Narcotics

A drug derived from opium or opium like compounds, with potent

analgesic effects associated with significant alteration of mood and
behavior, and with the potential for dependence and tolerance following
repeated administration.

MEDICINAL VALUE:
Narcotics are drugs that dull the sense of pain and cause drowsiness
or sleep. They are the most effective tool a physician has to relieve severe
pain. Narcotics are also given pre-operatively to relieve anxiety and induce
anesthesia. Other common uses are to suppress cough and to control very
severe diarrhea. In large doses, they can suppress the ability to breathe and
cause coma and death. Narcotics are also taken illegally for recreational use.

Types of NARCOTIC:
1. Natural - products extracted from the poppy plant, yielding morphine
and heroin, or the coca plant, yielding cocaine and crack.
2. Semi-synthetic - products with opiate activity, meperidine and
methadone or synthetics; under the umbrella term of narcotic,
alkaloids, LSD, mescaline, barbiturates, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine,
hallucinogens and stimulants, antidepressants.
3. Completely synthetic - products created by synthesis alone,
fentanyl.
Drug tests reset to get more info out
By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:56:00 02/02/2009
Filed Under: Illegal drugs, Education
MANILA, Philippines—The Department of
Education (DepEd) has reset the start of
random drug testing in public schools from
Monday to Wednesday, Feb. 4, to give
education officials more time to inform
schools communities about it, Education
Assistant Secretary Thelma Santos said
Sunday.
Santos said the DepEd decided on the
postponement after consultations with
school principals in Metro Manila and the
Department of Health.
“The drug testing is reset to Feb. 4 for us to
have more time for the information
campaign for students and parents,” Santos
said.
Around 8,500 schools will participate in the
random drug tests, with 10 students per
school being tested. DepEd will field 20
teams across the country to meet the target
of 85,000 students tested for drugs by
November.
Santos said the DepEd had already chosen
the first 15 schools in Metro Manila where
the tests would be launched and the
postponement to Wednesday would give
school officials enough time to explain to
parents and students the mechanics of the
tests.
The Commission on Human Rights had
warned the DepEd that such random testing
could be interpreted to be a violation of a
person’s right to privacy.
“Special lectures can be done in schools to
explain that addiction is a health issue and
drug testing is a screening tool that
ultimately aims to provide treatment and not
incarceration,” said Santos, quoting the
Dangerous Drugs Board.
“All students and their parents shall be
notified in writing of the manner by which
the random drug testing shall be
conducted…Failure to return the
acknowledgement receipt shall not be a bar
to the conduct of drug testing,” she said.
Santos said the 85,000 randomly chosen
students would first undergo “screening
tests,” the results of which would be ready
in a day or two. If a student tests positive, he
or she would have to undergo a
“confirmatory test.”
A positive result in the confirmatory test is
not a ground for expulsion or any
disciplinary action against the student, she
stressed.
The DepEd would instead refer the student
to a government accredited laboratory or
physician to determine the student’s
“dependency level.”
“Positive results or drug dependency shall in
no way cause the expulsion of the student
nor shall it be used to advance any
administrative, criminal and legal action
actions against the student,” Santos said.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered
the random drug tests after a bribery
controversy involving the prosecution of
suspected wealthy alleged pushers to the
fore the worsening problem of illegal drug
use in the country, especially among the
youth.
Narcotic,
substance that relieves pain, induces sleep, and calms the body. Harmful and highly
addictive if used repeatedly or in high doses.

Narcotic types
Natural Products extracted from the poppy plant, yielding morphine and heroin,
or the coca plant, yielding cocaine and crack
Semi-synthetic Products with opiate activity, eg meperidine and methadone or
synthetics, see MPTP; under the umbrella term of narcotic, alkaloids, eg LSD, mescaline,
barbiturates, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogens and stimulants, eg
antidepressants
Completely synthetic Products created by synthesis alone, eg fentanyl

Medicinal value:
Narcotics are the best pain relievers yet known to man. They are, in fact,
commonly called "painkillers." They are, as such, among the most valuable drugs
available to physicians.

cough and control diarrhea. In these cure's, narcotics are usually combined with codeine
or paregoric.
A narcotic, medically, is any drug that produces sleep or stupor and relieves pain due
to its depressant effect on the central nervous system. Included in this medical
definition are opium, opium derivatives (morphine, heroin, codeine) and synthetic
opiates (methadone, demerole, oxycodone).

