Barbiturates

What Kind of Drug Is It?

Barbiturates (pronounced bar-BIH-chuh-rits) are drugs that act as depressants and are used as sedatives or sleeping pills. Because they are depressants, they are often called "downers." According to Lawrence Clayton in Barbiturates and Other Depressants, "Any depressant will kill if taken in a large enough quantity." Accidental overdose can occur quite easily among barbiturate users.

The effects of barbiturates are very similar to those of alcohol and include increased feelings of relaxation, sleepiness, and a decrease in inhibitions. Barbiturates are habit-forming drugs and should not be used on an everyday basis. They can cause depression in high doses and addiction when taken over a long period of time.

Overview

Barbiturates have an extremely high potential for abuse. Ever since their introduction in the early 1900s, barbiturates have been considered addictive drugs. Barbiturates slow down both the mind and the body. In his book A Brief History of Drugs: From the Stone Age to the Stoned Age, Antonio Escohotado pointed to their "high capacity to produce numbness" by putting the user in a state somewhere between drunkenness and sleep. Aside from those effects, he continued, is their "almost inevitable ability to kill in high doses: a detail that converted these drugs into the most common means of committing suicide" from the 1940s through the 1960s.

Discovered in the 1860s

The story of barbiturates began "when a chemist combined animal urine and acid from apples," explained Clayton. That chemist was German professor and future Nobel prizewinner Adolf von Baeyer (1835–1917). The substance he created became known as barbituric (bar-bih-CHUR-ik) acid. It received its name because Baeyer first produced it on St. Barbara's Day (a day of religious recognition observed each year on December 4) of 1863.

Official Drug Name: Amobarbital (AMM-oh-BAR-bit-al; Amytal), aprobarbital (AH-pro-BAR-bit-al; Alurate), barbital (BAR-bit-al; Veronal), butabarbital (BYOOT-uh-BAR-bit-al; Butisol), butalbital (byoo-TAHL-bit-al; Fioricet and Fiorinal), mephobarbital (MEFF-oh-BAR-bit-al; Mebaral), pentobarbital (PENT-oh-BAR-bit-al; Nembutal), phenobarbital (FEEN-oh-BAR-bit-al; Luminal), secobarbital (SEK-oh-BAR-bit-al; Seconal), secobarbital with amobarbital (Tuinal), thiopental (THY-oh-PENN-tal; Pentothal).

Also Known As: Barbs, downers, and sleeping pills (general names). Certain barbiturates have their own street names, often based on the color of the pill: blues or blue dolls for Amytal; purple hearts for Luminal; rainbows for Tuinal; reds, red birds, or red devils for Seconal; yellows or yellow jackets for Nembutal.

Drug Classifications: Schedule II, III, IV; depressant

Following Baeyer's discovery, two German researchers, Dr. Joseph von Mering (1849–1908) and Nobel prizewinner Emil Hermann Fischer (1852–1919), produced barbital, the first barbiturate. Barbiturates are compounds derived from barbituric acid. Doctors recognizedbarbital'ssleep-enhancingeffectsasfar back as 1882. More than twenty years later, in 1903, barbital was marketed as a sleeping pill under the brand name Veronal. The second barbiturate, phenobarbital, arrived on the scene in 1912 under the name Luminal. Since then, several thousand barbituric acid-type drugs have been synthesized. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, only about twelve were still being used.

Barbiturates were found to reduce the activity of nerves that control emotions and bodily functions such as breathing. Because of the drugs' soothing effects, they were commonly prescribed as sedatives for nearly fifty years. Other uses include epilepsy treatment and anesthesia before surgery.

Intoxicating Effects Lead to Abuse

During the 1930s, many Americans received barbiturate prescriptions to help them sleep or relax. Barbiturates quickly gained a reputation as an intoxicant, a substance that makes users seem drunk. People began taking barbiturates as recreational drugs. They also began the dangerous practice of combining the pills with alcohol to increase the intoxication.

The 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act gave authority over drug production to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The federal agency used those powers to restrict access to drugs that had a potential for abuse or misuse. The use of barbiturates without a medical doctor's prescription became illegal in the United States. But that didn't keep the drugs from becoming more and more popular throughout the 1940s.

