such treatment, for the sole purpose of making them competent to stand trial. In the United Kingdom In the case of R v Hardison, the defendant, charged with eight counts under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDA), including the production of DMT and LSD, claimed that cognitive liberty was safeguarded by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Hardison argued that "individual sovereignty over one's interior environment constitutes the very core of what it means to be free", and that as psychotropic drugs are a potent method of altering an individual's mental process, prohibition of them under the MDA was in opposition to Article 9. The court however disagreed, calling Hardison's arguments a "portmanteau defense" and relying upon the UN Drug Conventions and the earlier case of R v Taylor to deny Hardison's right to appeal to a superior court. Hardison was convicted and given a 20-year prison sentence, though he was released on 29 May 2013 after nine years in prison. Criticism While there has been little publicized criticism of the concept of cognitive liberty itself, drug policy reform and the concept of human enhancement, both closely linked to cognitive liberty, remain highly controversial issues. The recent development of neurosciences is increasing the possibility of controlling and influence specific mental functions. The risks inherent in removing restrictions on controlled cognitive-enhancing drugs, including of widening the gap between those able to afford such treatments and those unable to do so, have caused many to remain skeptical about the wisdom of recognizing cognitive liberty as a right. Political philosopher and Harvard University professor Michael J. Sandel, when examining the prospect of memory enhancement, wrote that "some who worry about the ethics of cognitive enhancement point to the danger of creating two classes of human beings – those with access to enhancement technologies, and those who must make do with an unaltered memory that fades with age." Cognitive liberty then faces opposition obliquely in these interrelated debates. But these objections to cognitive enhancement have not gone unchallenged and debate continues still. See also Cognitive ergonomics Drug liberalization Freedom of religion Freedom of speech Morphological freedom Neuroenhancement Neuroethics Neurolaw Personalized medicine Psychonautics Responsible drug use The Rhetoric of Drugs, by Jacques Derrida Self-ownership Techno-progressivism Thomas Szasz Transhumanism References Human rights Civil rights and liberties Identity politics Medical ethics Drug culture Transhumanism Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants