The person who started the rumor was that demented, washed-up old conspiracy theorist Rudy Giuliani. I wouldn't believe him if his tongue came notarized. I'll take the word of a real expert on pharmacology.
How would a drug like Adderall affect someone’s debate performances?
Michael T. Swanoski: Adderall is a stimulant that’s often prescribed for attention deficit disorder. So Adderall potentially could increase your attentiveness if you’re feeling drowsy or if you’re fatigued. But it doesn’t increase cognition per se. It doesn’t improve thinking, but it provides a boost similar to what you’d get from a cup of coffee—a little more pronounced, but not increasing cognition in any way. It wouldn’t have an effect on your acetylcholine, which is the chemical that’s connected with clear thoughts, thinking through a difficult task, and high-level thinking.
Trump seems to be implying that there’s a drug that could magically make someone who was frail and confused into a brilliant debater. Is that possible?
Michael T. Swanoski: Inherently your talents in debating are not going to suddenly be enhanced because you took a nutritional supplement or you took a prescription stimulant. The best they can do is maybe make you more alert. They’re not going to suddenly increase your intelligence. That’s just not possible.
Giuliani also said “the president’s quite right to say maybe [Biden has] taken Adderall,” implying it would be a treatment for his supposed “sleepiness.”
Michael T. Swanoski: Dementia is not lack of energy; there’s damage going on in the brain. There’s neural damage that occurs that then impairs the function of these neural transmitters, these chemicals like acetylcholine, which is this chemical that’s really responsible in large part for our normal cognitive function. And so someone with dementia would not be treated with amphetamines to get them more alert. It wouldn’t increase their brain acuity at all. It would make them jittery, more confused, really, because they wouldn’t be able to think clearly. Drugs for dementia are primarily aimed at increasing levels of acetylcholine, like Donepezil, which is used for Alzheimer’s dementia.
So just to be clear, you’re saying that Adderall is not a treatment for dementia?
Michael T. Swanoski: You are correct.
https://slate.com/technology/2020/09/joe-biden-drug-test-trump-adderall-debunk.html