White Collar PEDs

For years now, I’ve had an on-again, off-again relationship with the world of what my editor dubbed “White Collar PEDs,” or productivity-enhancing drugs. Though I’d never heard the phrase before, I knew immediately what he was talking about—the seemingly infinite profusion of supplements and “nootropics,” prescription “study drugs,” and illegal or semi-legal drugs that have become popular among young professionals seeking not to get high, but to optimize their brains and bodies for work.