Wired ran the meth tutorial above under the headline, "Give Your Intellect A Boost — Just Say Yes To Doing The Right Drugs!" That was, like, a month ago, but the Times is now wondering if the article might, you know, give people the wrong idea about drugs. In addition to some positive words about meth, the article also praised drug Aderall and said it is "often prescribed to A.D.H.D. patients (wink, wink)," implying people should lie to their doctors to get the drug and "enhanc[e] concentration, turning mundane tasks into wondrous ones." This incident bodes well for Wired in two ways:

One, the Times thinks the magazine has enough brand cachet to get people to take drugs. Laughable, but flattering for Wired. Two, notoriously wrong Wired ("Push" internet will kill the Web browser! Tech's "Long Boom" will continue forever!) has stopped even pretending people take its advice seriously. As the Times noted elsewhere today, the magazine has successfully transitioned from the sterile, fact-based technology reporting it was once at least marginally associated with (day-glo typesetting aside) to the unverifiable buzzmaking at the heart of lifestyle publishing. The result: advertising and circulation are both on the march. See, drugs really do give you a boost!

[Times, Wired]