Benzedrine is the trade name of the racemic mixture of amphetamine

Amphetamine

Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...

 (dl-amphetamine). It was marketed under this brandname in the USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 by Smith, Kline & French in the form of inhaler

Inhaler

An inhaler or puffer is a medical device used for delivering medication into the body via the lungs. It is mainly used in the treatment of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease . Zanamivir , used to treat influenza, must be administered via inhaler...

s, starting in 1928. Benzedrine was used to enlarge nasal and bronchial passages and it is closely related to other stimulants produced later, such as dextroamphetamine

Dextroamphetamine

Dextroamphetamine is a psychostimulant drug which is known to produce increased wakefulness and focus as well as decreased fatigue and decreased appetite....

 (d-amphetamine) and methamphetamine

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...

. Benzedrine should not be confused with the fundamentally different substance benzphetamine

Benzphetamine

Benzphetamine is an anorectic drug marketed under this brand in the USA by Pharmacia. Benzphetamine is used as a short term adjunct in management of exogenous obesity. It is closely related to amphetamine.- Pharmacology :...

.

History

While the drug was initially used for medical purposes, as a bronchodilator, early users of the Benzedrine inhaler discovered that it had a euphoric stimulant

Stimulant

Stimulants are psychoactive drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both. Examples of these kinds of effects may include enhanced alertness, wakefulness, and locomotion, among others...

 effect, resulting in its being one of the earliest synthetic

Chemical synthesis

In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions to get a product, or several products. This happens by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions...

 stimulants to be widely used for recreational (i.e., non-medical) purposes. Even though this drug was intended for inhalation, some people used Benzedrine recreationally by cracking the container open and swallowing the paper strip inside, which was covered in Benzedrine. The strips were often rolled into small balls and swallowed, or taken with coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 or alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

. The drug was often referred to as "bennies" by users and in literature. Because of the stimulant side effect

Adverse effect (medicine)

In medicine, an adverse effect is a harmful and undesired effect resulting from a medication or other intervention such as surgery.An adverse effect may be termed a "side effect", when judged to be secondary to a main or therapeutic effect. If it results from an unsuitable or incorrect dosage or...

, physicians discovered that amphetamine could also be used to treat narcolepsy

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder, or dyssomnia, characterized by excessive sleepiness and sleep attacks at inappropriate times, such as while at work. People with narcolepsy often experience disturbed nocturnal sleep and an abnormal daytime sleep pattern, which often is confused with insomnia...

. This led to the production of Benzedrine in tablet

Tablet

A tablet is a pharmaceutical dosage form. It comprises a mixture of active substances and excipients, usually in powder form, pressed or compacted from a powder into a solid dose...

 form. Benzedrine was also used by doctors to perk up lethargic patients before breakfast.

In 1937, the effects of Benzedrine, and thus stimulant use, was studied in children with behavior and neurological disorders.

In the 1940s and 1950s, reports began to emerge about the recreational use

Recreational drug use

Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...

 of Benzedrine inhalers, and in 1949, doctors began to move away from prescribing Benzedrine as a bronchodilator

Bronchodilator

A bronchodilator is a substance that dilates the bronchi and bronchioles, decreasing resistance in the respiratory airway and increasing airflow to the lungs. Bronchodilators may be endogenous , or they may be medications administered for the treatment of breathing difficulties...

 and appetite suppressant. In 1959, the United States Food and Drug Administration

Food and Drug Administration

The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

 (FDA) made it a prescription drug. Benzedrine and derived amphetamines were used as a stimulant for armed forces in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and Vietnam

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

. When Benzedrine became a controlled substance, it was replaced by propylhexedrine

Propylhexedrine

Propylhexedrine is a stimulant drug related to methamphetamine. It is used mainly to provide temporary symptomatic relief of nasal congestion due to colds, allergies and allergic rhinitis...

 (also known as hexahydromethamphetamine). Propylhexedrine was also manufactured by Smith, Kline and French  and was marketed under the name Benzedrex. The Benzedrex inhaler is still available today, but is no longer manufactured by Smith, Kline and French (currently GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...

).