'Smart Drugs': do they work? Are they ethical? Will they be legal?

Beyond pharmacological approaches to the treatment of memory loss that results from Alzheimer's disease or stroke, there lies a broad diagnostic penumbra of 'age-associated memory impairment'. New research that offers to attain the ancient goal of improving our cognitive ability raises an important issue - the use, by healthy people, of such pharmacological tools as cognitive enhancers. Here, I review the history and effectiveness of such supposed 'nootropics', and the ethical, social and legal issues raised by their potential use in disease and in the enhancement of 'normal' cognition.