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The biochemical pharmacology of abused drugs; III. Cannabis, opiates, and synthetic narcotics
Author(s) -
Caldwell John,
Sever Peter S.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1002/cpt1974166989
Subject(s) - opium , cannabis , poppy , pharmacology , opium poppy , medicine , methadone , drug , traditional medicine , drugs of abuse , psychiatry , biology , botany , political science , law
In this final part of the review, we cover the widely abused plant drugs, Cannabis obtained from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa, and the opiates, from the opium poppy Papaver somniferum. The psychoactivity of preparations of these plants has been known for a very long time. Cannabis has never found a genuine medical application for its particular psychoactivity and, although it has been in most of the world's pharmacopoeias at one time or another, there is no established medical use for it. The opiates are essential for the alleviation of severe pain and in the treatment of certain gastrointestinal disorders. Their use in the medicine of the nineteenth century was Widespread, but realization of the dangers of prolonged dosage has led to a restriction to circumstances when they are speCifically indicated. Owing to the well‐established dangers of the opiates from the viewpoint of dependence, many attempts have been made to synthesize a “safe” powerful analgesic. There has been no real success, but several such compounds have come to be abused in their own turn. The three most important of these are meperidine, methadone, and pentozocine, and these are reviewed here along with the naturally occurring opiates.