in the book "the electric kool-aid acid test" they talk about taking speed alot but i was wondering if its the same kind of speed we have today. or was it just a name for something else. i hear nowadays that speed has like benadril and toilet cleaner and all sorts of crazy shit in it. so was it the same shit 45 years ago?
Speed sort of is an umbrella term for amphetamine, so there is plenty of prescriptions speed still available (adderall, vyvanse, etc.) I think in the 60's dexedrine and benzedrine were two of the bigger sources for speed. I don't think benzedrine is that common anymore. It sounds like you are referring to crystal methamphetamine, I'm not sure when that came about but it's much more potent than amphetamine usually referred to as 'ice'.
Generally when they talk about speed back then, they're referring to benzadrine, which is an amphetamine found in old asthma inhalers. They would just take the benzadrine strip out of the inhaler and eat it..or lick it, or some shit. I don't really know the logistics lol.
My father who grew up in the late 60s and early 70s claimed that Biphetamine (Black Beauties- which are the same formula as modern day Adderall), Dexedrine (Pure dextroamphetamine- same as modern Vyvanse but immediate release), and Benzedrine (1/2 levoamphetamine, so not as desireable) were commonly available and known as 'speed.' He is from the City of Baltimore, so perhaps it is just regional. I consider anything that is a Dopamine Releasing Agent or a Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor to be 'speed'. So anything from Vyvanse to adulterated meth.
Was Desoxyn-brand Methamphetamine ever popular back in the 60s and 70s when it was more commonly prescribed? Or has meth always been a non-pharmaceutical type thing? Recall, Desoxyn is Dextro-Methamphetamine, so it is technically superior to street meth due to the Levo-isomer being non-euphoric and anxiety-inducing.
^ I think you rely way too much on pharmalogical theory, there is a reason crystal reached epidemic status throughout the 90's and early 00's it's pretty damn euphoric.
What I remember from the early 70's was Black Beauty's, Dexadrine, Benzadrine, ritalin and "white cross-tops" or "whites". Those were straight-up methamphetamine and were the same type of speed distributed to combat infantry beginning in WWII. Later in the mid-late 70's I started seeing "crank" or powdered methamphetamine. The majority of those were pharmaceutical except the crank, of course.
I am not saying it is not euphoric. However, dextro-methamphetamine is more euphoric than racemic methamphetamine. However, since racemic meth is still 50% dextro-methamphetamine, of course it will produce euphoria. It just takes twice as much, and you will also experience some side effects like brachycardia because of the levo-isomer. Pharmacology has come a long way in the last 10 years and I think it is the best tool we have at our disposal for objective comparison of drug experiences. While not 'complete' it is better than simply collecting a data set of personal reports on drugs with so many variables. That is why I use it almost exclusively. Also, I can make relatively informed guesses to the effects of drugs I have not and never would try, because of their comparative pharmacological properties.
