First off, this isn't a Today "I" Learned (for I knew this for a long time), but I couldn't find an appropriate subreddit for this where I can reach a large audience. Sorry about this, but I guarantee that this is a very interesting TIL fact.

Methamphetamine isn’t bad. In fact, our brain naturally produces methamphetamine (I know, sounds crazy, but keep reading).

Our brain produces Phenethylamine to be converted into dopamine.

Phenethylamine is the same molecule as methamphetamine but without the two methyl groups. The difference is that 90% of Phenethylamine wont reach your brain if it is consumed because it will be metabolized by the liver.

But once your liver metabolizes methamphetamine, it takes away the methyl group leaving Phenethylamine as the ingredient that will go in your brain to be converted into dopamine.

You CAN get a legal high by consuming pure Phenethylamine, but you will have to consume 10x more then methamphetamine to get the same high as you would with methamphetamine (as 90% of pure Phenethylamine gets metabolized by the liver) .

Phenethylamine is the molecule that motivates you to do work and go to school, in return for dopamine. Phenethylamine is naturally biosynthesized in all mammals, and a lot of it too.

Street meth on the otherhand is bad because of it’s terrible purity. Most street meth is made with common household items such as Lithium batteries and acetone (acetone is actually used to make it more pure). The purity of this meth is what causes the people you see on Google Images to look like they do. The acetone causes skin to dry and other chemicals cause teeth to rot.

Meth was legal and sold OTC in the 1950’s through 1970’s but became illegal once people started tweaking and abusing it. These “tweakers” (people who use meth 24/7), is what caused the media to show what meth does to you. They didn’t show the people that used meth responsibly because they though those people didn’t even do meth.

If you want a safe and legal way of doing meth knowing the purity is safe, you can buy pure Phenethylamine on sites such as Amazon and Walmart. The problem with it is that you will have to take 10x more then methamphetamine and it is still susceptible to overdose. The reason the government didn’t make Phenethylamine a controlled substance is because you’re technically always in “possesion” of it as your brain is produced, and there was no loophole in the controlled substance act that would allow it to be listed as a scheduled substance.