 15 drug regimens from among the scientists, college students and business owners who wrote to us.

The "regimes" proposed add Propanolol, Concerta, Ibuprofen/Acetaminofen (?) and DMAE, Vinpocetine and Pramiracetam (called "nooropics" by one of Wired readers).

http://www.wired.com/medtech/drugs/news ... ntPage=all

Then I jumped into nootropics (mispelt by the reader of Wired) and I find that they're

... drugs that are used to enhance mental performance in healthy individuals.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Nootropics

Wow.

That disqualifies me: I'm not very healthy, I think.

I jumped for a while among drugs with names like "Ampakine Farampator" (I swear I'm not making this up, just wiki it) until I find that

More recently developed ampakine compounds are much more potent and selective for the AMPA receptor target, and while none of the newer selective ampakine compounds have yet come onto the market, one compound CX-717 is currently in Phase II clinical trials as of 2008.

All right, let's read about CX-717. Oh, yeah.

The submitted data package provides clear evidence that the specific histopathological changes seen in animal toxicology studies, which previously caused the FDA to put CX717 on clinical hold, is a postmortem fixation artifact and is not found in the tissue of the animal when it is still living.

My translation: the monkeys were geniuses for a while before they became radioactive and exploded.

Anyway, do you use this kind of drugs, even for legal motives? Do they really help you to drive, or the side effects overwhelm the advantages? I don't know why I think they will become popular in the near future.

After all, a third of professional drivers in transportation that were fatally injured in an accident (truck drivers) used drugs (NTSB, 1990):

"... 33 percent of the drivers tested positive for one or more drugs of abuse."

The most prevalent drugs found were:

- alcohol and marijuana (13 percent each)
- cocaine (9 percent)
- methamphetamines/amphetamines (7 percent)
- other stimulants (8 percent)
- other drugs at less than 1 percent.

Forty one percent of those drivers that tested positive were multiple drug users. Almost 11 percent were positive for three or more drugs of abuse (sorry for the old statistics, it's the only CD on Safety Statistics that I have at hand).

Besides, most NASCAR fans here should have read about Aaron Fike, painkiller and heroin adict professional driver last April.

Fike said he believes his ability to race while under the influence of illegal drugs is proof that NASCAR's longtime "reasonable suspicion" drug policy doesn't work. Since 2000, seven NASCAR drivers have been suspended indefinitely for substance abuse problems, four after either failing or missing tests administered under reasonable suspicion. The other three, including Fike, were caught by police.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/tr ... id=3336865

NASCAR claims they administer random tests, but Filke was caught injecting himself in a parking lot in Ohio by police, not by NASCAR. So, I wonder, besides junkies like Fike, are there any drivers that have become more sophisticated about drugs than James Hunt? (not a very hard thing to accomplish... ).

[nae]

a few years back i did a track day and there was a 2 hr puase
i shared a joint whilst waiting and was 2 secs a lap slower (1.14s - 1.16 on a 1.3 mile course, ) and i would have said i was stoned at them time
kinda lost the edge for the event

my own theory of driving is that less is more, the more relaxed i am the slower it seems but the faster i go

as for driving games drink and or drugs doesnt slow me down i just crash more

i cant see the performance gain for professionals,

wanna be's perhaps take 'stuff' to make them 1/2 way decent but i doubt they will make it to the top

[rjsa]

I have heard from a former F1 driver that they tested beta blockers (Atenolol) and it worked against their driving, making them slow and tyred. They where trying to keep BMP down.

I myself had some pressure problems a while ago and found jogging really hard with this kind of medication, because if the heart beats wouldn't go so high, the legs would feel it and starve for blood.

[West]

Wiki said Sterling Moss was on ampthetimines when he won the Mille Miglia. Winners don't use drugs; that's why he was never WC

[nae]

Moss's win was in the days before they moral high horse of drugs in sport
it was introduced after a few mid pack riders in the tour de france fell
over dead whilst riding (right cleaned up cycling it did)

it was brought in as a safety measure to protect riders and not give moralist
another step to there ivory towers btw.

winners do do drugs , check the history of the 100m for one, they however get caught
stripped of medals and respect and on occasion jailed for fraud. which is fair

i do however suspect that a few mechanics over the years have taken drugs to assist in the all night car rebuilds of old.

and max ? clearly a coke fiend. you dont become that arrogant just of the high of life surely

[nae]

and dont forget that air force pilots regularly take speed
during combat mission

[Miguel]

I'm a nature reader, but I am on the 80% side of the poll. I guess that's why I don't publish in Nature as much as I'd like (i.e. nothing yet). I've never tried drinking and then driving on my computer, so I can't say what the results would be. I imagine them, though.

BTW: I was on the verge of voting the Hamilton option.

[Ciro Pabón]

Disclaimer: I do not advocate the use of any drugs in sports, evidently this can kill you. Yes, you could drive without safety belt to shave some hundredths of a second from your lap, but why?

On the other hand, the problem, mentioned by Nature readers, is the unfair advantage the drugs give to your competitors. Nature subscriptors seem pretty relaxed about it, more than what I think is correct, but they can play havoc with their body without causing major accidents.

What I found disturbing is this:

According to a 2008 piece in Newsweek , since the steroids scandal in Major League Baseball erupted, the league has seen a spike in players getting diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD). Thanks to the league’s "therapeutic use exemption" players being prescribed amphetamines such as Ritalin shot up in a single year from 28 to 103.

Besides, a friend at other forum (MikaPup) explains that the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), which creates the list of prohibited substances in sports allows you to follow a set of guidelines for their use.

