12 The Encyclopedia of Addictive Drugs
of any other effects on body chemistry. Such a mental state can make current
problems seem less troublesome. They may not go away, but worries about
them can decline. That effect of stimulants can be seductive. Moreover, if that
is the reason someone uses stimulants, stopping the drug can be doubly dif-
ficult. Not only are feelings of self-confidence and energy replaced by self-
doubt and exhaustion, but problems that never went away will probably seem
all the worse. And indeed they may really be worse if the stimulant user has
taken no effective action to deal with them.
For information about specific stimulants not otherwise classified below, see
the entries on:caffeine,modafinil,pemoline, andyohimbe.Amphetamine Class
Amphetamine stimulants are pharmaceutical products created in laborato-
ries, not harvested or refined from natural products. When amphetamines
debuted under the brand name Benzedrine during the Great Depression of
the 1930s, they were an ingredient used for inhalers that people would sniff
to relieve stopped-up noses. Another effect was a burst of energy and alert-
ness, sometimes accompanied by a brightening of mood into euphoria, and
people began using the nonprescription inhalers for recreational purposes.
Such drugs were called Cartwheel, Euphodine, and Halloo-wach. Ampheta-
mines became accepted therapeutically as a treatment for depression and
worked best if a person simply had difficulty coping with stress during part
of a day, as a dose wears off quickly and can leave a person feeling lower if
nothing has changed in the situation causing the stress. For example, a dose
might deal effectively with occasional aggravation in the workplace but not
work so well for a person who stayed at home all the time with continual
depression. In the 1930s oral tablets of Benzedrine (“Bennies”) became avail-
able. Both inhalers and tablets tended to promote insomnia, and that effect
was soon used medically to fight narcolepsy, an affliction in which a person
suddenly falls asleep numerous times throughout the day. The drug was also
used to treat Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and alcoholism and to help persons
suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD begins
in childhood and involves difficulty in paying proper attention to surround-
ings while also acting restless. Usually the condition goes away as children
grow older, but it can continue into adult life. Treating the condition with a
stimulant may sound counterproductive, but experience shows that low doses
of amphetamine class stimulants can ease ADHD. Practitioners had to learn
caution in prescribing to children, however, as occasionally this treatment
could intensify rather than diminish the undesired conduct.
World War II brought wide use of amphetamines as military forces on all
sides issued “pep pills” to give personnel an edge in combat. The most prom-
inent combat pills were Benzedrine (amphetamine sulfate), Dexedrine (dex-
troamphetamine), and Methedrine (methamphetamine). Combining such
drugs with hard physical labor can be risky, with a user crumpling from
overexerting the heart and overheating the whole body, an additional combat
hazard for users. In contrast to some other military forces, the United States
did not routinely issue the pills except to bomber crews. Nonetheless, the drug