AMPHETAMINES

COMMON NAMES: A, beans, bennies, bent, benzies, block beauties, blackbirds, black mollies, bombida, bombido, bom bits, bottle, browns, bumblebees, businessman's trip, cart wheels, chalk, chicken powder, coast-to-coasts, co-pilots, cranks, crystal, crossroads, dexhes, double-cross, eye-openers, ftves. footballs, forwards, greenies, hearts, jelly babies, jelly beans, jolly beans jug, L. A. turnabouts, lidpoppers lightning, meth, minibennies, nuggets, oranges,, peaches, pep pills, pink-and green amps, _rhythms, roses, skyrockets, sparkle plenties, speckled birds, speed, splash, sweets, tens, thrusters truck drivers, turnabouts, uppers, ups, wake-ups, water, West boast turnarounds, whites

Common as coffee in the wake-up world of truckers and students, amphetamines are as sinister as the shiny red apple that put Snow White away. As near as your doctor's prescription pad, they have acquired a veneer of respectability and acceptability because of their primary purpose as a supposed medical aid. Hospitals, mental wards, and prisons are populated with those folks who have been "helped" by this medical miracle-amphetamines.

The proliferation of brand-name amphetamines on, the market can be grouped into three categories: amphetamines, dextroamphetamines, and methamphetamines. Chemically, these synthetic drugs differ in structure. All create similar long-acting, cocaine-like effects on the central nervous system.

The amphetamines are represented by' Benzedrine and Biphetamine. Dtviedrine, Synatan, and Appetrol are dextroamphetamine sulfate, similar in structure to the hormone epinephrine, secreted by the adrenal gland during moments of fright. Dexamyl is a combination of dextroamphetamine and amobarbital. Biphetamine-T combines dextroamphetamine with its mirror image, levoamphetamine, and methaqualone, a tranquilizer. Eskatroi is yet another combination capsule, containing dextroamphetamine and Compazine, an anti nausea drug.

Methamphetamine, the most powerful of the amphetamines, includes Methedrine; Oesoxyn and Ambar. Desbutol is a combination of methamphetamine and pentobarbital, a sedative barbiturate. Obedrin combines methamphetamine with pentobarbital, and Amphaplex combines all three: methamphetamine, amphetamine, and dextroamphetamine. lonamin, Preludin, Didrex, Plegine, Pemoline, Tenuate, Tepanil, Voranil, Pondimin, and Ritalin differ chemically from the amphetamines but are considered amphetamine-like both- pharmacologically and in effect. Their sale is less restricted legally than amphetamines.

Not only have the drug manufacturers presented us with a variety of amphetamines from which to choose, they also offer them in decorator colors. From basic white tablets with a simple but elegant cross etched on top, to the green of Dexamyl, the orange of Dexedrine, and the rose Benzedrine--all romantically heart-shaped. Biphetamine comes in basic black. Long-acting spansules are available in multiple hues including green and white, orange and white, and pink and white.

Generally taken by mouth in bitter but :odorless tablet or capsule form, amphetamines may also be sniffed or injected. In pure form, amphetamines appear as yellowish crystals with a harsh chemical taste. Oral dosage in medical use is either' short: acting 3-mg tablets (four hours) or long-acting spansule capsules (eight to- twelve hours). Mini-whites, or white - crosses, are usually bootleg -amphetamine, either homemade or "imported" from Mexico. The dosage of whites can range from 2.5 to -10, Mg, making them particularly dangerous because the quantity ingested in unknown.

Injection, the most damaging forth of amphetamine abuse,' is preferred by many "speed freaks" bemuse of the instantaneous nigh it produces when entering the bloodstream. Thus "speed" is an appropriate name for amphetamines used in this manner.

"Speeding" refers to a series of injections, each followed by an intense climax of feelings and bodily sensations. America's preoccupation with obesity is largely responsible for the glut of amphetamines on the market. Doctors have - doled out diet pills by the millions to chubby patients. Temporarily effective in suppressing the appetite center, amphetamines soon lose dietary power as the patient develops tolerance and needs higher and higher doses to accomplish the same purpose.

At-one time, amphetamines were considered a blanket drug, used to treat not only obesity, but depression, epilepsy, Parkinsonism, narcolepsy, and hyperkinetic reactions in children. Today, only narcolepsy and hyperkineticity are regarded as valid areas for amphetamine usage. The remaining medical problems can be treated by other drugs or non drug treatments.

Some disagree that :there is justification for using Ritalin, originally developed as a mind elevator without the drawbacks of amphetamines, in hyperkinetic children.

Causing an opposite reaction in children from that, seen in adults; Ritalin may calm down the hyperactive child. Controversy exists as to whether use of such a drug is necessary, or if other methods would be equally effective.

