History and culture of substituted amphetamines

Amphetamine and methamphetamine are both pharmaceutical drugs used to treat a variety of conditions, along with recreational drugs, which are colloquially known as "speed."Amphetamine was first synthesized in 1887 in Germany by Romanian chemist Lazăr Edeleanu who named it phenylisopropylamine. Shortly after, methamphetamine was synthesized from ephedrine in 1893 by Japanese chemist Nagai Nagayoshi. Neither drug had a pharmacological use until 1934, when Smith, Kline and French began selling amphetamine as an inhaler under the trade name Benzedrine as a decongestant.

During World War II, amphetamine and methamphetamine were used extensively by both the Allied and Axis forces for their stimulant and performance-enhancing effects. Eventually, as the addictive properties of the drugs became known, governments began to place strict controls on the sale of the drugs. For example, during the early 1970s in the United States, amphetamine became a schedule II controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Despite strict government controls, both amphetamine and methamphetamine have still been used legally or illicitly by individuals from a variety of backgrounds for different purposes.

Due to the large underground market for these drugs, they are frequently illegally synthesized by clandestine chemists, trafficked, and sold on the black market. Based upon drug and drug precursor seizures, illicit amphetamine production and trafficking is much less prevalent than that of methamphetamine.

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