Comment · Sat, January 18, 2014 · Ceretropic
Captagon: The amphetamine fuelling Syria's civil war (x-post from r/cyberpunk)
What they were answering
[deleted] · -1 points
plus compared to so many of the chemicals here at least we have piles of research on amphetamine. to assume that most of these chemicals are side-effect free is wrong... to assume anything is side-effect free is pretty naive as well. I would feel much safer taking amphetamine daily over many of the (more specifically) new "nootropics" on here.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
Yes, we have piles and piles of research on amphetamines showing that long-term daily use speeds cognitive decline, and is damaging to multiple neuronal systems. Ignoring that does nobody any good.
Look, I argued from your position earlier today with someone else. Yes, amphetamine has much more research on it than many of the new molecules being purported as nootropics right now. If that research showed that amphetamine was safe, then there would be no question. But it doesn't. Amphetamine is without a doubt neurotoxic at normal human doses.
Could coluracetam, or noopept, or unifiram, or one of the other newer molecules eventually be found to be damaging too? Sure, that is definitely in the realm of possibility. With what we know about the functional groups that create those molecules, it is very unlikely. But there is always that possibility. That does not mean we throw out the term nootropic like it is not useful. And it certainly does not mean we should see amphetamine as an more safe, due to the amount of studies it has.