The NYT has finally noticed Provigil, the miracle anti-sleeping drug from Cephalon. It’s a pretty good article–covers the business the drug-maker is in, but more importantly the way that the drug probably works, and how it might or might not affect society. It’s coming into vogue as an off-label and cosmetic psychopharm product, people are beginning to figure out how it works, etc. The thing I don’t get is this: they say a lot about how important sleep is, but they don’t say how Provigil affects the quality of wakefulness you get when you’re taking it, and they don’t say whether anyone’s studying the effects of abuse, which is what I really want to know about, because there just aren’t enough hours in the day, you know?
Secretly Ironic 