Regular people are using banned Olympic drugs to enhance their brain power
and it's not necessarily illegal
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HEALTH Olympics
Since 2014, about 1,000 Olympic athletes have failed a doping test due to use of banned drugs like stimulants, hormone therapy, and anabolic steroids. Stimulants like piracetam, carphedon, and noopept are banned during competition because they’re considered performance enhancers.
But did you know they’re also widely used to enhance the performance of ordinary, non-Olympian people? Specifically, the Nootropics class of drugs are thought to be “smart drugs” or “cognitive enhancers,” and if Reddit is anything to go by, lots of non-athletes are using them.
The drugs were around before they were banned from the Olympics, but they rose to public notice after top athletes were stripped of their medals when the drugs were found in their systems. They’re now openly discussed online and even widely promoted in the US. Some are sold as health supplements, others prescribed by doctors or bought by tech geeks on sketchy websites.
In any case, if you’re a regular person taking a banned Olympic drug, there’s a decent chance that what you’re doing isn’t actually illegal. Just don’t try to take it and compete in the Olympics.