Alcohol and Drugs History Society

US military and antidepressants

Time magazine featured as its cover story the use of antidepressants by the US military as official policy. Amphetamines had been used for similar reasons by Nazi Germany and the USA in World War II and by the American military in the Vietnam conflict. For more, see here.

Amphetamine history (book)

Nicolas Rasmussen, On Speed: The Many Lives of Amphetamine (New York University Press, 2008), including chapter, "Bootlegging, Beatniks and Benzedrine Benders." Amphetamine was created in 1929.

National study shows 10% of U.S. adults abuse drugs

More than 10 percent of U.S. adults abuse or become addicted to drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and amphetamines at some point in their lives, but few get treatment, according to a study published on Monday.

MSNBC reports.

Crystal meth: Britain's deadliest drug problem?

The (London) Independent, 21 Nov. 2006, reports that British police worry that crystal meth, a form of methamphetamine, also known as "ice" and "Nazi crank," may rival crack cocaine as the most dangerous drug in the United Kingdom. At present, it is not common in Britain, but it is becoming popular among "clubbers," heroin users, and so-called "rough sleepers" who have no regular residence. It is estimated that in London 10% of gay men have used crystal meth. There also is fear about explosions and toxic waste produced by illegal laboratories. For more, see here.

Amphetamines in the clubhouse coffee

One baseball player has cooperated with authorities in a probe of drug use among players in the two Major Leagues of the US. Craig Harris reports for the Arizona Republic here. Harris reports that this player said:

• Until last year, major league clubhouses had coffee pots labeled "leaded" and "unleaded" for the players, indicating coffee with amphetamines and without. He did not specify how many.

• Latin players were a major source for the amphetamines within baseball.

• Amphetamines also came from players on California teams that could easily go into Mexico and get them.

Major League Baseball getting tough on steroid use

Major League Baseball will look into allegations of past steroid use by San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds and other players.

The CBC reports.

This season, the major leagues will test for amphetamines and institute tougher penalties for steroid use. Is it enough?

The Christian Science Monitor reports.

U.S. says Southeast Asia is facing amphetamine epidemic

A flood of amphetamine-type stimulants has fueled an epidemic in Southeast Asia, according to a U.S. government report. The China-Post reports.

Myanmar plans to eradicate production of opium poppies by 2014

Myanmar, the world's second-largest grower of opium after Afghanistan, has slashed its poppy cultivation by 60 per cent over the past four years, a semi-official publication said on Monday.

The Hindustran Times reports.

Hypothermia saves drunk 14-year old student's life...keeping her alive for one hell of a good detention

The Londonderry High School student was near death Friday when school officials discovered her drunk and unresponsive in the woods behind the gymnasium, Superintendent Nathan Greenberg confirmed last night.

Her blood alcohol content was .387, more than 19 times the legal limit for a minor in the state of New Hampshire. A blood alcohol content of .4 is considered lethal for 50 percent of the adult population.

When paramedics responded, the girl's body temperature was 95 degrees Fahrenheit, which doctors said helped slow the absorption of alcohol, Lisa Foose said.

Three of the students returned to the building, Greenberg said. The one who remained with Destiny unsuccessfully tried to send a text message to a friend before leaving to get help, he said.

"The only thing that saved her life is that they did leave her in the snow bank and her body was slowed down by the hypothermia," Foose said. "She would have died if it had been an August day or something."

Read more.

Baseball gets tough about doping

Major League Baseball players and owners yesterday reacted to months of embarrassing scandals and congressional pressure by reaching a landmark agreement aimed at purging the game of anabolic steroids and amphetamines. Boston. com reports.

Need a heroin hit? Bali jail's the place

THE Bali jail where 11 Australians are incarcerated on drug charges has become the Indonesian island's central distribution point for heroin, amphetamines and other drugs.

A crackdown on narcotics, gambling and prostitution in Denpasar's main red-light district has driven illicit drug use in the city even further underground and seen heroin flood into the prison in the suburb of Kerobokan, making it the safest place for Bali's growing number of addicts to get a fix.

The Australian reports.

Meth in America (Book)

Dirk Johnson, Meth: America's Home-Cooked Menace (Hazleden, forthcoming 15 Sept. 05 as paperback).  Johnson is a Newsweek reporter.

Kerouac-Brando

The Age (June 4, 2005) reports on a late 1957 letter Jack Kerouac wrote to Marlon Brando, asking him to star in a movie production of On the Road. The article reports comment from Gerald Nicosia, Kerouac's biographer, describing this period in his amphetamine-fueled writing career. "He thought it had a lot to say to America and didn't want to see it trivialised as just sex, drugs (and jazz)," Nicosia says. "He wanted Neal [Cassady] to be seen as a thinking person who wanted to create a new lifestyle for America."

Stimulants surpasses steroid problem in baseball

South Carolina's The State reports (16 May 2005) that hidden beneath the cocaine controversy of the 1980s and the current steroid war, amphetamines - known as "greenies" to ballplayers, speed to the public and synthetic adrenaline to doctors - have been baseball's longest-lasting addiction. One former player says amphetamine use dwarfs steroid use in today's game. Players have taken greenies dating to the 1940s, openly until they were deemed a controlled substance in 1970 and clandestinely ever since. Even though amphetamines are legal only with a prescription in the United States, baseball does not test for the stimulants. Only with the increased scrutiny on performance-enhancing drug use in the sport has commissioner Bud Selig expressed baseball's desire to eradicate them. Find the full story here.

