Brain-boosting drugs quandary.SOME brain-boosting drugs may be considered cheating at Coventry University The expanding main campus is situated on the east side of Coventry city centre, which boasts one of the most innovative (and unusual-looking) university libraries in the UK. The university is particularly noted for its world-renowned automotive design and engineering degree courses as - but students at Warwick are free to take them. Coventry University bosses haven't yet dealt with a case of a student taking a legal prescription drug prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, not for an illness but to boost academic performance. If an incident is reported to them they say they will then consider whether it counts as cheating under university rules. A Coventry University spokeswoman said: "Any form of activity which can be classified as attempting to gain unfair advantage in an assessment could fall within the general definition of cheating and be addressed under Appendix One to our general regulations. "We do not specifically mention drugs but the list is not exhaustive." At Warwick University in Gibbet Hill Gibbet Hill is the location of, and name for The University of Warwick's southern campus, based close to the outskirts of Coventry, in Warwickshire. The Gibbet Hill campus is home to Biological Sciences, BioMedical Research, the University's Estates Office, Warwick Medical School, , Coventry, there are no plans to clamp down on the brain-boosting drugs unless they turn out to be harmful. Warwick University spokesman Peter Dunn said: "If they are legal we can't stop people taking them unless we think they were doing harm to people. If the substances are legal and not causing harm we're limited in what we can do." He pointed out that drinking caffeine is acceptable at university although it's used in the same way as the stronger and more controversial drugs for staying awake and boosting concentration as deadlines loom. A national survey in the journal Nature of 1,400 people showed one in five have taken either Ritalin, Provigil or beta blockers Beta Blockers Definition Beta blockers are medicines that affect the body's response to certain nerve impulses. This, in turn, decreases the force and rate of the heart's contractions, which lowers blood pressure and reduces the heart's demand for to improve concentration memory. All three are prescription-only drugs when bought in pharmacies but can be ordered over the internet without a prescription. It's not yet clear whether there are any side-effects for healthy people taking the drugs regularly without being supervised by a doctor. |
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