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Narcotic

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This article is about the drug classification. For the scuba diving reference, see Nitrogen narcosis. For the sedative agent, see Sedative.
Heroin, a powerful opioid and narcotic.

The term narcotic (pronounced /nɑrˈkɒtɨk/) originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin. The term is, today, imprecisely defined and typically has negative connotations.[1] When used in a legal context in the US, a narcotic drug is simply one that is totally prohibited, or one that is used in violation of strict governmental regulation, such as PCP or marijuana. From a pharmacological standpoint it is not a useful term.[2]

Alcohol is the principle that gives to ardent spirit and wine their intoxicating power; while the narcotic principle to opium and tobacco imparts similar properties. In popular language, alcohol is classed among the stimulants; and opium and tobacco among the narcotics; which are substances whose ultimate etfect upon the animal system is to produce torpor and insensibility; but taken in small quantities they at first exhilarate. And since alcohol does the same, most medical writers, at the present day, class it among the narcotics.[3]

united nations

single convention on narcotic drugs, 1961

The adoption of this Convention is regarded as a milestone in the history of international drug control. The Single Convention codified all existing multilateral treaties on drug control and extended the existing control systems to include the cultivation of plants that were grown as the raw material of narcotic drugs. The principal objectives of the Convention are to limit the possession, use, trade in, distribution, import, export, manufacture and production of drugs exclusively to medical and scientific purposes and to address drug trafficking through international cooperation to deter and discourage drug traffickers. The Convention also established the International Narcotics Control Board, merging the Permanent Central Board and the Drug Supervisory Board.[4]

incb yellow list

This document contains the current list of narcotic drugs under international control and additional information to assist governments in filling in the International Narcotics Control Board questionnaires related to narcotic drugs, namely, form A, form B and form C.[5]

world health organization

STUDIES ON THE DEFINITION OF "COUNTERFEIT MEDICINES" IN WHO MEMBER STATES

4. Assessment of the definitions of "counterfeit medicines" (or equivalent) in Member States

4.2 The nature of legal definitions: the unambiguity requirement

In order to avoid room for difference in interpretation, law-makers ("codificators") sometimes deviate from etymological (definiendum plus definientia) definitions. In doing so, they approach the term from the law enforcement point of view. The best example is the definition of "narcotics" in the United Nations Conventions. Narcotics are substances and preparations that induce drowsiness, sleep, stupor, insensibility, etc., and that these effects (and their rate) are complicated to prove, e.g. during litigation. Thus, the legal "definition" of a narcotic is whether or not it is listed on the Schedules of the Convention. If it is on some of the Schedules, it is narcotic.[6]

United States Code of Federal Regulations

Section 1300.01 Definitions relating to controlled substances.

(b) As used in parts 1301 through 1308 and part 1312 of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings specified:

(30) The term narcotic drug means any of the following whether produced directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of vegetable origin or independently by means of chemical synthesis or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis:

(i) Opium, opiates, derivatives of opium and opiates, including their isomers, esters, ethers, salts, and salts of isomers, esters, and ethers whenever the existence of such isomers, esters, ethers and salts is possible within the specific chemical designation. Such term does not include the isoquinoline alkaloids of opium.

(ii) Poppy straw and concentrate of poppy straw.

(iii) Coca leaves, except coca leaves and extracts of coca leaves from which cocaine, ecgonine and derivatives of ecgonine or their salts have been removed.

(iv) Cocaine, its salts, optical and geometric isomers, and salts of isomers.

(v) Ecgonine, its derivatives, their salts, isomers and salts of isomers.

(vi) Any compound, mixture, or preparation which contains any quantity of any of the substances referred to in paragraphs (b)(31)(i) through (v) of this section. [7]

A 1984 amendment to 21 USC (Controlled Substances Act), Section 802 expanded and revised definition of "narcotic drug", including within term poppy straw, cocaine, and ecgonine.[8]

History

The term "narcotic" is believed to have been coined by the Greek physician Galen to refer to agents that numb or deaden, causing loss of feeling or paralysis. It is based on the Greek word ναρκωσις (narcosis), the term used by Hippocrates for the process of numbing or the numbed state. Galen listed mandrake root, altercus (eclata).[9] seeds, and poppy juice (opium) as the chief examples.[10][11] It originally referred to any substance that relieved pain, dulled the senses, or induced sleep.[12] Now, the term is used in a number of ways. Some people define narcotics as substances that bind at opioid receptors (cellular membrane proteins activated by substances like heroin or morphine) while others refer to any illicit substance as a narcotic. From a legal perspective, narcotic refers to opium, opium derivatives, and their semi-synthetic substitutes.[13] Though in U.S. law, due to its numbing properties, cocaine is also considered a narcotic.

Sense of "any illegal drug" first recorded 1926, Amer.Eng. The adj. is first attested c.1600.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Julien, Robert M. A Primer of Drug Action. 11th edition. Claire D. Advokat, Joseph E. Comaty, eds. New York: Worth Publishers: 2008. page 537.
  2. ^ Julien, Robert M. A Primer of Drug Action.
  3. ^ Edward Hitchcock, American Temperance Society (1830). An essay on alcoholic & narcotic substances, as articles of common use ... J. S. & C. Adams and Co.
  4. ^ http://www.incb.org/incb/convention_1961.html
  5. ^ http://www.incb.org/pdf/forms/yellow_list/49th_Edition/49thedYL_Dec_10E.pdf
  6. ^ http://www.who.int/medicines/services/counterfeit/WHO_ACM_Report.pdf
  7. ^ http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/21cfr/cfr
  8. ^ http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/21cfr/21usc/802.htm
  9. ^ J. Richard Stracke (1974). The Laud Herbal Glossary. Rodopi.
  10. ^ Francis Edmund Anstie (1865). Stimulants and Narcotics: their mutual relations.
  11. ^ "De Furore, cap VI" (in Latin).
  12. ^ Julien, Robert M. See A Primer of Drug Action full citation above.
  13. ^ http://drug-rehab-referral.org/drug_rehab_narcotics.html
  14. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=narcotic

External links

  • Pharmer.org A non-profit site providing detailed descriptions of most narcotic analgesics
  • List of drugs, some of which are classified as "narcotics," in the U.S. Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Not all of the classified ones are chemically narcotic, as described on the top of this page[dead link]
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