Why Can’t Everyone Take Modafinil?

The most popular smart drug in the world is more secure than Adderall and is a promising treatment for addiction and neurodegenerative diseases. So why shouldn’t it be used?

You’ve probably seen modafinil, a drug. You’ve heard of modafinil, the “smart drug,” sometimes referred to as”the “Limitless” pill, that transforms sleep-deprived university students or young professionals into energized working horses.

Modafinil is proven to perform even more and is a promising treatment for addiction to stimulants and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. It’s also been proven to have a normal cognitive function in sleep-deprived people (everyone nowadays). It’s the drug astronauts use on the International Space Station and the military personnel on long-distance missions.

Modafinil Addiction

Modafinil addiction isn’t possible; it’s as dangerous as drinking coffee cups.

However, unlike the UK, Australia, India, Germany, Canada, Mexico, and other nations which have endorsed modafinil as a prescription drug that is not a controlled drug, The United States still classifies modafinil as a Schedule IV controlled substance, which places it in the same category as Xanax as well as Valium. With the amphetamine crisis raging in America and generalized sleep deprivation, legalizing safer alternatives like modafinil would make a lot of sense. The question is why we don’t.

Modafinil was discovered around the year 1970 by the 1970s by a French researcher in the field of experimental medicine to manage Narcolepsy as well as other sleep disorders. After years of clinical research in France in the 1970s, it was finally approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved modafinil for use as a treatment to treat Narcolepsy in the year 1998. In 1999 modafinil was approved by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which classified modafinil as a Schedule IV drug.

Initially, there needed to be more research to establish the mechanism of action behind modafinil. Modafinil wasn’t found to directly alter particular neurotransmitters, which are the chemical compounds released by nerve cells to communicate with nerve cells of other types. Instead, It was believed to indirectly affect various neurotransmitters (namely serotonin, dopamine, and GABA) as opposed to other stimulants like Adderall that work more directly with the dopamine system.

The DEA made it clear in its ruling that the effects on behavior that Modafinil for sale online causes were like other stimulants, such as cocaine, that directly impact the dopamine system. Dopamine functions as a type of natural reward system within the brain. It is mainly connected to addictive drugs that caused the DEA an adequate reason to be concerned.

Modafinil Legalization Benefits

But not all dopaminergic substances are created equally. Certain medications, such as MDMA, help by increasing dopamine levels in the brain. Other drugs, such as cocaine, act as dopamine reuptake inhibitors. In other words, whenever the dopamine released from one nerve cell is not entirely absorbed by the receiving nerve cell, any leftover dopamine is prevented from entering the nerve cell that released it and remaining in the space between two nerve cells. This extracellular dopamine makes you feel the same as when you draw the line. Modafinil is also an inhibitor of dopamine, but it’s not as effectively similar to cocaine.

Because of this, studies have shown that modafinil can successfully treat amphetamine and cocaine addiction. If you’re constantly taking powerful dopamine blockers, such as cocaine, the brain adjusts in response to dopamine in the extracellular space as the new norm. If you decide to take drugs out, your brain will have a tougher time functioning. Modafinil is an alternative to cocaine that is still a dopamine reuptake inhibitor; however its effects are less pronounced, and it has virtually zero potential for addiction.

Modafinil is utilized to treat addiction to cocaine in specific groups; this isn’t among the FDA-approved applications. Insurance companies aren’t able to cover the drug as a treatment. So people who require it the most must pay for it out of pocket to get access, which is usually not an option for those suffering from a long-term coke addiction. When I contacted the pharmacy to inquire about prices, I was informed that 30 100mg pills would cost around $870.

Modafinil that is sold off-label can be purchased to purchase it from illegal manufacturers in countries such as India. This means they pay much less (about $2 for 200 mg of pills) and have a lesser risk of receiving a diluted product. Some people opt for “approved” prescriptions for drugs such as Adderall that may produce similar results but carry more risk (namely, the fact that Adderall is addictive by itself).

The first step towards legalizing modafinil is to promote modafinil as a safe alternative to the widely-available stimulants currently in use and encourage further research on the long-term effects. Removing a drug from the United States is a long and challenging process; however, with the benefits of the legalization of modafinil, it could be worth it.