[Stormbringer]

I think before you read too much into this:

"I first became interested in what adult ADD treatments do after seeing a testimonial from an HN participant, a programmer, who said that his productivity increased dramatically after beginning ADD medication as an adult."

You should note that (according to the article) those drugs for ADD contain amphetamines.

Is it really surprising that someone self-reports increased productivity after beginning a course of amphetamines?

Anyway, the take-home from the article is that in the long term the body adapts and there are no benefits to taking the drugs in the long term, and possible negative effects to be dealt with (not sure what symptoms of withdrawl from amphetamines is, but not likely to be pleasant).

You could probably experience just as much short-term benefit from taking up smoking or becoming an alcoholic.