Narcotic

The term narcotic, derived from the Greek word narkoticos, meaning "benumbing or deadening", originally referred to a variety of substances that induced sleep (such state is narcosis). In the U.S. legal context, narcotic refers to opium, opium derivatives, and their semisynthetic or totally synthetic substitutes. Cocaine and coca leaves, which are classified as "narcotics" in the U.S. Controlled Substances Act (CSA), are technically not narcotics.

Related Topics:
Greek - U.S. - Opium - Cocaine - Coca

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Because the term is often used broadly, inaccurately and/or pejoratively outside medical contexts, most medical professionals prefer the more precise term opioid for all natural, semi-synthetic and synthetic substances that behave pharmacologically like morphine, the primary constituent of natural opium.

Related Topics:
Opioid - Morphine

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