Definitions

There has been no shortage of enthusiastic spkokesmen who have tried to label differnt drugs with the emotionally laden term 'narcotic'-a word associated with abuse,addiction,destruction of mind and body,crimes of violence,and heavily restrictive and punitive legal codes.NARCOTICS,in the strict medical sense,are a very small group of drugs:opium and its active constituents,most common of which are MORPHINE and CODINE,and HEROIN,a derivative of MORPHINE that was synthesized(made chemically in the laboratory)late in the ninteenth century.To this group several drugs with opiumlike properties that have synthesized more recently can legitimately be added;such as demerol,which is the brand name given to meperidine hydrochloride,and methadone,although prolonged use of this drug is much less destructive to mind and body than morphine or heroin.
                        Narcotics have the common properties of including sleep or stupor,frequently  accompanied by euphoria,and pleasent dreams or fantasies;and,of course,they can give enormous relief from physical and mental pain.Unfortunately narcotics are seriously addictive,and the body rapidly develops a tolerence to their use.(The terms,habituation,dependence,tolerence and addiction will be defined later on)