An extensively researched account of the ups and downs in the
history of uppers Uppers. Crank. Bennies. Dexies. Greenies. Black
Beauties. Purple Hearts. Crystal. Ice. And, of course, Speed.
Whatever their street names at the moment, amphetamines have been
an insistent force in American life since they were marketed as the
original antidepressants in the 1930s. On Speed tells the
remarkable story of their rise, their fall, and their surprising
resurgence. Along the way, it discusses the influence of
pharmaceutical marketing on medicine, the evolving scientific
understanding of how the human brain works, the role of drugs in
maintaining the social order, and the centrality of pills in
American life. Above all, however, this is a highly readable
biography of a very popular drug. And it is a riveting story.
Incorporating extensive new research, On Speed describes the ups
and downs (fittingly, there are mostly ups) in the history of
amphetamines, and their remarkable pervasiveness. For example, at
the same time that amphetamines were becoming part of the diet of
many GIs in World War II, an amphetamine-abusing counterculture
began to flourish among civilians. In the 1950s, psychiatrists and
family doctors alike prescribed amphetamines for a wide variety of
ailments, from mental disorders to obesity to emotional distress.
By the late 1960s, speed had become a fixture in everyday life: up
to ten percent of Americans were thought to be using amphetamines
at least occasionally. Although their use was regulated in the
1970s, it didn't take long for amphetamines to make a major
comeback, with the discovery of Attention Deficit Disorder and the
role that one drug in the amphetamine family-Ritalin-could play in
treating it. Today's most popular diet-assistance drugs differ
little from the diet pills of years gone by, still speed at their
core. And some of our most popular recreational drugs-including the
"mellow" drug, Ecstasy-are also amphetamines. Whether we want to
admit it or not, writes Rasmussen, we're still a nation on speed.
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