the.com/methamphetamine
A highly addictive stimulant that devastates health and lives, often harder to escape than to start.
means A powerful, addictive stimulant drug that speeds up the central nervous system, flooding the brain with dopamine and producing intense euphoria and alertness.
from Pure chemistry-speak: 'meth-' marks the methyl group added to the molecule, and 'amphetamine' itself was built from 'alpha-methyl-phenethylamine,' describing its chemical structure. Amphetamine was first synthesized in the late 1800s and methamphetamine followed in the early 1900s, both developed as stimulants and nasal decongestants before their addictive power became clear. The name carries no myth or metaphor — just a lab's precise record of which atoms were bolted where.
- invented by
- Japanese chemist in 1893, decades before Adderall
- medical cousin
- one methyl group away from amphetamine
- WWII use
- issued to soldiers and pilots to fight fatigue
- brain cost
- burns dopamine receptors faster than they regenerate