Until recently, fifty 5-mg 'doses of amphetamines were produced each year for every man, woman, and child in the United States-20 percent of all prescriptions. Statistics' show that six million people have used amphetamines, 750,0o0 of whom are regular users. Pressure is being placed on both drug manufacturers and doctors to cut down the deluge of these multicolored mind-rotters. Medical justification for capriciously prescribing amphetamines no longer exists.

Amphetamines stimulate the central nervous system by potentiating the effects of norepinephrine, a neurohormone which activates parts of the sympathetic nervous system. Adrenalin like effects are produced at the brain's synaptic sites, causing the heart and bodily systems to race at high speed: Blood pressure rises, along with the pulse pressure and heart rate. Appetite is suppressed because of the drug's action on the control centers of the hypothalamus and the depression of gastrointestinal activity. The effects may last from four to fourteen hours, depending on dosage. Amphetamines may be detected in blood and urine by lab tests up to seventy-two hours after ingestion.

Amphetamines are quickly assimilated into the bloodstream. The roller-coaster ride begins with a tremendous rush accompanied by feelings of elation and confidence. Unlimited power seems to be at the speeder's fingertips. The pupils dilate; the heart pumps frantically, breathing is rapid, and the mucous membranes get dry. Speech becomes rata-tat-tat gibberish. The user may focus in on one thing to the exclusion of everything else. But the speeder doesn't care because he feels he is at the height of his intellectual powers. This initial flash of brilliance is succeeded by a euphoria, an elevated mood; as the body continues to release stored energy from its reserves; Physically as well as mentally charged up, he feels capable of superman feats. Life is a cartoon and the speeder is the Roadrunner.

The high level of vitality begins to decline as the body's energy. stores are depleted. Restlessness, nervousness, and agitation replace nirvana. The speeder's irritability progresses to paranoia, fatigue, and depression as the ride comes to an end. The roller coaster has -hit bottom. Headache, palpitations, dizziness, agitation, apprehension, and confusion have replaced ecstasy.

Over? So soon? Well, that's easy to correct, reasons the speeder. All I have to do is pop another upper, So the roller coaster chugs into action once again, setting into motion the vicious cycle known as the amphetamine jag. Since tolerance develops rapidly with use of amphetamines, the user needs to increase the dosage each time just to keep up. Feeling down? Pop an up. And so it goes, until the speeder is into a "run," staying up for four or five days at a time, unable to eat or sleep until he "crashes," falling into a deep sleep that can last for eighteen hours.

The sleep of the speeder is hardly refreshing, however, since the dream cycle is interrupted by the drug. True dreams are not experienced. When he awakens, he's ready for another run, and it's deja vu time, up and down on the carnival ride. if the amphetamine is injected, the effects become more intense and the jag is shortened to days instead of weeks. Methedrine is a favorite for this form of self-abuse, called "speeding."

Other patterns of abuse involve barbiturates, either alternating with amphetamines or combined. If the user can't sleep after he pops an upper, he may take a barbiturate to knock him out. To bring back his high, he takes another upper, thereby establishing an upper-downer -cycle. "Goofballs," combined amphetamine-barbiturates such as Dexamyl, are for those who get off on the stimulant-depressant combination. The heavy goofball user can unknowingly become addicted- to barbiturates.

Escalation of dosage, whether through repeated low doses over a period of time, high doses in sequence, or a single large dose, may create a toxic reaction known as amphetamine psychosis, lasting from a few days to a few weeks. The short term reactions to the drug are magnified, leading to an exaggeration of effects.

Loss of appetite may become anorexia, a state in which it becomes difficult for the user to eat at all. Extreme weight loss occurs, and even the act of swallowing becomes difficult. Speed freaks aware of this phenomenon may force themselves to eat and take vitamins, but malnutrition, can still occur.

Insomnia, lasting a day or two for moderate users, extends into days or even weeks during a "run," before the heavy user crashes. Hallucinations, misperceptions, and inability , to function accompany insomnia, and may persist even with abstinence. Consciously aware that he is slipping into a world of delusion, the speeder can do little more than watch as anxiety and suspicion fill the vacuum that was once occupied by reality.

Sooner or later, the high dose user will experience paranoia, with its feelings of persecution. He skulks about, certain the little old lady with the wrinkled stockings is following him. He is positive the kids on the corner are talking about him, his best friends are plotting behind his back, and his girlfriend is poisoning his toothpaste. "Crank bugs," the feeling of insects under the skin (fornication), harass him, and he has begun compulsively picking at his now-delicate skin forming ulcerations. Hypomania, a form of repetitive action, overcomes the speed freak, producing behavior often considered bizarre, such as foot-tapping, coin-flipping, or construction of elaborate, useless mechanical devices. Jaw grinding, tremors, abscesses, and tooth loss are common symptoms of heavy amphetamine use. Several years of aging can occur in just a few months. Sexual performance is impaired and the user can't find words to describe how he feels. He vocabulary drops to a few hundred words, including such pithy quotes as "far out" and "gotanyspeed?"

