Smart drugs rife at Oxbridge, say students "A lot of young people are purchasing these drugs over the internet, which is very unsafe because you don't know what you're getting and you don't know if it's safe for you as an individual," she said.She said some students felt under pressure to take the drug to keep up with their fellow students, adding: "There's this kind of coercion that goes on." Modafinil is prescribed to treat narcolepsy and other sleep disorders. It is not illegal for non-sufferers to buy prescription-only drugs but supplying them to other people is against the law. Sky News talked to students who admitted using the drug, claiming it was widely available on campuses. Laurie Pycroft, a masters student at Oxford, said: "I have found the ability to go without sleep, when necessary, quite effective. It's essentially like caffeine, just a bit more effective and with less jitters. The people I've met who offer me Modafinil for sale, they've all been fellow students, or academic types, rather than your stereotypical wheeler dealer in a hoodie down a dark alley. Dr Anders Sandberg, research fellow at Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute, claimed to use Modafinil every one or two weeks, adding: "It would be much better if it were in the open market, which would mean that we could actually control that it's healthy, that side effects get reported, that you could study it properly." The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said Modafinil should only be taken following a "full consultation with a doctor." A spokesman for Universities UK said: "Universities... would have grave concerns about students taking drugs not prescribed to them. Not only is this illegal but it also poses health risks to those students. An Oxford spokesman said: "If 'cognitive enhancement" drugs are a particular problem at Oxford we have yet to see any substantive evidence for it." A Cambridge spokesman said use of prescription drugs without approval was not recommended under any circumstances.