It answers questions about substance abuse, its symptoms,. Amphetamine was first manufactured in 1887 in Germany and methamphetamine, more powerful and easier to manufacture, was developed in Japan in 1919. During the war, the German, English, American and Japanese governments promoted the use of methamphetamine for resistance, vigilance and energy among military personnel. Scientists first developed amphetamine-type stimulants, including methamphetamine, as an artificial alternative to the ephedra plant. And after the war, the abuse of methamphetamine by injection reached epidemic proportions when supplies stored for military use became available to the Japanese public.
While Adderall and Ritalin have some chemical properties in common with methamphetamine, they are generally considered safer when taken at prescribed doses and under the supervision of a physician. Methamphetamine was used early on as a medical treatment for narcolepsy, asthma, and as a weight-loss medication. The German military ordered front-line soldiers and fighter pilots to take military-based stimulants containing a combination of methamphetamine and cocaine. Methamphetamine is not a new drug, although it has become more potent in recent years as manufacturing techniques have evolved.
Because methamphetamine dependence can occur very quickly, many innocent lives were burdened by the addictive nature of this substance. In the 1960s, “speed freaks” became a common term for compulsive high-dose users of amphetamine or methamphetamine who ingested up to half a gram in an intravenous injection or up to 2-4 capsules of 10 mg at a time orally. After World War II, military warehouses had a surplus of methamphetamine and, as a result, pharmaceutical companies began producing methamphetamine pills for general consumption. In the 1950s, doctors around the world began prescribing methamphetamine to their patients to treat symptoms of depression, as well as to help them lose weight.
Other illegal forms of methamphetamine, usually in the form of a white powder, can be inhaled or dissolved in water on a recreational basis and injected. Methamphetamine was difficult to produce until 1919, when another Japanese chemist, Akira Ogata, simplified the process. A form of the drug known as methamphetamine hydrochloride, marketed as deoxine, is a substance controlled by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obesity. During World War II, the German pharmaceutical company Temmler marketed methamphetamine tablets as an over-the-counter drug under the brand name Pervitin.