At that time, researchers in the United States and the United Kingdom began noticing a disturbing trend. Over the years, the production of barbiturates had grown from thousands to millions of doses per year. Higher rates of barbiturate production and consumption seemed to coincide with a growing number of deaths from barbiturate poisoning. As late as 1964, Joel Fort, author of "The Problem of Barbiturates in the United States of America," argued against the wide availability of barbiturates. "Despite conclusive evidence to the contrary," he wrote, "many physicians in the United States appear to think and act as though barbiturates are completely harmless drugs that can be prescribed in unlimited quantities." His report was prepared for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Downers and Uppers

The pairing of barbiturates with amphetamines became a significant problem throughout the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. It all began when record numbers of people started taking barbiturates to help them sleep at night. To counteract the grogginess and lack of energy they suffered the next morning, users would take amphetamines to help them wake up. Amphetamines are stimulants or "uppers." At night, users still "up" from an amphetamine high would take "downers," or barbiturates, to rid themselves of their extra energy and get to sleep. The next day the drug-taking cycle would start again. The regular use of barbiturates with amphetamines was so widespread by the 1950s that the U.S. government classified them as the most abused drugs in the country.

New Generation, New Drugs

During the 1960s, a new generation of young people began experimenting with a wide variety of mind-altering substances. Barbiturates were among the drugs abused by these new users, mainly because the pills were widely available and frequently used by the generation that came before them—their parents. According to the 1972 Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs, 10 billion barbiturate doses were scheduled for production in 1969 alone. That figure represented an 800-percent increase in the amount produced twentyseven years earlier in 1942.

Prescription Abuse

In 1948, the Supreme Court of the United States gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permission to investigate pharmacies' records of barbiturate prescriptions. The results showed a shocking pattern of abuse. In one case a single prescription for barbiturates was refilled sixty-one times. The last three of those refills were approved after the patient had already died from a barbiturate overdose. In another incident, more than 180,000 barbiturates simply disappeared from a Tennessee drug store. Records indicated that drug manufacturers had sent the pills to the store, but the staff at the store was unable to explain where they went.

Soon after these discoveries were made public, pharmacies began complying with laws regarding the sale and refill of prescription barbiturates. Illegal transactions made by pharmacists, drug store owners, and drug store employees dropped dramatically. This led to the growth of a black market—a market in which barbiturates are supplied and sold illegally—beginning in the 1960s.

Passage of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in 1970 restricted access to barbiturates in the United States. Another category of anti-anxiety drugs, the benzodiazepines (pronounced ben-zoh-die-AZ-uh-peenz), were promoted as a safer alternative to

Drugs and Fame

"Until recently," wrote Paul M. Gahlinger in Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use, and Abuse, "about 3,000 people a year died from barbiturates, about half of them suicides." Film star and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose on August 5, 1962, after taking nearly fifty Nembutal tablets. The popular blonde had appeared in such films as Some Like It Hot, How to Marry a Millionaire, Bus Stop, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Her death was controversial as it was deemed a suicide. But many of her fans insisted that she would never take her own life.

Other celebrity deaths can be attributed to barbiturate use as well. Electric guitarist Jimi Hendrix died of suffocation brought on by a barbiturate overdose on September 18, 1970. Hendrix thrilled audiences with his performance at Woodstock in 1969. Among his popular songs were "Purple Haze," "All Along the Watchtower," and an electrifying guitar rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner."

Barbiturates may have played a role in the death of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock 'n' Roll, as well. He died on August 16, 1977, of a drug overdose. A mixture of methaqualone, morphine, codeine, and several barbiturates were found in his system at the time of his death. (Entries on

each of these drugs are available in this encyclopedia.) Remembered for his many movies, he recorded such hits as "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "Love Me Tender," "Don't Be Cruel," and "Return to Sender." Each year, thousands of people visit his former home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee.

barbiturates. Prescriptions for benzodiazepines rose because health providers considered them less addictive than barbiturates, with a lower risk of accidental overdose among users. As barbiturates became harder to obtain, drug abusers turned to other illegal substances during the 1970s and 1980s. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports indicate that the use of marijuana, heroin, and cocaine began to rise after 1970.

