Medical Term

narcotic

also: narcotics

a drug that leads to a stupor and complete loss of awareness. In particular, OPIATES derived from MORPHINE or produced synthetically induce various conditions: deep sleep, euphoria, mood changes and mental confusion. In addition, respiration and the cough reflex are depressed and muscle spasms may be produced. Because of the dependence resulting from the use of morphine- like compounds, they have largely been replaced as sleeping drugs.

Source: mediLexicon corpus · slug narcotic