kim32 said:
I took phentermine for 10 years...it was prescribed to me by a doctor when I was at USC years ago and it took a LOT for me to get off of it - I have an addictive personality...also when I quit I slept for a week and gained about 8 pounds - which is a lot b/c I am 5'4" tall...so I would recommend NOT taking it if you have in any way an addictive personality...!

Cheers!
Glad you finally got off ok, <ahem>.
To the OP: I'd second avoiding phentermine if you have any tendency towards addiction. I took it for a while, and I think it's a very insidious drug: sure, you don't get the ectastic, top-of-the-world feeling like you do from meth. But it did invade my psyche and was quite troublesome. Oh, and it was not nearly as effective as the good old ECA stack.
As far as it being safe because it's from a pharm company and you can buy it online: originally phentermine was 1/2 of the "fen-fen" combo into which a lot of research $ and subsequent marketing $ was poured. Then it was discovered that fen-fen caused heart deformation, lawsuits flourished, it was pulled from the market.
The maker then petitioned the FDA to permit Phentermine use alone; it was subsequently approved. Color me cynical, but I kinda think that capitalism just might be the primary motivation on this one.
If you really want to hear my conspiracy theory, I can go on and on about how during the time when the drug maker in question was trying to recoup from the fen-fen debacle, suddenly the most effective OTC supplement for weight loss (ephedrine) was found by the FDA to be so harmful that it was pulled from shelves and there was a nationwide ban. Oh, yeah, that ban was only temporary when it was enacted, I guess that Congress and FDA had the foresight to know that with increasing global warming ephedrine would become safe again...