What Is It Made Of?

Barbiturates are compounds derived from barbituric acid, a substance made from carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. The uric acid portion of the name is taken from the main ingredient in urine, which provides the basis for barbituric acid.

Barbiturate users often refer to the pills they take in terms of the color of the capsule. These street names include blues or blue dolls for Amytal; reds, red birds, or red devils for Seconal; yellows or yellow jackets for Nembutal; purple hearts for Luminal; and rainbows for Tuinal.

How Is It Taken?

In the United States, barbiturates are manufactured in various forms. Most barbiturates come in pills and capsules that patients swallow. Some are available as liquids that are swallowed. Others are produced in injectable forms. Some abusers have been known to mix up their own injectable liquid barbiturates by crushing pills and combining the powdered drug with water.

Drugs made from barbituric acid are classified in one of four categories: ultrashort-, short-, intermediate-, or long-acting. These categories are defined by the amount of time that it takes for the barbiturate to produce effects in the user and how long those effects last.

DEA reports indicate that drug abusers favor short- and intermediate-acting barbiturates. These types of barbiturates take effect within fifteen to forty minutes of being swallowed, and their depressant effects last from five to six hours. Drugs in this category include amobarbital, aprobarbital, butabarbital, pentobarbital, and secobarbital.

Are There Any Medical Reasons for Taking This Substance?

For many years, barbiturates were used as daytime sedatives. Since the discovery of another type of anti-anxiety drug called benzodiazepine, which is considered safer, barbiturates are not prescribed for this purpose as frequently as they once were.

When combined with an aspirin or nonaspirin pain reliever and caffeine, the barbiturate butalbital is effective in treating severe pain. It is sometimes prescribed to relieve the pain associated with migraine headaches.

As of 2005, barbiturates were used primarily for presurgical and surgical anesthesia. They were being administered to patients in operating rooms under an anesthetist's care. They also continued to be used in the treatment of certain types of epilepsy.

Usage Trends

Reactions to barbiturates range from mild sedation to coma and even death. Doctors may prescribe barbiturates as sedatives to calm patients' nerves, reduce tension, or help them sleep. The drugs are also used as an anticonvulsant to control epileptic seizures. The sleep-producing action of barbiturates is used to relax and partially anesthetize patients before some surgical procedures.

At the close of the twentieth century, the DEA reported that barbiturates represented about 20 percent of all depressant prescriptions in the United States.

The "Death with Dignity" Debate

The use of barbiturates in assisted suicides in Oregon has fueled a storm of controversy throughout the United States. In 1997 Oregon became the only state in the nation to permit assisted suicide. Oregon voters approved the Death with Dignity Act, allowing doctors to prescribe lethal doses of barbiturates, most often secobarbital, to terminally ill people.

The terms of the act defined terminally ill people as those individuals estimated to have fewer than six months to live. That diagnosis had to be verified by two physicians, who would also determine whether the terminally ill person was competent to make such a decision. "During the six years since the Oregon law took effect," wrote Jim Barnett in a 2004 article for the

Oregonian, "171 Oregonians have died by doctorassisted suicide."

The administration of President George W. Bush has fought against the Death with Dignity Act since 2001. Opponents of the assisted suicide law argue that the state of Oregon is breaking federal laws that govern the use of controlled substances. However, supporters of the Death with Dignity law believe that it represents the will of the people—the voters of Oregon. They contend that the act treats the terminally ill with compassion and dignity by allowing them the right to end their lives humanely. As of mid-2005, the U.S. Supreme Court had not ruled on the issue of assisted suicide in Oregon.

