Life in the Fast Lane: The author on the CHE
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.
