Narcotic

This article is about the drug classification. For the scuba diving reference, see Nitrogen narcosis. For the sedative agent, see Sedative. For pain control medications of both narcotic and non-narcotic varieties, see Analgesic. For other uses, see Narcotic (disambiguation).
Heroin, a powerful opioid and narcotic

The term narcotic (/nɑːrˈkɒtɪk/, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ narkō, "I make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties.[1] In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates and opioids, commonly morphine and heroin, as well as derivatives of many of the compounds found within raw opium latex. The primary three are morphine, codeine, and thebaine (while thebaine itself is only very mildly psychoactive, it is a crucial precursor in the vast majority of semi-synthetic opioids, such as oxycodone or hydrocodone).

Legally speaking, the term "narcotic" may be imprecisely defined and typically has negative connotations.[2][3] When used in a legal context in the U.S., a narcotic drug is totally prohibited, such as heroin, or one that is used in violation of legal regulation (in this word sense, equal to any controlled substance or illicit drug).

In the medical community, the term is more precisely defined and generally does not carry the same negative connotations.[4][5][6]

Statutory classification of a drug as a narcotic often increases the penalties for violation of drug control statutes. For example, although U.S. federal law classifies both cocaine and amphetamines as "Schedule II" drugs, the penalty for possession of cocaine is greater than the penalty for possession of amphetamines because cocaine, unlike amphetamines, is classified as a narcotic.[7]

Research acknowledges that alcohol can have similar effects to narcotics in head and/or trunk trauma situations.[8]

  1. ^ Anstie, Francis Edmund (1865). Stimulants and Narcotics, Their Mutual Relations: With Special Researches on the Action of Alcohol, Aether and Chloroform on the Vital Organism. Lindsay and Blakiston. p. 152.
  2. ^ Julien, Robert M. A Primer of Drug Action. 11th edition. Claire D. Advokat, Joseph E. Comaty, eds. New York: Worth Publishers: 2008. page 537.
  3. ^ Mangione MP, Matoka M: Improving Pain Management Communication. How Patients Understand the terms "Opioid" and "Narcotic." Journal of General Internal Medicine 2008; vol 23:9 1336–1338.
  4. ^ NIH.gov Retrieved November 10, 2015
  5. ^ Oxford Dictionaries (note definition 1.1 (medicine))  Retrieved November 10, 2015
  6. ^ Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Retrieved November 10, 2015
  7. ^ Carl B. Schultz (1983). "NOTE AND COMMENT: Statutory Classification of Cocaine as a Narcotic: An Illogical Anachronism and in Colombia this are more the narcotic and the drugs". 9 Am. J. L. and Med. 225. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ Sienkiewicz, P (2011). "[Ethyl alcohol and psychoactive drugs in patients with head and trunk injuries treated at the Department of General Surgery, Provincial Hospital in Siedlce]". Annales Academiae Medicae Stetinensis. 57 (1): 96–104. PMID 22593998.