Barbiturate Use Down Since the Mid-1980s, Says SAMHSA

Recent surveys of illicit drug abuse showed a sharp decline in barbiturate abuse since the mid-1980s. The National Survey on Drug

Use and Health (NSDUH), formerly known as the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, is a carefully calculated assessment of American drug use. It is conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and obtains information on nine different categories of illicit drug use. As of 2005, the latest results available were from the 2003 survey. All of the respondents to the survey were over the age of twelve. They were asked to report "only uses of drugs that were not prescribed for them or drugs they took only for the experience or feeling they caused." Over-the-counter drugs and legitimate uses of prescription drugs were not included.

According to the 2003 NSDUH summary, prescription-type sedatives were placed in a category called "psychotherapeutic drugs." This category also included tranquilizers, pain relievers, and stimulants. About 300,000 Americans over the age of twelve reported using sedatives without a prescription. The authors of the survey noted that "the number of first-time sedative users rose steadily during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and then declined during the early 1980s, remaining below 250,000 per year since 1984." The 2003 estimates were all similar to the corresponding estimates for 2002.

Monitoring the Future Results

The results of the 2004 Monitoring the Future (MTF) study were released to the public on December 21, 2004. Conducted by the University of Michigan (U of M), it was sponsored by research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Like the NSDUH results regarding sedative use from 2002 and 2003, the MTF survey results indicate that barbiturate use among twelfth-grade students held steady between 2003 and 2004.

Effects on the Body

Barbiturates are classified as ultrashort-, short-, intermediate-, and long-acting, depending on how quickly they act and how long their effects last. Ultrashort barbiturates such as thiopental (Pentothal) produce unconsciousness within about a minute of intravenous (iv) injection. These drugs are used to prepare patients for surgery; other general anesthetics like nitrous oxide are then used to keep the patient from waking up before the surgery is complete. Because Pentothal and other ultrashort-acting barbiturates are typically used in hospital settings, they are not very likely to be abused, noted the DEA.

Abusers tend to prefer short-acting and intermediate-acting barbiturates. The most commonly abused are amobarbital (Amytal), pentobarbital (Nembutal), and secobarbital (Seconal). A combination of amobarbital and secobarbital (called Tuinal) is also highly abused. Short-acting and intermediate-acting barbiturates are usually prescribed as sedatives and sleeping pills. These pills begin acting fifteen to forty minutes after they are swallowed, and their effects last from five to six hours. Veterinarians use pentobarbital to anesthetize animals before surgery; in large doses, it can be used to euthanize animals.

Long-acting barbiturates such as phenobarbital (Luminal) and mephobarbital (Mebaral) are prescribed for two main reasons. When taken at bedtime, they help treat insomnia. When taken during the day, they have sedative effects that can aid in the treatment of tension and anxiety. These same effects have been found helpful in the treatment of convulsive conditions like epilepsy. Long-acting barbiturates take effect within one to two hours and last twelve hours or longer.

Similar to Alcohol

recreational users report that a barbiturate high makes them feel "relaxed, sociable, and good-humored," according to an Independent article. Users typically describe feelings of decreased anxiety, a loss of inhibitions, and an increased sense of confidence. Physical effects include slowed breathing and a lowering of both blood pressure and heart rate.

Like alcohol, barbiturates are intoxicating. During the stage after mild intoxication, the user's speech may be slurred and a loss of coordination may become noticeable. Stumbling and staggering are common. Other symptoms include shallow breathing, fatigue, frequent yawning, and irritability.

When taken in high doses, barbiturates can cause serious side effects, including "unpredictable emotional reactions and mental confusion," noted the Independent. Judgment becomes severely impaired and the user may experience mood swings.

The mental effects of barbiturates generally depend on the amount of the drug taken and the strength of the dosage. Generally, a person falls asleep when taking a prescribed dosage at bedtime. But barbiturates remain in the system for a long time. "At normal doses," explained Cynthia Kuhn and her coauthors in Buzzed: The Straight Facts about the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy, "the major concern is that they can have sedative effects that outlast their sleep-inducing properties…. Driving, flying an airplane, or other activities requiring muscle coordination can be impaired for up to a day after a single dose." Some barbiturates can be detected in a user's urine sample days or even weeks after the drug was consumed.

