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America's first amphetamine epidemic 1929-1971: A quantitative and qualitative retrospective with implications for the present

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  • Rasmussen, N.

Abstract

Using historical research that draws on new primary sources, I review the causes and course of the first, mainly iatrogenic amphetamine epidemic in the United States from the 1940s through the 1960s. Retrospective epidemiology indicates that the absolute prevalence of both nonmedical stimulant use and stimulant dependence or abuse have reached nearly the same levels today as at the epidemic's peak around 1969. Further parallels between epidemics past and present, including evidence that consumption of prescribed amphetamines has also reached the same absolute levels today as at the original epidemic's peak, suggest that stricter limits on pharmaceutical stimulants must be considered in any efforts to reduce amphetamine abuse today.

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  • Rasmussen, N., 2008. "America's first amphetamine epidemic 1929-1971: A quantitative and qualitative retrospective with implications for the present," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(6), pages 974-985.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2007.110593_7
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.110593
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    Cited by:

    1. Palamar, Joseph, 2011. "How ephedrine escaped regulation in the United States: A historical review of misuse and associated policy," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 1-9, January.
    2. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia & W. David Bradford, 2019. "Did the War on Terror Ignite an Opioid Epidemic?," NBER Working Papers 26264, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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