Benzedrine
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Benzedrine is a racemic variant of amphetamine (dl-amphetamine) marketed under this brand in the USA by Smith, Kline and French in inhaler containers from 1928 forth. Benzedrine was used to enlarge nasal and bronchial passages and it is closely related to the substance named Ritalin® (methylphenidate).
As a side effect, physicians discovered that the amphetamine part of Benzedrine could help in treating narcolepsy. This led to Benzedrine being produced in tablet form as a stimulant. Even though this drug was supposed to be inhaled, many people cracked the containers open and swallowed the paper drenched in Benzedrine that was contained inside, often with coffee or alcohol.
In the 1940s and 1950s reports began to emerge about the abuse of Benzedrine containers, and in 1949, doctors began to move patients from Benzedrine to the weaker stimulant propylhexedrine. In 1959, the FDA made it a prescription drug in the United States.
This drug was very popular with beatniks and its influence can be seen in the literature and biographies of William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Also, a famous user was the prolific mathematician Paul Erdös, who spent much of his restless life on psychostimulants. An article of November 1987, published in the Atlantic Monthly profiled Erdös and discussed his Benzedrine habit. Erdös said to writer Paul Hoffman that he had liked the article "...except for one thing...You shouldn't have mentioned the stuff about Benzedrine. It's not that you got it wrong. It's just that I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics to think that they have to take drugs to succeed."
Benzedrine should not be confused with the fundamentally different substance Benzphetamine.