Truth Serum

Thiopental is a barbiturate that is marketed under the name Sodium Pentothal, but it is probably best known as "truth serum." When dissolved in water, it can be swallowed or administered by intravenous injection. In large doses, it is one of three drugs used in the United States to execute prisoners on death row. In lower doses, it is sometimes used as a truth serum.

Drug experts claim that truth serum does not force people to tell the truth. It merely decreases their inhibitions, making them more likely to be "caught off guard" when questioned by authorities. People being questioned may slip up and expose a lie or give more information on a subject or event than they intended.

Dependence, Tolerance, and Overdose

Barbiturate use can lead to both psychological and physical dependence. Psychological addiction can occur quickly. Signs of drug dependence include relying on a drug regularly for a desired effect. The addicted abuser believes he or she must take a barbiturate to sleep, relax, or just get through the day. Continued use of barbiturates leads to physical dependence.

As people develop a tolerance for barbiturates, they may need more of the drug or a higher dosage to get the desired effect. This can lead to an overdose, which results when a person takes a larger-than-prescribed dose of a drug. "People who get in the habit of taking sleeping pills every night to fall sleep," noted Andrew Weil and Winifred Rosen in From Chocolate to Morphine, "might start out with one a night, progress to two, then graduate to four to get the same effect. One night the dose they need to fall asleep might also be the dose that stops their breathing." Generally, barbiturate overdoses "occur because the effective dose of the drug is not too far away from the lethal dose," explained Dr. Eric H. Chudler on the Neuroscience for Kids Web site.

Symptoms of an overdose typically include severe weakness, confusion, shortness of breath, extreme drowsiness, an unusually slow heartbeat, and darting eye movements. The amount of a fatal dosage of barbiturate varies from one individual to another. However, the lethal dose is usually ten to fifteen times as large as a usual dose. An overdose affects the heart and the respiratory system. The user then falls into a coma and dies.

Clayton pointed out that barbiturates "can have a 'multiplying' effect when taken with other depressants. For example, if someone drinks alcohol and takes a barbiturate, the effect may be ten times stronger than either one taken separately." According to Weil, "many people have died because they were ignorant of this fact."

Older adults and pregnant women should consider the risks associated with barbiturate use. When a person ages, the body becomes less able to rid itself of barbiturates. As a result, people over the age of sixty-five are at higher risk of experiencing the harmful effects of barbiturates, including drug dependence and accidental overdose. When barbiturates are taken during pregnancy, the drug passes through the mother's bloodstream to her fetus. After the baby is born, it may experience withdrawal symptoms and have trouble breathing. In addition, nursing mothers who take barbiturates may transmit the drug to their babies through breast milk.

Reactions with Other Drugs or Substances

People who abuse inhalants run a very high risk of overdose if they consume barbiturates while on an inhalant high. opiates are also especially dangerous when combined with barbiturates. Barbiturates should not be mixed with alcohol or other drugs, including tranquilizers, muscle relaxants, antihistamines, cold medicines, allergy medicines, and certain pain relievers. The use of barbiturates by people suffering from depression may pose an increased risk of suicide. Children or adults diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (adhd) may experience increased excitability rather than a calming effect when given barbiturates. In addition, these drugs may lower the effectiveness of birth control pills that contain estrogen. Unless they use a barrier-type form of birth control, women taking oral contraceptives may become pregnant while taking barbiturates.

Treatment for Habitual Users

When addicted users stop taking barbiturates, their bodies must adapt to the lack of drugs in their systems. This process is known as withdrawal. If the users have taken barbiturates in large doses or for an extended period of time, a physician should be consulted about the withdrawal process. An attempt to withdraw abruptly from barbiturates can be fatal.

Withdrawal symptoms usually begin eight to sixteen hours after the last pill was taken. Symptoms in users with a long history of barbiturate use may last up to fifteen days, but the severity of the symptoms decreases as the body rids itself of the drug. During withdrawal, users feel anxious, weak, dizzy, and nauseated. They may also experience shakes, tremors, and even seizures. In addition, users could possibly have hallucinations and become violent or hostile.

Dream Time

Barbiturates bring on sleep in people who take them. This slumber, however, differs from normal sleep. Barbiturate use decreases the amount of dream time during sleep known as the rapid eye movement (REM) stage. This phase of sleep is necessary for maintaining good health.

