Kudos said:
That some frequent amphetamine users have their personalities permanently altered by their use is hardly the fault of the drug.
Obviously, different people have different brain chemistries. It is your responsibility to asses the compatibly of your own brain and any substance. It floors me that there are people taking daily doses of amphetamines who both recognize the gradual decline of their character and continue to take the drug!
If you find yourself becoming a miserable, tired, angry robot when you are on or off the drug, then you have become this robot as result of the amphetamines+your-brain-chemistry, not the drug alone. I'm sure this has been said a million times before, I just find it surprising that it would ever bear repeating in a community as enlightened as this.
Anyway, the "born to be a tweaker" comment brings up something I've been curious about for a while. I've noticed now through a few dozen cases of anecdotal evidence that people who love cocaine are the same people who react poorly to amphetamines, and vise versa. By "poorly" I mean they are clearly not candidates for frequent use of either drug: they fall victim to its worse side-effects and idiosyncrasies, or experience terrible crashes/withdrawals, or have just a general distaste for the drug (or, in the case of cocaine, it acts as an anesthetic without any of the effects coke is adored for).
I'm far from a neurologist, but I've come to think that those for speed and against coke are, perhaps, dopamine deficient. Speed reacts marvelously with these people because it supplies them with the dopamine they don't have, while coke reacts poorly because there is not enough dopamine to inhibit the re-uptake of. I know 6 people like this, including myself. We all find dextroamphetamine to be something of a miracle drug; increasing mood, motivation, sociability, creativity, etc., while missing out on most of the dehumanizing and psychotic side-effects. We are also completely immune to dependency. Long-term daily use can be dropped with no withdrawal to speak of, save for some short-term lethargy. Off the speed, we have all found that we return to the state of mind we were in pre-speed.
On the contrary, the many, many people who 'favor' coke, become angry, emotionless robots (in the extreme cases), with moderate to severe dependency issues, after any use greater than truly 'recreational'. Perhaps this is because their dopamine 'supply' is increased well beyond their natural, already high levels. The subsequent comedown — beginning, I would imagine, the moment the amphetamines stop supplementing dopamine, regardless of whether the stimulant properties have worn off — results in something comparable to opiate withdrawal. Their normal levels of dopamine are no longer sufficient, and so they react accordingly, whereas the other group of people have been running a dopamine deficit of sorts, and so have never been dependent on it.
I would be really interested in learning if there is any truth to this from someone who knows their stuff.
I'm the exact same way. I go up and down in the dosage I use so often, cutting the drug out of my days and weeks the same.
I've gone through about a year of off and on amphetamine use, had a couple weekends where I would binge to stay up, but thats not been the case lately. I quit cigarettes without a problem the same way; remember, nicotine is a stimulant affecting dopamine, etc. I'm this way with any dopaminergic drug; actually, any drug.
I use solely amphetamines (dextro-amphetamine sulphate, dexedrine; adderall) with some frequency, but not as frequent as many think of an amphetamine user (to the media: a scourge on society). Hell, I've seen my dosages going down, without any conscious thought to it, over the past couple months. And honestly, to me, using amphetamines simply becomes a way for me to stretch beyond the boundaries that I have previously had. 10mg affects me still, while I go for higher doses ranging between 30 and 60mg. I take doses spread out, and find sleeping to be better while on amphetamines than not. I'm an insomniac, and have ADD inattentive subtype. My high iq often plays its part well to cover the symptoms and nature of my inattention.
Amphetamines, to me, are not so much the same way others have come to believe. I get a feeling of normality, with talkativeness and attention that really doesn't come on as strongly. I function just as well not under the influence of amphetamines as I do while under the influence. Don't expect one person to be the same way I am. The bliss I experience when on amphetamines has allowed me to sit through the SAT's, including today. I fall asleep in my classes, even a time during my english final exam my freshman year; though, while on amphetamines I'm with the program not missing it. Amphetamines do not create the sense of paranoia, or depression others have come to place alongside amphetamine use, abuse, and misuse over the recent times.
Amphetamines for some offer a simple solution, but don't generate the addictive nature that has erupted across the media's poor portrayal of the chemical. Ignorance may be blissful to some; though, to me, ignorance pollutes the discussion, and the debates that result, with deceptive media slogans.
It may be 5:15pm, nearly 11 hours after my initial 30mg (2x 15mg spansule) of dexedrine, but the effects are just as they were earlier. The 20mg (instant release) of adderall I had taken 2 hours after the dexedrine let me function without a tweaked nature during the SAT, and I owe my success today to it, but nothing more. I comedown from amphetamines easier than others; in actuality, I enjoy some of the comedown aspects: restless thoughts, slight nausea, etc. I see pleasure in some pains through a biological tendency that causes the comedown, and subsequent withdrawal effects, of amphetamines to be quite easily handled without complaint.
To those against amphetamine's:
It's a ramble in some minds, to users its an insightful reflection. Let it be as it may; this is a discussion about amphetamines not an anti-drug website, share your slander elsewhere.
fucking smack.. ANyway, I have no problems whatsoever with amps. I don't quite see this villification of meth/amp sulph/etc that yall seem to be describing. Having at least lurked around OD for a long while, I can say a lot of it is methheads saying meth is better and regular amphetamine folks saying their shite's better. 
