 During the early 1960s, methamphetamine was sold in the U.S. as an over-the-counter medicine in the form of an inhaler, until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration restricted its sale to physician prescriptions.In announcing the new rules, FDA Commissioner George P. Larrick told reporters that the FDA had received 153 reports of meth abuse in 1964, almost three times the 54 cases from 1963, and only five a year in 1960, 1961 and 1962.In 1970, methamphetamine was regulated in the Controlled Substances Act, and a public education campaign was mounted against it.