Amphethamines (aka Speed) were first synthesised in Germany in the late 19th Century. It wasn't until 1919 that Japanese scientists cooked up ephedrine with red phosphorus and iodine to make methamphetamine. Amphetamines were put to work in World War II by the Nazis -- it is said that Hitler received intravenous injections of methamphetamines. Just how many and what effect they had on his mental wellbeing is a matter of some debate. As Hitler's body was burnt and thus no autopsy performed, this remains one of the great what if questions of narcohistory.

The drug's Nazi links certainly didn't deter white supremacists such as the Aryan Brotherhood and the Nazi Low Riders from pushing it to Americans in the 1970s. As a result, we have a pretty good idea of what damage this drug can wreak -- which provides a chilling insight into what clubbers and gay men using the drug now have to look forward to.

Here is an extract from a typical account on the well-known drug resource site Erowid, entitled Avoid at All Costs:

The Moral of the Story: Speed is dangerous, highly addictive and simply bad news. I had many other experiences similar to the one described above (although that was the worst one) but instead of saying, 'This is insane, why am I doing this to myself?' I just kept on doing speed, although I honestly exercised moderation, which put me on the fringe of the hard-core speed addict world which was downright frightening.

Some of the things I saw when 'scoring' with some of my hard-core friends would break your heart and looked like scenes straight out of Cops.

I can remember waiting for several hours at a woman's house (she was a fully-blown addict) with my friend, with her and with her two kids, aged appx. 10 and 15. This family scene with Mom as a speedfreak doing $10,000 speed deals on the kitchen table right in front of the kids was horrifying.

Stay away from the WHITE DEVIL.

Even with all the potential Methamphetamine has for abuse, it is still prescribed by the medical profession to treat conditions such as ADHD. This is partly to do with the fact that mental capacity is not reduced directly by the drug. Some studies have in fact shown slight increases in mental capacity when performing simple tasks.

This may be a good lead for researchers to find drugs to treat ADHD without the side-effects. But it is highly debatable as to whether drug companies should be legally producing such a dangerous substance with the potential to end up on the black market.