Discovery
Shortly after the first synthesis of amphetamine in 1887,[92] methamphetamine was first synthesized from ephedrine in Japan in 1893 by chemist Nagai Nagayoshi.[93] The term "methamphetamine" was derived from elements of the chemical structure of this new compound: methyl alpha-methylphenylethylamine. In 1919, crystallized methamphetamine was synthesized by pharmacologist Akira Ogata via reduction of ephedrine using red phosphorus and iodine.[92]
Military use
One of the earliest uses of methamphetamine was during World War II, when it was used by Axis and Allied forces.[94] The company Temmler produced methamphetamine under the trademark Pervitin and so did the German and Finnish militaries. It was also dubbed "Pilot's chocolate" or "Pilot's salt".[95] It was widely distributed across rank and division, from elite forces to tank crews and aircraft personnel, with many millions of tablets being distributed throughout the war.[96] More than 35 million three-milligram doses of Pervitin and the closely related Isophan were manufactured for the German army and air force between April and July 1940.[97] From 1942 until his death in 1945, Adolf Hitler may have been given intravenous injections of methamphetamine by his personal physician Theodor Morell. It is possible that it was used to treat Hitler's speculated Parkinson's disease, or that his Parkinson-like symptoms that developed from 1940 onwards resulted from using methamphetamine.[98] In Japan, methamphetamine was sold under the registered trademark of Philopon (ヒロポン[99] hiropon[100]) by Dainippon Pharmaceuticals (present-day Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma) for civilian and military use. As with the rest of the world at the time, the side effects of methamphetamine were not well studied, and regulation was not seen as necessary. In the 1940s and 1950s the drug was widely administered to Japanese industrial workers to increase their productivity.[101]
Methamphetamine and amphetamine were given to Allied bomber pilots to sustain them by fighting off fatigue and enhancing focus during long flights. The experiment failed because soldiers became agitated, could not channel their aggression and showed impaired judgment.[92] Rather, dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine) became the drug of choice for American bomber pilots, being used on a voluntary basis by roughly half of the United States Air Force pilots during the 1991 Gulf War, a practice which came under some media scrutiny in 2003 after a mistaken attack on Canadian troops.