"Speed kills" is the warning, scary but inaccurate. In fact, amphetamines themselves rarely kill, even in enormous doses. Some of the long-term side effects may kill, but death, when it occurs, usually comes from violence, common to the speed. freak. Paranoia, mood shifts, hyperactivity, and the resulting intensification of emotions, combined with the inevitable change of lifestyle - the hustling, the dealing, the, cheating: necessary for survival in he chaotic community of speed freaks-leads to, a high level of violence, including rape, homicide, and assaultive behavior. When the speeder combines the mainlining. of barbiturates along with amphetamines, results can be disastrous. Irrational and dangerous, this variety of speed freak has not only the downer-induced compulsion for violence, but the upper induced energy to do it.

The long-term effects of amphetamine abuse may kill. Malnutrition can lead to an increased susceptibility to disease and bacterial infection. Although pill-poppers are susceptible to most of the same detrimental reactions as needle freaks, injection may lead to even further complications. Needle related diseases such as viral hepatitis, leading to Ever damage, occur; and the shooting of impure amphetamines containing materials not dissolvable in water may lead to blockage or weakening of small blood vessels, causing kidney and hag damage. ?A correlation exists between heavy users and-strokes, aneurisms, hematomas, destruction: of the brain by picnosis of the brain cells, and other cardiovascular disruptions.

Illegally obtained amphetamines are genuine about 70 percent of the time. Common antihistamines, inducing some of the effects of speed, are often passed off as the 1 thing, The insecticide Rotenone, sometimes offered, may. cause nausea; vomiting, muscle tremors, increased respiration, and numbness.

Street speed, the home-cooked stuff,. may include ingredients such as lactose, Epsom salts, quinine, baking powder, ether, insecticides, MSG, photo developer, and: strychnine. Heavy freaks may even prefer theses additives because they have developed a tolerance to the weaker solutions and the impurities may produce a more intense flash. Poisonous-adulterants can cause death, since the intravenous use of these will bypass natural bodily rejection, such as vomiting.

Amphetamine psychosis is considered by some to be a manifestation of pre-existing paranoid tendencies, a latent amphetamine personality which blossoms with the taking of the drug. Emotionally troubled before he enters the speed scene, dependent on other drugs or alcohol, the user's sense of insecurity and ineffectiveness vanishes with the euphoria of speed. Others feel that anyone givers a large enough amount of-amphetamines will eventually become psychotic.

Overdosing, or "over-amping," is rare. The lethal dosage is unknown. Habitual users may ingest from 200 to 1,000 mg a day without the overdose symptoms of chest pains, muscle or joint pain, unconsciousness, aphasia, paralysis, convulsions, coma or cerebral hemorrhage. More commonly, the victim will remain conscious, but his mind races full -speed beyond his control, while he remains immobile, unable to move. Speed-doesn't create energy; it mobilizes adrenalin. While the speeder may be thinking, "Feet, don't fail me now," they might.

Overdose may be treated with niacin (vitamin B3), which acts as a mapping-up agent, ridding the bloodstream of impurities and restoring energy levels. Doses of 2,000 or 3,000 ma with equal amounts of vitamin C after meals throughout the day will help the speeder avoid a-hard crash, although he may experience a harmless heat flash lasting fifteen to thirty minutes. Tranquilizers such as Thorazine, Mellaril, Librium, and Valium are effective. Barbiturates are not advised because of their toxicity and the possibility of developing a speed/downer habit.

Abstinence is the most effective method of withdrawal, but is often the most difficult because of the extreme fatigue, lethargy, anxiety, and depression which inevitably ensue. The combined problems of the hooked amphetamine user and the paranoid personality lead to a low cure rate. Although the body needs a full ay to recover from each day of speed abuse, withdrawal does not have to be gradual. In addition to tranquilizers, treatment includes a nutritious diet stressing mills and yogurt to replace the, calcium lost, plus liquids, vitamins, and psychotherapy. Complete recovery is slow, but possible. Confusion, memory loss, and delusions may remain up to a year after use is discontinued.

Abstinence, the key to cure, is often almost impossible because of the strong psychological dependence acquired. Contrary to the official medical establishment's original opinion, amphetamines are addicting-but psychologically, not physically. Amphetamine addicts outnumber heroin addicts. by ten to one. The damage they inflict on both them selves and others is far out of proportion to that resulting from other drugs:

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 resulted in government placement of amphetamines in Schedule II of the act. It places severe restrictions on the manufacture, distribution, and use of both amphetamines and amphetamine-barbiturate preparations, prohibits refilling of prescriptions, and empowers the Justice Department to impose production quotas. Only firms licensed by the government are permitted to deal in amphetamines, and violations are punishable by a maximum term of ten years' imprisonment. Paradoxically, this has inspired drug firms to devise an elaborate array of methods for circumventing the law.