Legally, the term means: any drug defmed as such by Philippine or international
narcotic laws. In the United Nations treaty on narcotics, it embraces Cannabis Sativa
L (marijuana), coca leaf and cocaine, sedatives and stimulants.

Types:

Natural - Opiates, Morphine, Codeine

Semi Synthetics - Heroin, Oxycodone, hydrocodone

Synthetics - Oxycontin, Meperidine, Fentanyl

Medicinal value:

The physician who uses narcotics over a long period of time in treating' a
patient must balance the beneficial, pain-killing effects against the possibility of
establishing addiction or, in medical language, "physical dependence."
Narcotic any of a number of substances that have a depressant effect on the nervous
system. The chief narcotic drugs are opium , its constituents morphine and codeine , and
the morphine derivative heroin .

Types of narcotic:
Common types of narcotics include barbiturates, benzodiazepines, heroin, opium in the
form of morphine and codeine, oxycodone and Vicodin.

Medicinal value:

In small doses narcotics have valuable medical uses, numbing the senses,
relieving severe pain, and inducing sleep. They are also given preoperatively to relieve
pain and anxiety. Common side effects include constipation, nausea, and allergic
reactions. In large doses narcotics can be highly dangerous, causing stupor, coma,
convulsions, or death. All narcotics are addictive; several morphine derivatives as well as
chemically dissimilar narcotics that have been developed for medical use have fewer side
effects and are less addictive than morphine, but they are also generally less potent.
Narcotic
An addictive drug, such as opium, that reduces pain, alters mood and behavior,
and usually induces sleep or stupor. Natural and synthetic narcotics are used in medicine
to control pain.

Types of narcotic:
Common types of narcotics include barbiturates, benzodiazepines, heroin, opium
in the form of morphine and codeine, oxycodone and Vicodin.

Medicinal value:
Unlike general anesthetics such as ether and chloroform, narcotics depress the
respiratory center and in low doses relieve pain without inducing sleep. Respiratory
depression occurs in newborns whose mothers have been given narcotics such as
meperidine (Demerol) during labor. Narcotics differ from barbiturates and other sedatives
in that they have no anticonvulsant action; also, narcotics relieve pain, while sedatives do
not.