Arizona hot spot for crystal meth use

The Business Journal (Phoenix) reports (16 May 2005) that a new national study shows that methamphetaimine use among U.S. workers continues to rise and that Arizona is one of the top states for illegal meth use. Find the full story here.

Do artists need narcotics even more than ordinary people?

In a November 2003 story in The Independent Online, Richard Davenport-Hines examined authors' drug habits, including their recreational use of drugs, their use of drugs to assuage bad nerves, insomnia, or to cope with creative tension and the artistic temperament, and their use of drug sub-cultures as material in their books. Find the full story here.

Police operation highlights border drugs corridor

ABC News Online reports (3 May 2005) that the officer in charge of the Tweed-Byron police command says a cross-border operation has highlighted the drugs problem that exists in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. Tim Tarlinton says 81 people were arrested on 133 drugs-related charges during the weekend operation codenamed Vikings 05. He says amphetamines were found in trucks and other heavy vehicles and officers located cannabis and drug laboratory equipment in a number of cars. Find the full story here.

Baseball slow to act on use of 'speed'

Boston.com reports (17 April 2005) that baseball continues to wrestle with a decades-long dependence on amphetamines, dangerous stimulants many major leaguers illicitly obtain and use to combat fatigue and tedium in their daily quest for a competitive edge. And while government and baseball officials remain focused on the steroid abuse that has roiled the $4 billion pastime, amphetamines continue to circulate unfettered in major league clubhouses, according to players, other baseball figures, and medical authorities close to the sport. Find the full story here.

Fatal Combination of Ecstasy and Heroin

A letter to the editor of Psychosomatics 46/189 (April 2005), from J. Gerevich, M.D., Ph.D., Budapest, Hungary, can be found here. The letter addresses the chemical combination of amphetamines and heroin and cases of this combination leading to death.

Teenage meth use rising

The Pasadena Star-News reports (13 March 2005) that while alcohol and marijuana are still the drugs of choice for most teens, a growing number in the San Gabriel Valley are also trying methamphetamine, according to local substance abuse counselors and police. Find the full story here.

The Inside Dope: Drugs and Sport

CBC Sports' website devoted to drugs and sport can be found here.

Fiji police carry out record drugs haul

BBC News reported in June 2004 that police in Fiji raided warehouses outside the capital Suva and seized drugs and chemicals with a street value said to be more than $500m. The Fijian police commissioner, Andrew Hughes, said it was the biggest laboratory producing methamphetamines ever found in the southern hemisphere. Find the full story here.

Four held in Dublin drugs seizure

Onlineie.com reports (5 March 2005) that cocaine with an estimated street value of €200,000 was seized along with drugs equipment in Drimnagh. Two firearms were also seized in the raid. Earlier in a separate incident, another man was arrested in Ballyfermot following the seizure of heroin with a street value of €200,000, cannabis and ecstasy was also recovered. Meanwhile, in a separate haul in Athlone, Gardaí have recovered six kilos of base amphetamine, or speed.

Speed next issue for baseball

Newsday.com reports (3 March 2005) that Major League Baseball could be facing a contentious battle on amphetamine use as it starts its latest strike against illegal drugs. Find the full story here.

Britain is the new heroin capital of Europe

Abul Taher reported for the Times Online (27 February 2005) that Britain has become the heroin capital of Europe with the largest number of seizures and one of the highest levels of abuse. The UK accounts for most of the heroin seizures in Europe and, after Luxembourg and Portugal, has the most heroin users. Taher goes on to discuss other findings in the recent report by the International Narcotics Control Board, a body founded by the UN. Find the full story here. Reuters reports on the same story here.

Illicit drug sales booming online

BBC News reports (2 March 2005) that the worldwide trade in illegal drugs sold over the internet has surged, according to the UN's drug watchdog. Dangerous drugs are being sold without prescription in a virtual marketplace that is difficult to control, says the International Narcotics Control Board. In its annual report, it says that 90% of online drugs sales take place without a medical prescription. The most common sales are of mind-altering substances such as amphetamines. Find the full story here. ABC News reports on the same story here.

Cocaine Vaccine May Be On The Way

CBC News reported (August 2000) that vaccines that block the addictive rush of cocaine and amphetamines have been successfully tested in laboratory animals. The vaccine could be used to treat overdoses and help people who want to get off cocaine. Find the full story here.

Opium Remains an Indulgence for the Rich and the Elderly in Vietnam

Entertainment News DesignerZ.com reports from Hanoi (11 February 2005) that in Vietnam's big cities, the opium addicts seem to be conservatives, aristocrats whose time has passed, still sticking to the ways that are "classical but noble and traditional."  Young Vietnamese urbanites today prefer ecstacy or heroin, amphetamines and other synthetic drugs.  Opium is mostly smoked in the affluent circles, by middle-aged or old men.  The full story can be found here.

Prescription Drug Abuse by Teenagers

For California's Sun-Sentinel.com, David Costello reports (7 February 2005) that, after marijuana, prescription medication has become the fastest-growing category of drugs being abused by teens.  The full story can be found here.

Amphetamines in Baseball

Here in the United States, one of the major professional sports leagues recently banned steroids. Now news is trickling out that steroid use is small compared to the use of amphetamines, which have been prevalent in clubhouses for more than thirty years. Jon Heyman of New York City's Newsday quotes a trainer in this latest story on the subject. Older stories on the same subject can be found here (T.J. Quinn, New York Daily News) and here (Dave Hannigan, The Guardian 12/16/03).