Modafinil, sold under the brand name Provigil among others, is a wakefulness-promoting medication used primarily to treat narcolepsy. Modafinil is also approved for stimulating wakefulness in people with sleep apnea and shift work sleep disorder. It is taken by mouth. Modafinil is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in people under age 17.
Stimulants are a class of drugs that increase the activity of the brain. They are used for various purposes, such as enhancing alertness, attention, motivation, cognition, mood, and physical performance. Some of the most common stimulants are caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine, and modafinil.
The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through the use of drug prohibition laws. The think tank Global Financial Integrity's Transnational Crime and the Developing World report estimates the size of the global illicit drug market between US$426 and US$652 billion in 2014 alone. With a world GDP of US$78 trillion in the same year, the illegal drug trade may be estimated as nearly 1% of total global trade. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally, and it remains very difficult for local authorities to reduce the rates of drug consumption.
An anorectic or anorexic is a drug which reduces appetite, resulting in lower food consumption, leading to weight loss. These substances work by affecting the central nervous system or certain neurotransmitters to create a feeling of fullness or reduce the desire to eat. The understanding of anorexiant effects is crucial in the development of interventions for weight management, eating disorders, and related health concerns. The anorexiant effect can be induced through diverse mechanisms, ranging from hormonal regulation to neural signaling. Ghrelin, leptin, and peptide YY are among the hormones involved in appetite control. Additionally, neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine in the central nervous system contribute significantly to the regulation of food intake.
Narco-state is a political and economic term applied to countries where all legitimate institutions become penetrated by the power and wealth of the illegal drug trade. The term was first used to describe Bolivia following the 1980 coup of Luis García Meza which was seen to be primarily financed with the help of narcotics traffickers. Other well-known examples are Honduras, Guinea-Bissau, Mexico, Myanmar and Syria, where drug cartels produce, ship and sell drugs such as captagon, cocaine, heroin and marijuana.
Armodafinil (trade name Nuvigil) is the enantiopure compound of the eugeroic modafinil (Provigil). It consists of only the (R)-(−)-enantiomer of the racemic modafinil. Armodafinil is produced by the pharmaceutical company Cephalon Inc. and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2007. In 2016, the FDA granted Mylan rights for the first generic version of Cephalon's Nuvigil to be marketed in the U.S.
Fenethylline is a codrug of amphetamine and theophylline and a prodrug to both. It is also spelled phenethylline and fenetylline (INN); other names for it are amphetaminoethyltheophylline and amfetyline. The drug was marketed for use as a psychostimulant under the brand names Captagon, Biocapton, and Fitton. It is now illegal in most countries and is produced primarily for illicit use. Syria is considered to be the world's largest producer of the drug, accounting for about 80% of the global supply.
Methamphetamine is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphetamine was discovered in 1893 and exists as two enantiomers: levo-methamphetamine and dextro-methamphetamine. Methamphetamine properly refers to a specific chemical substance, the racemic free base, which is an equal mixture of levomethamphetamine and dextromethamphetamine in their pure amine forms, but the hydrochloride salt, commonly called crystal meth, is widely used. Methamphetamine is rarely prescribed over concerns involving human neurotoxicity and potential for recreational use as an aphrodisiac and euphoriant, among other concerns, as well as the availability of safer substitute drugs with comparable treatment efficacy such as Adderall and Vyvanse. Dextromethamphetamine is a stronger CNS stimulant than levomethamphetamine.
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in association football occurred over many decades since the 1940s at least. The high amount of money and media attention in this sport causes a lot of pressure, especially for the managers, which is the reason why there are also cases of unusual drug use like cocaine. A famous example is the case of Diego Maradona and his ban from 1990-91 Serie A by using cocaine during a match. Maradona was banned again three years later for using ephedrine during the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
Temmler Werke GmbH was founded in Detmold in 1917 by Hermann Temmler. The Temmler Group is a German pharmaceutical company, which focuses on the production, sale and contract production of pharmaceutical products. In 2012, the Temmler Group was taken over by the Aenova Group and with its seven production sites is one of the largest European pharmaceutical contract manufacturers.
D-IX is a methamphetamine-based experimental performance enhancer developed by Nazi Germany in 1944 for military application. The researcher who rediscovered this project, Wolf Kemper, said, "the aim was to use D-IX to redefine the limits of human endurance." One dose contained 5 mg oxycodone, 5 mg cocaine, and 3 mg methamphetamine.
Akira Ogata was a Japanese chemist and the first to synthesize methamphetamine in crystalline form in 1919.
The generally tolerant official drug policy in the Third Reich, the period of Nazi control of Germany from the 1933 Machtergreifung to Germany's 1945 defeat in World War II, was inherited from the Weimar government which was installed in 1919 following the dissolution of the German monarchy at the end of World War I.
Jordanian–Syrian border incidents during the Syrian Civil War refers to violent incidents on the arid 379 km (235 mi) Jordan–Syria border over the course of the Syrian Civil War.
Amphetamine and methamphetamine are central nervous system stimulants used to treat a variety of conditions. When used recreationally, they are colloquially known as "speed" or sometimes "crank". Amphetamine was first synthesized in 1887 in Germany by Romanian chemist Lazăr Edeleanu, who named it phenylisopropylamine. Around the same time, Japanese organic chemist Nagai Nagayoshi isolated ephedrine from the Chinese ephedra plant and later developed a method for ephedrine synthesis. Methamphetamine was synthesized from ephedrine in 1893 by Nagayoshi. Neither drug had a pharmacological use until 1934, when Smith, Kline & French began selling amphetamine as an inhaler under the trade name Benzedrine for congestion.
In the U.S. military, go pills and no-go pills refers to stimulant medications meant to increase wakefulness and hypnotic medications taken to ensure adequate rest in preparation for upcoming tasks. As of November 2012, medications approved as no-go pills by the U.S. Air Force for aircrew and AFSOC forces include:
Stimulant use disorder is a type of substance use disorder where the use of stimulants caused clinically significant impairment or distress. It is defined in the DSM-5 as "the continued use of amphetamine-type substances, cocaine, or other stimulants leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, from mild to severe". These psychoactive drugs, known as stimulants, are among the most widely used drugs in the world today, although not all stimulants can induce addiction. As of 1993, Approximately 200 million Americans have used some type of stimulant in the past year alone.
Otto Friedrich Ranke was a German physiologist and university professor. Ranke introduced methamphetamine as a performance enhancer in the Wehrmacht during World War II.
Aimo Allan Koivunen, was a Finnish soldier in the Continuation War and the first documented case of a soldier overdosing on methamphetamine during combat.
The Syrian Captagon industry is responsible for about 80% of the global production of the Captagon drug. Syria exports the drug to various countries, mainly in the Middle East region, including Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Gulf states, and Egypt, as well as to organizations such as Hamas and ISIS. The drug export is one of the main sources of income for the government of Bashar al-Assad, helping it to rebuild the country from the economic crisis that hit it following the civil war that took place in the country.
