Overview
Benzedrine was the brand name for the first commercially successful synthetic stimulant in the world.
History
In 1927, Gordon Alles injected himself with a synthetic amphetamine in the course of investigating an alternative to ephedrine to address asthma. He published clinical results in 1929 and was granted a U.S. patent for oral amphetamine salts by 1932. The same year, the pharmaceutical company Smith, Kline, & French (SKF) patented a volatile base form of the same chemical before launching an over-the-counter (OTC) version called a Benzedrine Inhaler. In 1935, SKF purchased Alles’s patent and monopolized the manufacturing and distribution of Benzedrine. They released Benzedrine Sulfate as tablets to address depression, narcolepsy, fatigue, and weight loss. The Allies in WWII experimented with Benzedrine rations as a tool to boost the endurance of their soldiers.
In 1951, the United States Congress passed the Durham-Humphrey Amendment which made Benzedrine tablets prescription-only, although the inhalers were still available OTC. Recreational users would open the inhalers to swallow the internal strips, which contained the equivalent of the dosage of dozens of tablets. Jack Kerouac (in)famously relied on Benzedrine and coffee for a three-week nonstop writing marathon to complete his novel On the Road, a stream-of-consciousness inspired by his road trips printed onto a 120-foot long scroll. The Beat Generation cultural movement adopted Benzedrine and amphetamines generally to invoke these altered states of mind.
Unfortunately, amphetamines were quite destructive to the body, and after observing a spike in cardiovascular events related to usage of the Benzedrine inhaler, the FDA banned it in 1965. After Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs classified all amphetamines as Schedule II controlled substances, which took it out of recreational usage and firmly into the territory of regulated prescription substances. Benzedrine is no longer manufactured today as the brand name drug, but the generic active ingredient amphetamine sulfate are still used in medications to address ADHD, narcolepsy, and obesity. Adderall is probably the most commonly known modern variant of it.
Benzedrine should not be confused with Benzedrex, which are nasal decongestant inhalers that are far less likely to be used dangerously for recreational purposes.