It is alleged that one world leader in the manufacture of amphetamines has produced large amounts of amphetamines at its U.S. plant for shipment to its Mexican subsidiary; Them the amphetamine is packaged and reshipped back across the border, where it is sold illicitly. Under investigation by the Justice Department, this corporation has developed supposedly "new" drugs, under new names, identical in effect to the illegal drugs.

Bowing to the omnipotent dollar, both the American Medical Association and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association have opposed federal legislation controlling amphetamines, arguing that amphetamines do not produce physical ;dependence and should not be stigmatized by labeling them "Dangerous drugs: Habit-forming and psychotoxic." When, in 1971, AMA's Council-of-Drugs attacked speed as a treatment for obesity, the council was summarily dissolved. under pressure from the drug industry. The AMA receives over $10 million in advertising revenue from the drug industry each year, leading us to the obvious question: Who watches the watchdogs?

Senate hearings may ultimately lead to the banning of all further manufacture and sale of amphetamines. Whether this dries up the speed market or not remains to be seen. Past efforts at inhibiting legal distribution have resulted in a backlash of illicit "speed labs."

The anti-speed campaign by the FDA in 1962, in tandem with exaggerated anti-grass and anti-LSD propaganda, had the reverse effect of turning kids on to speed. Knowing from experience that the properties of grass and LSD had been misrepresented, they assumed that the same was true of speed: The publicity paid off for the amphetamine manufacturers. Turning away from the milder intoxicants, users turned to the more legal danger, speed, available by prescription from their friendly doctors.

The first amphetamine was synthesized in 1887 by German pharmacologist L. Edeleano, who regarded it simply as phenylisopropylamine. Not until 1927, when Gordon Alles discovered that this substance alleviated fatigue, enlarged the nasal and bronchial passages, and stimulated the central nervous system, was it considered to have any medical use. Smith, Kline and French first marketed it in inhaler form as Benzedrine in 1932. By 1937 it was marketed, in pill form, as the new AMA-approved wonder drug. Sales climbed to over fifty million units in the first three years-after Benzedrine was introduced in tablets.

From the countries that brought you World War II came speed freaks, regardless of race, creed, or national origin. Amphetamine usage boomed, legally and illegally, as both Allied and Axis powers systematically fed their troops speed to combat fatigue, heighten endurance, and elevate mood. Methedrine was used by the German Panzer troops and Benzedrine by American Army Air Corps personnel stationed in Britain, although the United States did not officially authorize the issuing of amphetamines until Korea.

Postwar Japan was the site of the first epidemic of amphetamine psychosis; thanks to its feverish production of amphetamines for the German Luftwaffe, Japanese munitions factory workers popped uppers at an alarming rate as the war neared its end. Drug companies advertised amphetamines for the "elimination of drowsiness and repletion of the spirit," enabling them to clean out their stockpiles, thereby creating 500,000 new Japanese addicts.

Until the introduction of Methedrine in 1945, Dexedrine and Benzedrine were the main amphetamines being sold. By this time there were seven different nonprescription benzedrine inhalers on the market, each containing the equivalent of 500mg of Dexedrine. Users smashed the containers, soaked the cotton filters in water, alcohol, or coffee, and drank the solution, perhaps chewing the bits of cotton--good to the last drop. Injection of the solution was first reported in 1959, the same year many drug firms dropped the manufature of the inhalers. The last inhaler was not removed from the market until 1971.

The armed forces introduced another "first" to the drug world - the intravenous use of amphetamines. Servicemen stationed in Korea and Japan in the early 1950s invented the "speedball " an injectable mixture of amphetamines ("splash") and heroin.

When amphetamines were made available through the Swedish health plan in 1965, another country fell victim to amphetamine madness. Thousands of abusers took advantage of- the free ride on speed, and when amphetamines were finally restricted, turned to the black' market or used substitutes such as cocaine and Preludin.

The: U.S. black market was also readily available to supply truck drivers, the original upper-poppers, students, and athletes with speed. By the late 1960s many San Francisco o " flower children had , metamorphosed into a pack of speed freaks.

What hath amphetamines wrought? Not much beneficial to mankind aside from the few instances where they help alleviate symptoms of ' diseases such as narcolepsy. Economically, they have been a boon to the drug industry. Sociologically, they have destroyed the lives of thousands of people, from housewives to kids to businessmen Morally, they have taught us all that the alchemy combining business and government can transform even an intolerable wrong into an acceptable right, as long as it makes money.