In some cases, withdrawal symptoms can be deadly. A physician must establish a plan of gradual withdrawal from this type of drug, usually decreasing the dosage by about 10 percent each day over a ten-day to two-week period. The withdrawal process may occur in a hospital, or treatment may be given on an outpatient basis. Either way, counseling is vital. Users who are treated successfully for their physical addiction must follow through with psychological rehabilitation. Behavioral treatment helps former users avoid barbiturates so

they can remain drug free even when faced with cravings. Long-term support can be found in twelve-step programs and other support groups that meet regularly.

Consequences

Barbiturates are used to treat anxiety, sleeplessness, muscular tension, and pain. Their calming effect has a serious downside, though. Barbiturates lessen the brain's control over breathing. Respiratory failure is the primary cause of death in cases of barbiturate overdose. Gahlinger pointed out that "since barbiturates reduce the amount of oxygen reaching the brain, the overdosing person who survives may be left with permanent brain damage."

Barbiturate users can develop a tolerance for the drug. As the body becomes used to the presence of barbiturates in the system, the prescribed dose of the drug may lose its effectiveness. Habitual users may find themselves taking more and more pills in stronger and stronger dosages to achieve the effect they once attained on a low dosage of the drug. This cycle often leads to accidental overdose.

Prolonged barbiturate use can shorten a person's attention span and result in memory loss. Both conditions would make it difficult for a person to do well in school or perform on a job. In addition, barbiturates affect the judgment of those who use them, increasing the likelihood of risky behavior. Users of barbiturates are sometimes tempted to drive while drunk because they know that police will not smell alcohol on their breath.

Taking barbiturates to ease depression "is probably the riskiest way of using them," cautioned Weil. Although these drugs may improve the user's mood temporarily, "over time they often increase anxiety and depression, encouraging further drug-taking in a downward spiral that can end in suicide."

The Law

When barbiturates first became available in the United States, they could be purchased without a prescription. It did not take long, however, for lawmakers to realize that barbiturates were addictive. On their own, some state governments adopted laws in the mid-1930s that banned the sale of nonprescription barbiturates. In 1938, the U.S. government stepped in, passing the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act. This act gave the FDA regulatory power over new drugs, including barbiturates. This means that drug companies would have to apply to the FDA for approval to manufacture such drugs. Once approved, the FDA would determine whether a new drug would require a medical doctor's prescription.

For more than thirty years, until the passage of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970, barbiturates were still widely abused. Under the stiffer terms of the CSA, barbiturates became controlled substances. In other words, their use is regulated by certain federal laws. The CSA called for the assignment of all controlled drug substances into one of five categories called schedules. These schedules are based on a substance's medicinal value, possible harmfulness, and potential for abuse and addiction. Schedule I is reserved for the most dangerous drugs that have no recognized medical use.

Various barbiturates fall into three different schedules: Schedule II, Schedule III, and Schedule IV. Drugs in all of these categories cannot be obtained legally without a medical doctor's prescription. Schedule II drugs are dangerous substances with genuine medical uses that also have a high potential for abuse and addiction. They are accepted for medical use with restrictions. These drugs may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence. Barbiturates in this category include amobarbital (Amytal), pentobarbital (Nembutal), and secobarbital (Seconal and Tuinal).

Schedule III drugs have less of a potential for abuse than drugs placed in Schedules I and II. The drugs have real medical uses, but their abuse can still lead to psychological addiction or psychological dependence in those who take them. Barbiturates in this category include aprobarbital (Alurate), butabarbital (Butisol), and butalbital (Fiorinal and Fioricet).

Schedule IV drugs have a low abuse potential when compared to Schedule III drugs. These substances have an accepted medical use, but some patients risk developing a psychological dependence on them. Schedule IV barbiturates include barbital (Veronal), mephobarbital (Mebaral), and phenobarbital (Luminal).

