Thousands of years ago the opium poppy was found to yield a powerful substance .In small doses it had a sedative effect and produced , in larger doses it had a hypnotic effect and induced sleep , in still larger doses it had a narcotic or analgesic effect and rendered the user insensitive to pain. This substance-opium became , through the centuries , one of the principal medicines for relieving pain , it was one of mankind's first narcotics . Narcotics are drugs that produce relief from pain , a state of stupor or sleep , and eventually addiction , or physical dependence. Since their main therapeutic use is for pain relief , such drugs are often called narcotic analgesics.
In 1803 the alkaloid compound in opium responsible for its painkilling effect was discovered . It was called morphine after Morpheus , the greek god of dreams. After the invention of the hypodermic needle in 1853 the easy availability of morphine injections led to serious problems of abuse and addictions. In an effort to find a chemical relative of morphine that possessed its painkilling abilities but not its addictive power , chemists discovered diacetylmorphine in 1898 . This drug appeared to be such a promising alternative that it was considered a "heroine" in the war against pain. The term persisted , and was shortened to "heroin" in common usage. Although it was several times more effective than morphine against pain , heroin was found to be even more addicting and dangerous than morphine. Thus , while morphine has become the most widely prescribed narcotic today , the manufacture , sale , or importation of heroin is totally forbidden in the United states.
Modern narcotics are either opium derivatives or synthetic drugs . those derived from opium are known as opiates , these include morphine and codeine . those produced synthetically are known as opioids , and include meperidine and methadone.
Narcotics are the most powerful painkillers available. They not only relieve pain but also seem to reduce the suffering , worry , fear , and panic associated with severe pain . They also have other therapeutic uses. Codeine is used in cough mixtures because it suppresses coughing . Methadone is used in the treatment of heroin addiction since it blocks the addict's cravings for heroin , however, methadone itself is addictive . Apomorphine is used to produce vomiting in cases of poisoning from substances taken orally.
Narcotic is also used to describe illegal drugs generally for example the first federal attempt to deal with drug abuse was named the 1914 harrison narcotics Act. Usually included in this less precise use of the term are drugs derived from the hemp plant family , such as hashish and marijuana , amphetamines , and marijuana , mescaline , and peyote.
Other narcoticlike drugs are illegally created in laboratories by altering slightly the molecular structure of the addictive drug . These altered drugs are known as analogs , dubbed "designer drugs", and they produce much the same effect as the original . However, new drugs created by this method have unforeseeable and possibly dangerous consequences.
"References : Britannica Encyclopedia"
"If You Like This post Make Sure That You Follow Me"
Source: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5UDtUMRxAdUJ:0-academic.eb.com.othmerlib.chemheritage.org/levels/collegiate/article/276028+&cd=1&hl=bg&ct=clnk&gl=bg
Not citing sources is plagiarism, and copying pasting articles without permission is copyright infringement. If you want to share a news story, simply link to the source, and include your original commentary, and possibly small quotes from the source.
Copy paste is discouraged by the community, and may result in action from the cheetah bot.
Creative Commons: If you are reposting under a Creative Commons license, please attribute and link according to the specific license. If you are reposting under CC0 please consider noting that at the end of your post.
If you are actually the original author, please do reply to let us know!
Thank You! ☙
hey
i am the author of this post , my brother was the actual author and he did submit to britannica encyclopedia.i have the submission certificate as proof.
This isn't your first post where you have copied and pasted text from other sources without citing them.
Plagiarize:
Even when citing sources copying and pasting entire works is discouraged. It is your thoughts and opinions that add value to what you share.