Usage Rates

In 2011 2.8 percent of New York City high school students reported having used methamphetamine one or more times in their life. (NYC DHMH)

Origin/Synthesis

Amphetamine was first synthesized at Universität Berlin by Romanian chemist Lazar Edeleanu in 1887. Methamphetamine was not sythesized until 1919 by Japanese chemist A. Ogata. During World War II, methamphetamine and amphetamine are used by Allied and Axis countries to improve troop performance. Japan and Germany extensively used methamphetamine.

In 1940, methamphetamine is first marketed as "Methendrine" by pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome. Twenty years later, illict production begins as the Attorney General of California requests that injectable versions are removed from the market. As use rises in the United States, congress passes the Drug Abuse Control Amendment, prohibiting the nonregistered manufacture, sale and possession of methamphetamine with other stimulants. In 1970, methamphetamine in classified as a Schedule II drug in the U.S.