History of amphetamine and methamphetamine

History of amphetamine and methamphetamine
Amphetamine was first synthesized in 1887 in Germany by Romanian chemist, Lazar Edeleanu, who named the drug phenylisopropylamine.[4][3][17][2] This concoction was one of a series of compounds related to the plant derivative ephedrine, which had been isolated from the plant má huáng (ephedra) that same year by Nagayoshi Nagai.[6] Shortly after the first synthesis of amphetamine, Nagai synthesized methamphetamine from ephedrine in 1893.[7][18] In 1919, methamphetamine hydrochloride, also known as crystal meth, was synthesized by pharmacologist Akira Ogata via reduction of ephedrine using red phosphorus and iodine.[18] The sympathomimetic properties of amphetamine were unknown until 1927, when pioneer psychopharmacologist Gordon Alles independently resynthesized it and tested it on himself while searching for an artificial replacement for ephedrine.[17][19] At the time, Alles referred to the amphetamine compound as Benzedrine, a term derived from the name benzyl-methyl carbinamine.[20] In 1934, Smith, Kline and French made the first amphetamine pharmaceutical when they began selling a decongestant inhaler containing the volatile amphetamine free base under the trade name Benzedrine.[8][19] One of the first attempts at using amphetamine in a scientific study was done by M. Nathanson, a Los Angeles physician, in 1935.[21] He studied the subjective effects of amphetamine in 55 hospital workers who were each given 20 mg of Benzedrine.[21] The two most commonly reported drug effects were "a sense of well being and a feeling of exhilaration" and "lessened fatigue in reaction to work".36127-17-0
During World War II, amphetamine and methamphetamine were used extensively by both the Allied and Axis forces for their stimulant and performance-enhancing effects.[4][9][10] In the 1950s, there was a rise in the legal prescription of methamphetamine to the American public.[18] Methamphetamine constituted half of the amphetamine salts for the original formulation for the diet drug Obetrol.[18] Methamphetamine was also marketed for sinus inflammation or for non-medicinal purposes as "pep pills" or "bennies".[18] A thriving black market in pep pills among long-haul truck drivers in the 1950s and 1960s, linked to long drive times and intense competitive pressures within the industry, contributed to federal efforts by the late 1960s to curtail non-medical use of the substance.