A Short History of Stimulants

Because the drug at the center of this experiment, Adderall, is so contentious, and because I am a nerd for obscure bits of history, I'd like to write a little about amphetamines and stimulants and their historic and current use.

Stimulants are as old as history itself. Caffeine, the world's most prominent stimulant, has been used for at least 3000 years. Chinese physicians were using the ephedra plant (active ingredient, ephedrine) over 5000 years ago, and there is evidence that the natives of South America were chewing the leaves of the Coca plant (active ingredient, cocaine) as early as 2000 years ago.

Amphetamines are synthetic derivatives of naturally-occurring ephedrine. Though used informally for millenia, amphetamines were not chemically isolated until 1887 and were not formally characterized until the 1920s. They were widely used both recreationally and medically in the United States until 1957, when the FDA limited them to prescription-only use.

Widely prescribed for conditions such as narcolepsy, depression, and ADHD, our society's appetite for amphetamines is giant and increasing. In 1999, doctors wrote roughly 15 million prescriptions for amphetamines, and in 2000 the United States had roughly 5% of the world's population but produced and consumed 85% of the world's methylphenidate.

(Fun fact: Americans are said to consume 45 million pounds of caffiene a year.)