Benzedrine inhalers were meant to help with nasal congestion. Unfortunately, they were commonly abused. People would often buy the inhalers and open them up. They would then take out the wet paper with the drug and swallow it to get high, stay focused and improve their mood. The author, Jack Kerouac, often used Benzedrine and wrote some of his most famous novels like On The Road while taking it. In the first seven years after these inhalers were released, Smith, Kline, and French claimed to have sold more than 10 million of them. The inhalers were eventually banned by the FDA in 1959.