Illegal narcotics

Morphine, when extracted from raw opium and treated chemically, yields the semisynthetic narcotics hydromorphone, oxymorphone, oxycodone, and heroin. Heroin is an illegal narcotic in the United States and is not used in medicine. Synthetic narcotics are those man-made analgesics with properties and actions similar to the natural opioids. Examples of synthetic narcotic analgesics are methadone, levorphanol, remifen-tanil, and meperidine Additional narcotics are listed in the Summary Drug Table Narcotic Analgesics. 

Many drug users die from toxic substances that are used to dilute illegal narcotics and from overdoses when drugs are more po tent than represented. Government control on the production of these drugs could make certain they were pure and standardize them so that their strength would not be in question. 

Naloxone blocks receptor binding of endogenous opioids, called endorphins or enkephalins, produced by the pituitary, as well as blocking the effects of administered narcotics, such as morphine. These blocking drugs are used to awaken patients operated on under opiate anesthesia. Persons in coma from ingesting illegal narcotics, such as morphine or heroin, wake up within seconds after administration of naloxone. 

Analytical chemists have developed simple chemical tests that can identify the presence of illegal drugs within seconds. Law enforcement officers routinely use these when they are unsure whether someone is in possession of an illegal narcotic. A common field test for cocaine, for example, uses a cobalt thiocyanate complex that turns blue in the presence of cocaine. 

Cocaine has a deserved bad reputation, which mostly comes from movies or media news about Mexican or Colombian drag traffickers. It is more or less generally believed that cocaine is an illegal narcotic. In a strict medical sense, this is not true. What is true is that the use of cocaine is prohibited by most national laws and international treaties together with classic narcotics. The rules are the same, but the effect is different. 

Volatile solvents such as toluene, acetone, benzene, and various amyl- and butyl-alcohols are often present in trace amounts as a consequence of solvent washes during the synthesis of the illegal drugs. The sensitivity of canines to these solvents is often the means by which narcotics are detected. 

Opium Street Names Auntie Emma, big O. black stuff, block, gum, hop, ope, tar (brand generic called tincture of opium, laudanum, paregoric (CIII), B O suppositories [CIII]) Use Some medical uses (antidiarrheal, antitussive, antispas-modic) illegally used to produce morphine and h oin can be swallowed or smoked Actions Narcotic contains morphine Effects Pain relief, euphoria, drowsiness/N, constipation, confusion, sedation, resp dqjression and arrest, tol -ance, addiction, unconsciousness, coma, death... 

In recent years federal authorities have pressured doctors not even to discuss medical marijuana as an option for their patients. They sought to revoke an offending doctor s license to prescribe federally controlled narcotics. Such an action would make it virmally impossible for many doctors to practice medicine in their specialty. However, in October 2002, a federal appeals court in San Erancisco ruled that such a sanction violates the constimtional right of doctors and patients to discuss health matters freely. About a year later the Supreme Court let the decision stand. The decision does not affect the illegality of actually prescribing medical marijuana, however. 

The inappropriate or illegal use and abuse of narcotics such as heroin is a major problem in many countries. Hence, various strategies have been employed to treat people who are addicted to heroin and other opioids. Methadone is the primary pharmacological intervention used to treat opioid addiction. Methadone is a strong opioid agonist, similar in potency and efficacy to morphine. While giving an opioid to treat an opi-... 

That effort succeeded. However, the U.N. in February of 2001 warned that not all countries had laws that could be used to stop Internet drug trafficking. The U.N. s International Narcotics Control Board called on countries to adopt laws to halt Internet abuse such as the sale of illegal drugs by online pharmacies and drug stores. 

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