Apr. 18 (NBD) – After Wang Tao gulped down the first "smart pill" of Methylphenidate, brand name Ritalin, the Pandora's box was opened.

Once overwhelmed by anxiety, Wang felt a sudden gust of ecstasy and could energetically concentrate on his job with the help of the magic pill. 

Wang was too high to realize a quagmire awaiting. Only two months later, with Ritalin cutting no ice with him, he eventually fell into a dark abyss of crystal meth.

As recorded by a doctor, of all Ritalin addicts he met last year, half ended up with touching narcotics.

As Ritalin belongs to prescription medicine, office workers, students and others who want to enhance concentration and boost their performance turn to the black market.

According to NBD's investigation, in face of brisk demand, there lies a huge and complete illegal drug supply chain.

Photo/Shetuwang

"Magic smart pills" take the world by storm

Smart pills refer to central nervous system stimulants such as Ritalin, which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy.

Ever since such stimulants that improve one's attention were introduced in China in 2016, they have become the straws some parents grasp at to place high hopes on their children. 

Xu Jie, director at the detoxification division of Beijing Gaoxin Hospital, told NBD in an interview that smart pills never make one smarter but only improve one's attention by stimulating the secretion of dopamine and epinephrine.

Drug dealers intentionally garbled the truth and nicknamed the stimulants as smart pills, Xu added.

In his view, Ritalin and other stimulants alike are essentially no different from narcotics. Abusing such stimulants is highly addictive and may even cause worse impacts than narcotics.

Brain dopping is also found ubiquitous in the U.S.

According to a Netflix documentary Take Your Pills, smart pills already became anti-pressure essentials for Americans. 

A survey targeting Ivy League students from the National Institute on Drug Abuse showcased nearly 70 percent of them admitted they took smart pills, while 27 percent confessed they took the medicine whenever there is an exam.

In last June, another survey among nearly 30,000 residents from 15 countries and regions including the U.S., the U.K. and France by the International Journal of Drug Policy disclosed the number of people exalting cognition via smart pills was soaring.

The number of respondents who took smart pills at least once rose to 14 percent in 2017 from 5 percent in 2015. 

Among them, Americans consumed smart pills most frequently while Europeans presented the largest increment.

Back in 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration already said Ritalin would do harm to mental and physical health and even increase the risks of death.

Photo/Shetuwang

Deep-hidden illegal supply chain surfaces 

Due to the harm and addictiveness, methylphenidate (main ingredient of Ritalin) is under regulations worldwide.

Pursuant to the classification of psychotropic substances in China, Ritalin belongs to category I, which means it can be only prescribed by qualified doctors.

Every detail about such medicine can be traced, from the production to whom the medication is prescribed to, said Xu Jie, and it is also prohibited by the law to sell the medicine personally. 

Here then comes the question, how do people who can't get prescription obtain the pills?

NBD was told by some dealer that the smart pills they vend online are produced by a factory based in Turkey under Novartis, a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company.

NBD found that Novartis does have a subsidiary in Turkey, but the dealer's purported sourcing hasn't been verified.

When asked how they transport the drugs from Turkey to China, another dealer revealed the pills will firstly be brought to China's Hong Kong and then to the mainland.

Despite the rigorous control of such smart pills in China, online social platforms, on which drug dealers sell diversified smart pills with clear price tags, almost became dark corners where the laws are ignored.

Apart from proceeds via sales, those dealers also induce buyers to be their agents so as to enlarge the supply chain.

"Purchase ten boxes of Ritalin (400 pills) and you can be my agent," a dealer said to NBD.

According to Wang Lianggang, director of the China Health Law Society, such drug dealers are committing crime of trafficking counterfeit medication, as they brought Ritalin produced overseas into China illegally. 

As China hasn't yet defined Methylphenidate-like Ritalin as the prohibited drug, it doesn't count as a crime if a person buys Ritalin, but it's illegal to buy Amphetamines, said Xu Jie, as smart pills could contain both.

"People would bear huge risks in buying the so-called smart pills," Xu warned.

Email: huamin@nbd.com.cn