Chris Good's recent article in The Atlantic Monthly poses a question that is at the heart of recent research and debates in bioethics and medical anthropology. Since "performance-enhancers are increasingly part of our modern existence, despite our instinct to ban them," Good (2010) asks, "Why don't we use them for good?" He recommends providing drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin to scientists to foster productivity and creativity. While I cannot attest to Good's intentions, his question speaks to the unique social position of stimulant use in the United States (Grinspoon and Hedblom 1975; Rasmussen 2008). Amphetamines and their derivatives have, in fact, been used for these very purposes since the early 1900s (Rasmussen 2008).
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