History and culture of substituted amphetamines Amphetamine and methamphetamine are pharmaceutical drugs used to treat a variety of conditions; when used recreationally, they are colloquially known as "speed."[1] Amphetamine was first synthesized in 1887 in Germany by Romanian chemist Lazăr Edeleanu, who named it phenylisopropylamine.[2][3][4] Around the same time, Japanese organic chemist Nagai Nagayoshi isolated ephedrine from the Ephedra sinica plant and later developed a method for ephedrine synthesis.[note 1][6] Methamphetamine was synthesized from ephedrine in 1893 by Nagayoshi.[7] Neither drug had a pharmacological use until 1934, when Smith, Kline and French began selling amphetamine as an inhaler under the trade name Benzedrine for congestion.36127-17-0 During World War II, amphetamine and methamphetamine were used extensively by Allied and Axis forces for their stimulant and performance-enhancing effects.[4][9][10] As the addictive properties of the drugs became known, governments began to place strict controls on the sale of the drugs.[4] During the early 1970s in the United States, amphetamine became a schedule II controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act.[11] Despite strict government controls, amphetamine and methamphetamine have been used (legally or illegally) by individuals from a variety of backgrounds for a variety of purposes. Due to the large underground market for these drugs, they are often illegally synthesized by clandestine chemists, trafficked, and sold on the black market.[16] Based on drug and drug precursor seizures, illicit amphetamine production and trafficking is much less prevalent than that of methamphetamine.