FILE – In this May 2004 file photo, an investigator with the Virginia State Police Drug Enforcement Division examines a jar filled with chemicals was found in a Smyth County meth lab in a mobile home near Marion, Va. Amphetamines,
FILE – In this May 2004 file photo, an investigator with the Virginia State Police Drug Enforcement Division examines a jar filled with chemicals was found in a Smyth County meth lab in a mobile home near Marion, Va. Amphetamines, developed in the 1930s, took off in the 1950s. Marketed by drug companies and promoted by doctors, they were used for weight loss, anxiety and depression. Methamphetamine, an amphetamine formulation developed by the Burroughs Wellcome drug company, was often prescribed as a diet pill and abused by those attracted by the surge of energy it produced. Users who injected it were known as “speed freaks.” (Gene Dalton/The Roanoke Times via AP)