Manila mayor studies revival of ’shame drive’
against drug dealers
By MBJ on January 18, 2009
MANILA – The mayor of Manila on Saturday
said he is seriously considering the revival of his
controversial campaign to spray paint the
residences of suspected drugdealers in the city.
Mayor Alfredo Lim explained the revival will
signify his support for the government’s
renewed campaign against “drug lords” and
illegal drug dealers following the decision of
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to take
over direct command of the campaign.
Lim, a former senator who regained his post as
mayor of Manila in the May 2007 elections, is
more popularly known as “Dirty Harry” for his
uncompromising stand against criminal
elements.
Dirty Harry, in turn, is the incorruptible
policeman portrayed by Hollywood actor Clint
Eastwood in a movie that bore the same title.
According to Lim, the revival of his spray
painting campaign aims mainly to embarrass and
put to shame the suspected drug dealers into
giving up their illicit trade or even force them to
leave Manila and settle elsewhere.
He recalled that on his second term as Manila
mayor about 10 years ago, he decided to launch
the campaign following reports of an alarming
increase in the number of mostly young drug
addicts in the city.
Lim, with the aid of policemen, sprayed with red
paint the residences of suspects with the words
“drug pushers.”
The mayor explained the addresses of the
suspected drug dealers were provided his office
by “barangay” (village) officials and even
ordinary citizens concerned with the growing
drug menace inManila.
The information received, Lim said, was treated
as confidential so as not to reveal the identities
of the informants.
His theme in the campaign, he said, was: If there
are no drug pushers, then the drug addicts will
have no supply.
The campaign succeeded, Lim said, because it
resulted in driving away out of shame and
embarrassment from Manila the suspected drug
dealers whose residences were spray painted.
But Lim added he was forced to stop the
campaign when the “do gooders” stepped in,
saying that what he was doing was against the
law.
He was apparently referring to the human rights
advocates who questioned in court the legality
of the campaign, especially on the constitutional
provision that a “man is presumed innocent until
he is proven guilty by the court.”
In his reckoning, the same do-gooders are
hampering the ongoing campaign against drug
lords and illegal drug traffickers in the country.
Lim pointed out that charges filed against
authorities engaged in the anti-drug campaign
for allegedly violating the human rights of
suspects only serve to hinder them from doing
their job in effectively fighting crime.
“If you are afraid of being charged, then your
hands are tied,” Lim emphasized.
Illegal drugs plague 284 Metro Manila
villages, police reveal
MANILA – At least 284, or 17 percent of the
total 1,671 “barangays” (villages) in Metro
Manila are afflicted by the problem of illegal
drugs, a ranking officer of the Philippine
National Police (PNP) disclosed.
Deputy Director Leopoldo Bataoil, the chief of
the PNP Metro Manila regional command, said
the affected villages would be the objects of
intensified illegal drug-clearing operations to be
conducted by his men in coordination with local
officials, civic groups and non-government
organizations.
Bataoil said the renewed campaign is in line
with the order of President Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo for all law enforcement agencies to join
forces in combating illegal drugs after she had
taken over direct command of the anti-drug
campaign.
He also warned policemen under his command
that they would face stiff penalties if they
bungled the prosecution of drug-related cases by
failing to appear in court hearings as witnesses.
Under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act
of 2002, Bataoil said such failure to testify is
punishable with an imprisonment of from 12 to
20 years in jail and a fine equivalent to $10,000.
The same law also penalizes the superiors of the
erring policemen with the same jail term plus a
fine of from $200 to $1,000, aside from
dismissal from the service, he warned.
According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement
Agency (PDEA), at least 600 of the more than
1,000 cases filed in court in the metropolis
against suspected drug pushers were dismissed
due to the failure of the arresting policemen to
testify.
Bataoil said he received information that some
of the unscrupulous policemen were bribed by
absenting themselves as witnesses duringcourt
hearings.
This developed as the Presidential Anti-
Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) urged
Metro Manila mayors to after about 233
“destructive gangs” composed mainly of minors
engaged in drug-related offenses.
A PAOCC official disclosed that in the third
quarter of 2008 alone, these gangs committed at
least 79 serious crimes, ranging from robbery,
physical injuries, auto thefts and even payroll
robberies.
Apparently more alarming, the official said, is
the presence of “chapters” in the metropolis of
internationally known youth gangs, most of
which are from the US, like the “True Brown
Style,” “Creeps,” “Bloods,” “Reckless Asiatic
Gangsta” and “Vacos Locos,” among others.
He said the PAOCC received information that
these gangs require the new recruits in their
chapters to commit robbery and resort to
physical violence as part of their initiation rites.
The official added these gangs have expanded
their organizations by forming chapters in other
communities by recruiting out-of-school youths
and even students.
Among the reasons cited by experts for the
proliferation of these youth gangs, the official
said, are: the suspects are not likely to be
prosecuted for their crimes because they are
minors; the unabated entry ofillegal drugs
especially in the villages; as well as parental
neglect and similar domestic factors.
For this reason, the official urged a thorough
review of the Juvenile Justice Act which
provides that children 15 years old and below
will be “criminally exempt” from the filing of
charges.
He noted the law also provides that youth
offenders, aged 15 to 18, can be criminally
charged only if they acted out the crime “with
discernment.”
Read more: http://bloggista.org/1179-illegal-
drugs-plague-284-metro-manila-villages-police-
reveal.html#ixzz0cPJq2bcA
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