Performance-enhancing Use
Adderall, an amphetamine mixture, is used by some college and high-school students as a study and test-taking aid. Amphetamine works by increasing energy levels, concentration, and motivation, thus allowing students to study for an extended period of time.
Amphetamine has been, and is still, used by militaries around the world. British troops used 72 million amphetamine tablets in the second world war and the RAF used so many that "Methedrine won the Battle of Britain" according to one report. American bomber pilots use amphetamine ("go pills") to stay awake during long missions. The Tarnak Farm incident, in which an American F-16 pilot killed several friendly Canadian soldiers on the ground, was blamed by the pilot on his use of amphetamine. A nonjudicial hearing rejected the pilot's claim.
Amphetamine is also used by some professional, collegiate and high school athletes for its strong stimulant effect. Energy levels are perceived to be dramatically increased and sustained, which is believed to allow for more vigorous and longer play. However, at least one study has found that this effect is not measurable. The use of amphetamine during strenuous physical activity can be extremely dangerous, especially when combined with alcohol, and athletes have died as a result, for example, British cyclist Tom Simpson.
Amphetamine use has historically been especially common among Major League Baseball players and is usually known by the slang term "greenies". In 2006, the MLB banned the use of amphetamine. The ban is enforced through periodic drug-testing. However, the MLB has received some criticism because the consequences for amphetamine use are dramatically less severe than for anabolic steroid use, with the first offense bringing only a warning and further testing.
Amphetamine was formerly in widespread use by truck drivers to combat symptoms of somnolence and to increase their concentration during driving, especially in the decades prior to the signing by former president Ronald Reagan of Executive Order 12564, which initiated mandatory random drug testing of all truck drivers and employees of other DOT-regulated industries. Although implementation of the order on the trucking industry was kept to a gradual rate in consideration of its projected effects on the national economy, in the decades following the order, amphetamine and other drug abuse by truck drivers has since dropped drastically. (See also Truck driver—Implementation of drug detection).
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