BackgroundThe types methods of cognitive enhancement are multi-farious in their mechanism and plausibility [1]. However,compared to the abstract debate about enhancement ingeneral, pharmacological manipulation via existing pre-scription drugs presents a very immediate ethical prob-lem that requires attention.The origin of the immediacy of this issue is twofold.Firstly, the problem concerns drugs which are already le-gally, safely and widely used amongst patient populations[2]: Ritalin/Adderall for Attention Deficit HyperactivityDisorder (ADHD) and Modafinil for narcolepsy. Sec-ondly, this method of enhancement is one that is actu-ally in current use in an entirely unregulated fashion, bya significant proportion of the population. In the U.K.Ritalin and Adderall are considered class B drugs [3],punishable up to 5 years in prison for possession, andModafinil is considered a prescription only medicine [4].In the most recent large scale formal survey in TheUnited Kingdom & Ireland [5], the lifetime use of pre-scription drugs that have purported cognitive enhancingfunctions without a prescription in students has been es-timated at around 10 %. Alarmingly, a further 20.4 %have considered using such drugs, for which‘lack ofavailability’was sighted as the major reason for notusing; suggesting the potential for a positive increase inthe future. The most common of these, Adderall, Me-thylphenidate (Ritalin) and Modafinil are either obtainedfrom friends or online. Users obtain these drugs mostcommonly with the aim of enhancing cognition (as op-posed to offsetting sleep deprivation or enhancingmood). Whilst estimates of the prevalence vary, resultsfrom the United States (14 % of 381 respondents) [6]and Switzerland (7.6 % of 6275 students), demonstratethat non-prescription use of prescription only drugs forthe purposes of cognitive enhancement poses a signifi-cant ethical problem.