A review i s firesenled of reported instances of fatal amphetamine +oisoning, together with blood and tissue levels of amphetamine in three cases submitted to the author's laboratory. A brief case history i s reported for each of the three cases.
For the past 38 years amphetamine and amphetamine-type drugs have been widely used in medical practice. They have proved valuable in the control of symptoms of narcolepsy, the relief of fatigue, the treatment of mild depression, the antagonization of the pharmacological action of depressant drugs, and the enhancement of analgesic drugs. In recent years, abuse of the drugs has increased dramatically. The Japanese appear to have been among the first observers to become aware of the extent of amphetamine abuse. Almost 20 years ago Noda (1950) reported that 1.1% of the total Japanese population were dependent on amphetamines, and that in the 16 to 25-year old population 5% were addicted. According to Scott et a1 (1965), 16% to 180/, of juveniles sent to remand homes in London have been shown by laboratory tests to be taking amphetamines. Recently, Rockwell and Ostwald (1968) have reported amphetamine use in 674 to 140/, of admission to San Francisco General Hospital. James (1968) has suggested that at present in London there exists a potentially explosive epidemic of abuse of intravenous metamphetamine similar to the heroin epidemic of the early 1960s. From the California Rehabilitation Center for Drug Addicts at Corona, Kramer et a1 (1967) have reported that 5% of a series of 400 consecutive admissions to the Center were high dose amphetamine users. He further stated that his informants indicate that as many as 4,000 individuals in the city of San Francisco regularly take amphetamines intravenously.