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Comment by VladRussian2 | Hacker News Reader

>The brain works better when it gets nicotine - almost like an optimized computer. Nicotine is a "work-drug" that enables its consumers to focus better and think faster. The brain also becomes more enduring, especially in smokers: Nicotine experiments show that smokers in prolonged working situations are able to maintain concentration for many hours longer than non-smokers.

the same can be said about meth or other ADHD drugs. "Magic comes with a price" :) (i was a smoker of cigarettes for a decade and quit more than a decade ago)

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Which is why I think the moral panic about ADHD overdiagnosis in the USA is nonsense. The US is a country founded on stimulants; I hypothesize that behavioral norms and benchmarks for success in the United States have been influenced by heavy nicotine use from upward of 40% of adult Americans prior to the tobacco control movement, and that the increased diagnosis of ADHD in teens and young adults now may be due to lower nicotine use.

I've been looking for a while for any scholarly (peer reviewed) papers that explore this idea; if anyone knows of any, I'd love to read them!

There's a functional and chemical different between the amphetamine salts in popular ADD drugs and methamphetamine (namely, a methyl group.)

But perhaps more importantly, not a big subjective difference ;-).

This isn't what the original commenter said!

Reread and realize he's talking about the subjective difference.

It isn't now. It has been edited from the original.

Meth is only prescribed for ADHD in the US. Is it prescribed for ... nevermind, you edited your post. (Original said something to the effect of "meth is prescribed for drowsiness in pilots," which is inaccurate for the US.)

Dexedrine.

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2003/02/57434

Dexedrine is dextroamphetamine (commonly prescribed for ADD and other things, like staying awake). Methamphetamine is a different chemical with an important legal distinction (if subjectively and objectively very similar).

Meth is quite hard to get, via prescription, unfortunately. Its bad rep in pop media has resulted in it becoming overcontrolled by the FDA. It's quite a useful - but little explored and used - therapy for AD(H)D.

You'll nearly universally get straight d-amphetamine at the doctor's office.

Really? I thought adderall (contains 1/4 dextro-) or vyvense (don't know which amphetamines it contains) were pretty common.

Adderall is a mix of d- and l-amphetamine.

Vyvanse is d-amphetmine bound to lysine, turning it into a prodrug (which means your gut chemically cleaves off the lysine and, conveniently, you're left with d-amp sitting in your gut).

The more you know. Thanks :).

Vyvanse was a wonder drug for me. Not only helped me concentrate it made me more outgoing and confident. Left me with horrible dry mouth though.

When the poster said pilots, I think he was referring to military pilots. The use of stimulants in combat situations is apparently quite common for pilots.

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