Stimulants Antique Benzedrine Inhaler Question

[Mr-Tambourine-Man]

I have an antique Benzedrine Inhaler from the 1940s, the kind widely abused by people everywhere, and famously by writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg as well as many jazz musicians. Now, even though I have no intention of using the amphetamine within (I'm scripted Vyvanse and Adderall anyway), I am rather curious to know what the chances of it still being at all active is. Naturally, I would think it is completely inert, but I've heard many drugs are actually very resilient so long as storage conditions aren't harsh. What do you guys think? And, if it were active, what would be the legal status of such an item? Of course I couldn't see how it could be illegal, but are old drugs any less, well, drugs?

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

In theory it would be Schedule II (in the United States anyway)...if it still contained any amphetamine.

How were the storage conditions for it? I'd be interested to see if it worked as well...

 

[The Chemist]

Methamphetamine is a pretty hardy material. i would bet that after time the decrease in moisture would cause the crystals to condense together. I'd say it'd be marginally active though, you are talking about like 60 years.

 

[Mr-Tambourine-Man]

I ran a bit of water through it and it definately has a strong chemical taste. I really have no desire to get a high from it but I'm very curious... Is there any simple way of detecting effectiveness without actually ingesting the chemical? I have no idea how it has been stored over the past 60 years. I bought it on ebay, which is why the legal issue interests me. I've heard amphetamine is a pretty durable chemical and even if it is inactive it is certainly still in there.

 

[The Chemist]

wash the cottons with acetone and do a crude recrystallization. if there is anything, that will get it

 

[Mr-Tambourine-Man]

How exactly is a crude recrystalization performed? Just let the liquid evaporate. If I can't remove the cotten without damaging the inhaler can acetone simply be run through it without hurting The antique? It has small opeings on each side beneath screw off tin caps.

 

[Mr-Tambourine-Man]

Well, I have news. It is certainly still active, a fact I discovered entirely by mistake. I mentioned running water through it and tasting for chemicals. Well, that little taste had me up all night. Ugh! Wasn't expecting that. I'm not sure if d-amp degrades faster than l-amp or if I'm just not used to a 1:1 racemic mixture, but if that was how the benzedrine inhaler high felt back then, well, yuck! So physical and levo-ish. Not fun at all. I finally made the connection between my insomnia and nervousness and my harmless little antique at about four in the morning. Weird!

 

[Lightning-Nl]

Well, I have news. It is certainly still active, a fact I discovered entirely by mistake. I mentioned running water through it and tasting for chemicals. Well, that little taste had me up all night. Ugh! Wasn't expecting that. I'm not sure if d-amp degrades faster than l-amp or if I'm just not used to a 1:1 racemic mixture, but if that was how the benzedrine inhaler high felt back then, well, yuck! So physical and levo-ish. Not fun at all. I finally made the connection between my insomnia and nervousness and my harmless little antique at about four in the morning. Weird!

So it's effects were like the inhalers we have nowadays? That's quite interesting. Considering that Levomethamphetamine is barely active centrally and Propylhexedrine is only 1/18th as potent as Amphetamine (in Dopaminergic effects that is).

Anyways, that was quite interesting. Thanks for the read.

 

[Felonious Monk]

Well, I have news. It is certainly still active, a fact I discovered entirely by mistake. I mentioned running water through it and tasting for chemicals. Well, that little taste had me up all night. Ugh! Wasn't expecting that. I'm not sure if d-amp degrades faster than l-amp or if I'm just not used to a 1:1 racemic mixture, but if that was how the benzedrine inhaler high felt back then, well, yuck! So physical and levo-ish. Not fun at all. I finally made the connection between my insomnia and nervousness and my harmless little antique at about four in the morning. Weird!

That's kind of hilarious, I'm glad you're alright (and you didn't crack the inhaler-I'd hate to see an antique like that get wasted). Hard to believe it could survive that long, but expiration dates have kinda conditioned us to believe sealed medicine goes bad faster than packaged food...

 

[stray cat]

if i'm not mistaken, an inhaler this old would not contain propylhexedrine but would contain benzedrine or "bennies", commonly abused by kerouac, ginsberg, etc.

 

[Lightning-Nl]

if i'm not mistaken, an inhaler this old would not contain propylhexedrine but would contain benzedrine or "bennies", commonly abused by kerouac, ginsberg, etc.

...that's what he said. Benzedrine was the name for a 50%/50% racemic mixture of Amphetamine that was inhaled. According to the OP the inhaler felt very speedy rather than stimulating and euphoric like Dextroamphetamine which is why he said it felt very "Levo-ish", implying that Levoamphetamine (which has nearly identical affinity for the norepinephrine transporters as d-amp, but only half the affinity for dopamine transporter of d-amp) was the only chemical left in the inhaler - which would make it more speedy.

Propylhexedrine and Levomethamphetamine are both used in inhalers today, but have very little or no affinity for dopamine and are almost all "Noradrenergic" which is what makes them unpleasant to abuse. This is what the OP described - it was like trying to get high off of Propylhexedrine Levmetaphetamine rather than things like Adderall or Vyvanse which are all or mostly dextroamphetamine.

 

[stray cat]

my bad, i read your post as directly discussing the effects of propylhexedrine rather than making a comparison. i know all this, i wasnt trying to correct or anything; i was clarifying that he was discussing something that was discontinued long ago.