While chemically similiar meth and ephedrine are very different. On it's own ephedrine isn't a great stimulant no, however combined with caffine in a 1:10 dosage (shouldn't exceed 20mg:200mg or so) of ephedrine to caffeine your cAMP levels get played with nicely and you get an energy boost. Called the ECA stack if you combine aspirin with it, body builders use it all the time. Meth would get you a positive test in no time.
I know a lot of you hate wiki , but then again I am one of those who knows about 90++ % of wikipedia is true info. Methamphetamine was first synthesized fromephedrine in Japan in 1894 by chemist Nagayoshi Nagai. In 1919, crystallized methamphetamine was synthesized by Akira Ogata via reduction of ephedrine using red phosphorus and iodine. So it looks I was right after all, about who made meth the first time.