Apparently, you can take a pill of Ritalin before the race and be within guidelines.

I thought racing (and science!) was above doping. Now, after reading about this new drugs, I'm not so sure.

[Miguel]

On the other hand, the problem, mentioned by Nature readers, is the unfair advantage the drugs give to your competitors. Nature subscriptors seem pretty relaxed about it, more than what I think is correct, but they can play havoc with their body without causing major accidents.

[...]

I thought racing (and science!) was above doping. Now, after reading about this new drugs, I'm not so sure.

I think that racing is one thing and science another. For one, racing hasn't created polemics such as cloning and nuclear energy. Second, racing is a competition with other guys in, usually, a level playing field. If some teams do find their ways around flexi-wings and engine freeze, wouldn't they consider using drugs if that allowed their drivers to perform better?

Science, on the other hand, is not a competition a priori. Of course you end up competing with similar groups to publish similar stuff sooner than them, but in principle the results help everybody. If McLaren wins the WCC championship, does it benefit me? If a, let's say, south korean group finds a new design that's much better than the ITER (in which my country is involved), it does benefit me. One can argue that, if the south korean girl is using drugs she might get a job at Cornell that would have been yours had she not taken drugs. So, yes, it is a moral dilemma, but it is my belief that in science, at the end, everybody wins.

And as a side note, I suffer frequent headaches. To treat them, I usually have "Tonopan", considered doping probably because it raises the pain threshold. My work is really handicapped when I'm suffering headache. Am I cheating my fellow PhD students when I have tonopan for my headaches?

And, finally, should I stop listen to the Who because two of their members died because of drug abuse and at least one of the others is a former user? Won't we get fooled again?

[bizadfar]

I remember a driver in an endurance race (LMS i think) was caught with cocaine usage and banned and labelled as a performance enhancer..
Surely illegal..

[nae]

the problem is what constitutes a drug?
we all know the main recreational drugs
then there is the steroids to help build body mass
or tune the body during training
then the attention drugs, speed etc

but when the doping body bans certain amounts of
normal things that are in daily use , ie caffine
or things that occur naturally in the body (nandralon*
, sp?)the term 'drugs' is being somewhat stretched

even using the idea that anything taken to gain an
advantage is perhaps cheating is beyond easy definition
that could perhaps include altitude training or anything
the a governing body decides is bad (m'kay)

i am thinking the problem is like the ECU problem in f1
it was easyer to allow traction control becuase before
the standard ecu it was nearly impossible to police

the problem is out of hand in many sports, where the term
drug use seems to imply cheating, take a cold remedy and
get banned and vilified, take a secret unknown and you win
its a very tight line to walk and clearly is easiest if stay
well away

but if you are a competitor and think your opponents have
an advantage then youll want it too, think Alonso in the
stepney gate

Me? i am all for removing dangerous practices that risk life
for a few tenths gain but the rest is just what people do
often in the mistaken belief that it will help, let them
all use placebos!!

drugs save lifes every single day, there are many people
who would be dead (both my parents included) without
some very powerful drugs

define drugs and then we can talk

[nae]

perhaps F1 can lead the way with a list of approved
materials that one can use

tell sports people that they can only eat x,y or z
and if they use anything else they get banned

wrong way round thinking in my view but it is a solution
to keep the moralist happy

[bizadfar]

define?

something that enhances your performance obviously.

ie cocaine, makes your reactions better and very useful in an ENDURANCE (HYPER) event!

Why should F1 lead the way? This type of rule in F1 is a waste of time and resources. Just leave it over to the FIA and they (FIA) already do it (I do not know how strict or what..)

[WhiteBlue]

mind enhancing drugs is nonsense in my view. the brain and the body is controled by complex chemical substances that are produced by more than 50 adenoids or glands in our bodies. the brain functions like other body functions depend of an optimum equilibrium of thousands of complex substances. genetic disposition, good nutrition, training, sleep patterns, sexual and mental exercise determine how good our mind works. to manipulate this by drugs is not sensible. doping should be banned in motorsport as in all other sports.

[Belatti]

I voted for the I don´t use drugs option, trully I don´t use "illegal" drugs. Actually I use to have Lecithin Soy in my breakfast

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecithin

La lecitina mantiene la buena transmisión de los impulsos nerviosos, por lo que se valora como reconstituyente para el sistema nervioso, y para ayudar a mejorar la memoria y el rendimiento intelectual. La fosfatidilcolina de la lecitina, importante en la formación y mantenimiento de neurotransmisores cerebrales entre las neuronas, ejerce una importante acción sobre cada una de las etapas de la memoria y la actividad mental. Proporciona fósforo orgánico de un modo natural y en una forma directamente asimilable, lo que asimismo facilita el trabajo intelectual.

I´ll try to translate a bit: Lecithin maintains good nervious impulses transmission, is rated as a nervious system reconstructor, helps to improve memory and intelectual performance...

Sometimes (when exams, work, sportsm friends and parties come in a short period of time) I eventually take a Gingseng based multivitamin pill (diet complement) but thats all.

The couple of times I have driven under severe effects of drugs I was completely drunk and refused to lend my car keys (cause noone can drive my car ). I sat down, vomit, have some water and waited to gain some vision. Once I could see ("triple" vision) I fastened my seatbelt and drove those 15 blocks towards home, my brother -he can´t drive- told me I never drove beyond 15 Km/h and that I managed the situation in a superb fashion but I don´t remember anything. That´s what I call unconcious awareness