DARPA funded a lot of the human enhancement projects out there in the mid 2000s as part of the now-defunct future soldier project, of which provigil was one. It's pretty much standard issue to special forces nowadays.
I've never understood this. For them it's perfectly ok to abuse this drug and to alter neurophysiology, but for anyone else it's wrong and people can get in trouble.
http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...modafinil_and_the_arms_race_for_soldiers.html
I don't think it's wrong for anyone to use modafinil, personally. But I can see the military's argument for broad drug use even in today's regulatory climate- if you nod off in a cockpit or during a couple minutes of downtime in a firefight, you die. The benefits outweigh any potential risks associated with the drugs they use.
Yes, but EVERYONE is human. If someone is nodding off, then use someone else who isn't sleepy. I realize part of the military is your needs come secondary, but do you really think long term use of modafinil for these purposes is safe long-term? Why not amphetamine derivatives?
As much as they military likes to tout that safety is top priority, the truth is people are human tools to them. A tool that doesn't do it's job optimally needs to be improved. If there are consequences afterward, that gets left to the VA. When you join, they own you. Your health is secondary to their concerns, your future is secondary to their concerns, and your life, when it comes down to it, is secondary to their concerns.
Yes, I'm always amazed by the tons of people every year who sign up for the military knowing (or maybe not knowing) these realities. Personally I was quite happy when many colleges would turn away military recruiters from their campuses and conservatives used to complain and hem and haw about it. Drugs like modafinil and other substances for altering sleep needs are really mind altering and we really have no idea how they work long term on the cellular/neuronal level - and this really applies to all psychotropic medications that affect neurotransmitter release.
Some things are more important than the individual. If I had to do some damage to my brain to serve my country, so be it. When you sign up, it isn't about you. You're choosing to sacrifice a bit of yourself for you country, something you'll never get back, be it time, your health, your sanity, or your life.
I understand that. But realize that once you are done doing that, it is your family or your significant other who then has to take care of you long afterwards and deal with any brain damage that may have occurred, esp. or something that is physiologically necessary as sleep. @Nasrudin might be able to correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't even know the long term effects of SSRIs on neuronal structure and physiology. Just bc you're sacrificing for your country doesn't mean you're an inanimate object to be used or abused.
