Drug Enforcement Unit
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Narcotics

NARCOTICS are pain-killing drugs that also induce euphoria and are powerful central nervous system depressants that can induce sleep and reduce anxiety.

The term narcotic, derived from the Greek word for stupor, originally referred to a variety of substances that induced sleep.

As drugs of abuse, they are often smoked, sniffed or self-administered by the more direct routes of subcutaneous ("skin popping") and intravenous ("mainlining") injection. Narcotics, including heroin, are very addictive.

Morphine, the principal constituent of opium, can range in concentration from 4 to 21 percent (note: commercial opium is standardized to contain 10% morphine). It is one of the most effective drugs known for the relief of pain, and remains the standard against which new analgesics are measured.