Talk at the Criminological Colloquium of the KFN in Hanover

On 2 June 2026, I gave a talk on “Substance Use Aimed at Performance Enhancement – Prevalence, Causes, and Social Consequences” (in German: “Substanzkonsum mit dem Ziel der Leistungssteigerung – Prävalenz, Ursachen und soziale Folgen”) at the Criminological Colloquium of the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN) in Hanover, at the invitation of Dr. Jan-Philip Steinmann.

Using substances such as caffeine tablets, prescription drugs like methylphenidate, or illegal drugs such as cocaine to improve cognitive performance without medical need has received growing attention in recent years. From a criminological perspective, such cognitive enhancement can be understood as a form of instrumental norm violation or as a strategy for coping with structural pressure. This raises questions about fairness, social control, health risks, moral judgments, and shifting social norms.

In the talk, I presented findings from the ENHANCE project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), based on a population-representative panel survey of more than 25,000 people in Germany. I discussed the prevalence of different forms of substance-based cognitive enhancement, individual and structural influences such as personality traits, moral beliefs, risk assessments, job stressors, and social networks, illegal ways of obtaining and distributing substances, and social consequences such as the willingness to cooperate in teams.

I would like to thank Jan-Philip Steinmann for the invitation and the audience for the discussion.