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Are there any studies speculating on long term health effects of kids being addicted to low grade amphetamines? This is a new enough phenomenon that I don’t thi

Are there any studies speculating on long term health effects of kids being addicted to low grade amphetamines? This is a new enough phenomenon that I don’t think there are sufficient data to draw definitive conclusions from.

tokai 5y ago
Is it new though? Erdős famously took amphetamines all his life. The only drug Tarn Adams (Dwarf Fortress creator) ever tried was meth during his Maths degree. Stims and academia seems like a classic combination to me.
- MontyCarloHall 5y ago
  Certainly academics have used amphetamines since their discovery, but it was my understanding people like Erdős were anomalies. Assuming the tweet is true, stims are being used by an unprecedentedly high proportion of students. Perhaps there are no ill health effects at mild to moderate doses, but I just don’t think they’ve been used widely enough until recently to definitively draw conclusions either way.
dcolkitt 5y ago
> This is a new enough phenomenon This is a common misconception. Amphetamine was used to treat childhood ADHD going back to the 1930s. (Not to mention that amphetamine was widely used to treat sinus congestion and allergies in everyone, including children.) Medical amphetamine usage was significantly higher in the 1950s and 1960s than today. We’ve been on a long term secular decline in amphetamine usage (along with caffeine, nicotine and other stimulants).
- MontyCarloHall 5y ago
  Prescribed medical use may have been higher, but was overall use higher? Assuming the anecdata in the tweet are true, I just can’t imagine 20-30% of people aged 16-30 were prescribed amphetamines in the 50s. Anyway, given that medical use was probably high enough back in the day that we can draw reliable conclusions about its long-term effects, are there any studies discussing this?
  - dcolkitt 5y ago
    SSC had a pretty comprehensive summary of the existing research on long-term medical amphetamine usage. The summary is that there's probably a health impact, but it's very small. The biggest risk is probably a 50% or so increased risk of Parkinsons. May be of more concern if you have the APOE4 allele. https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/12/28/adderall-risks-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/12/28/adderall-risks-much-mo...

tokai 5y ago

Is it new though? Erdős famously took amphetamines all his life. The only drug Tarn Adams (Dwarf Fortress creator) ever tried was meth during his Maths degree. Stims and academia seems like a classic combination to me.

MontyCarloHall 5y ago
Certainly academics have used amphetamines since their discovery, but it was my understanding people like Erdős were anomalies. Assuming the tweet is true, stims are being used by an unprecedentedly high proportion of students. Perhaps there are no ill health effects at mild to moderate doses, but I just don’t think they’ve been used widely enough until recently to definitively draw conclusions either way.

dcolkitt 5y ago

> This is a new enough phenomenon This is a common misconception. Amphetamine was used to treat childhood ADHD going back to the 1930s. (Not to mention that amphetamine was widely used to treat sinus congestion and allergies in everyone, including children.) Medical amphetamine usage was significantly higher in the 1950s and 1960s than today. We’ve been on a long term secular decline in amphetamine usage (along with caffeine, nicotine and other stimulants).

MontyCarloHall 5y ago
Prescribed medical use may have been higher, but was overall use higher? Assuming the anecdata in the tweet are true, I just can’t imagine 20-30% of people aged 16-30 were prescribed amphetamines in the 50s. Anyway, given that medical use was probably high enough back in the day that we can draw reliable conclusions about its long-term effects, are there any studies discussing this?
- dcolkitt 5y ago
  SSC had a pretty comprehensive summary of the existing research on long-term medical amphetamine usage. The summary is that there's probably a health impact, but it's very small. The biggest risk is probably a 50% or so increased risk of Parkinsons. May be of more concern if you have the APOE4 allele. https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/12/28/adderall-risks-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/12/28/adderall-risks-much-mo...