It was from the transportation of methamphetamine in the crankshafts of motorcycles that it got its street name of “crank”. 4 West coast motorcycle gangs, such as the infamous “Hells Angels”, quickly seized on this opportunity and by the 1970’s gangs were largely responsible in the US for the manufacturing, distribution, and use of methamphetamine.
When Abbott and Burroughs Wellcome withdrew their injectable formulations in the early 1960’s, an opportunity arose for the illegal manufacturing and distribution of methamphetamine. A 2008 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports estimated 25 million abusers of amphetamines worldwide exceeding the number of users for both cocaine (14 million) and heroin (11 million) 9Īfter World War II many US soldiers and civilians continued to use methamphetamine, which at that time was available by prescription in an injectable form. While still highest in Asia, methamphetamine abuse has become a worldwide epidemic. 7, 8 In 1954, at the height of its first epidemic, there were an estimated 2-million methamphetamine users in Japan. Although methamphetamine usage in Japan declined in the 60’s, it resurged in the 1970’s and continues to be a problem today. 4 After the war, Japan experienced widespread abuse as army surpluses flooded the market. In WWII, the US, Germany, and Japan all readily employed it with their troops 5, 7 it has been estimated that the US alone distributed 200 million tablets to troops. With the world on the brink of war, and its toxic effects not yet well described, the clinical effects of methamphetamine were thought to be ideal for the soldier in combat: increased alertness and aggression, plus decreased hunger and need to sleep. 4– 6 Far from an OTC drug today, the FDA has characterized methamphetamine as a schedule II drug which can only be prescribed for ADHD, extreme obesity, or to treat narcolepsy.
2, 3 Eventually a synthetic version would find its way to the consumer market as an over-the-counter (OTC) nasal decongestant and as a brochodilator. In 1893 methamphetamine was synthesized from ephedrine (derived from the plant Ephedra sinica) by Nagai Nagayoshi. 1 Based on the attractiveness of methamphetamine to both users and its manufacturers, it is only surprising that the current outbreak of methamphetamine abuse in the US took so long to reach epidemic proportions.
This is in contrast to cocaine which is only commercially grown in South America, must be extracted from the plant, must be converted to its free base form, must be shipped overseas (escaping DEA detection), and then must be distributed, typically through gangs, to clients on the street. Methamphetamine can be produced from a wide variety of starting materials and methods. The current epidemic of methamphetamine abuse in the US is not surprising.
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