Should healthy people take prescription drugs to boost their brain strength? A panel of medical experts says healthy people should be permitted to take drugs typically prescribed for those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or memory impairment.

Many of the medications usually prescribed to treat psychiatric and neurological conditions also improve the performance of the healthy, the panel of medical experts says. College students are already taking stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall, which are usually prescribed for those with ADHD. Studies show that 5 to 15 percent of students are illegally taking prescription drugs as study aids. The trend may be common among academics as well.

According to a commentary written by a group of seven authors from the United States and Britain, published online in the journal Nature, “cognitive enhancement” – the use of brain-stimulating drugs and devices by healthy people – “could lead to substantive improvements in the world.”

On the other hand, those who oppose this theory say that the use of performance-enhancing drugs is unfair and could undermine the value of hard work. The authors of the commentary, however, note that these drugs fall into the same category such as drinking a cup of coffee, or getting a good night sleep.

Furthermore, the team of ethics experts and scientists suggest that if cognitive enhancers are to be used more broadly, more studies to asses the risks and benefits of the drugs are needed.

Questions related to the frequency of use still persist. There are some differences between those who take the pills daily, weekly, monthly, or no more than once a year.

The scientists caution that these medications can have very significant side-effects, ranging from headaches, jitteriness to anxiety and sleeplessness. Enhancement in children raises additional questions related to the long-term effects on the developing brain. Experts agree that healthy children under the age of 16 should be restricted from taking these drugs. According to the Food and Drug Administration, Adderall carries warnings about possible sudden death, heart attack and stroke, especially for those with heart problems.

Earlier this year, an informal survey conducted by the journal Nature about the usage of drugs that boost the brain power amongst the scientists has found that one in five respondents admitted that they have used at least one of the brain-boosting drugs to improve their intellectual performance. The participants (the study included 1400 people from 60 countries) were asked if they have used one of the following three drugs: Ritalin (a drug commonly used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), Provigil (usually prescribed to those who have sleep disorder) and beta-blockers (a class of drugs prescribed for cardiac arrhythmia that also have an anti-anxiety effect). Another interesting idea to keep in mind is that one-third of respondents said they would feel pressure to give cognition-enhancing drugs to their children if other children at school were taking them.