HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2007.110593v1 98/6/974    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Rasmussen, N. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Rasmussen, N.

Nicolas Rasmussen, PhD, MPhil, MPH

The author is with the School of History and Philosophy and the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Nicolas Rasmussen, PhD, MPhil, MPH, History & Philosophy of Science, Room 314 Morven Brown, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052 Australia (e-mail: n.rasmussen{at}unsw.edu.au).

Using historical research that draws on new primary sources, I review the causes and course of the first, mainly iatrogenic amphetamine epidemic in the United States from the 1940s through the 1960s. Retrospective epidemiology indicates that the absolute prevalence of both nonmedical stimulant use and stimulant dependence or abuse have reached nearly the same levels today as at the epidemic’s peak around 1969. Further parallels between epidemics past and present, including evidence that consumption of prescribed amphetamines has also reached the same absolute levels today as at the original epidemic’s peak, suggest that stricter limits on pharmaceutical stimulants must be considered in any efforts to reduce amphetamine abuse today.