Fines and Jail Time

Possessing barbiturates without a prescription is against the law and can result in up to a year's imprisonment and/or thousands of dollars in fines. The length of the jail sentence and the amount of the fine are increased when a person is convicted of a second or third offense of barbiturate possession. People convicted of distributing or selling barbiturates face lengthy prison terms and fines in the millions of dollars. Selling drugs is a dangerous business for both the buyer and the seller. Illegally distributed Schedule II drugs can kill or seriously injure a user. In cases such as these, the distributor or seller of the substance is considered partially responsible for the user's death and could end up with a lifetime jail sentence.

In the United Kingdom, drugs are regulated by the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act and the 1986 Medicines Act. The 1971 act placed drugs in three classes: A, B, or C. The most dangerous drugs are called Class A drugs; the least dangerous drugs are in the C category.

Most barbiturates are considered Class B drugs throughout the United Kingdom. If they are used in an injectable form, however, they jump to a Class A rating. The maximum penalty for possession of a Class B drug under UK law is five years of prison, an unlimited fine, or a combination of jail time and a fine. Penalties for supplying or distributing Class B drugs are higher. For Class A drugs, the penalty for possession is seven years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both. The supply penalty for this class could land a seller in jail for life.

For More Information

Books

Brecher, Edward M., and others. The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs. Boston: Little Brown & Co., 1972.

Clayton, Lawrence. Barbiturates and Other Depressants. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 1994.

Escohotado, Antonio. A Brief History of Drugs: From the Stone Age to the Stoned Age. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press, 1999.

Gahlinger, Paul M. Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use, and Abuse. Las Vegas, NV: Sagebrush Press, 2001.

Hughes, Richard, and Robert Brewin. The Tranquilizing of America. New York: Harcourt, 1979.

Hyde, Margaret O., and John F. Setaro. Drugs 101: An Overview for Teens. Brookfield, CT: Twenty-first Century Books, 2003.

Kuhn, Cynthia, Scott Swartzwelder, Wilkie Wilson, and others. Buzzed: The Straight Facts about the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy, 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.

Schull, Patricia Dwyer. Nursing Spectrum Drug Handbook. King of Prussia, PA: Nursing Spectrum, 2005.

Silverman, Harold M. The Pill Book, 11th ed. New York: Bantam, 2004.

Weil, Andrew, and Winifred Rosen. From Chocolate to Morphine. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1993, rev. 2004.

Wolfe, Sidney. Worst Pills, Best Pills. New York: Pocket Books, 1999.

Periodicals

Barnett, Jim. "Feds Push Challenge to Assisted Suicide Law." Oregonian (November 10, 2004).

Johnson, Kevin, and Richard Willing. "Ex-CIA Chief Revitalizes 'Truth Serum' Debate." USA Today (April 26, 2002).

Schodolski, Vincent J. "U.S. Seeks to Bury Oregon Suicide Law." Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service (November 27, 2004): p. K6995.

"Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll." Independent (January 28, 1996): p. 8.

Weathermon, Ron, and David W. Crabb. "Alcohol and Medication Inter-actions." Alcohol Research & Health, vol. 23, no. 1 (1999): pp. 40-54.

Web Sites

"2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)." U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nhsda.htm (accessed June 30, 2005).

"Barbiturates." Neuroscience for Kids.http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/barb.html and http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html (both accessed June 30, 2005).

"Barbiturates." U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration.http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/barbiturates.html (accessed June 30, 2005).

Fort, Joel. "The Problem of Barbiturates in the United States of America." United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.http://www.unodc.org/unodc/bulletin/bulletin_1964-01-01_1_page004.html (accessed June 30, 2005).

Glatt, M. M. "The Abuse of Barbiturates in the United Kingdom." United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.http://www.unodc.org/unodc/bulletin/bulletin_1962-01-01_2_page004.html (accessed June 30, 2005).

Monitoring the Future.http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/ and http://www.nida.nih.gov/Newsroom/04/2004MTFDrug.pdf (both accessed June 30, 2005).

"Prescription Drugs: Abuse and Addiction." National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Research Report Series.http://www.drugabuse.gov/ResearchReports/Prescription/ (accessed June 30, 2005).

See also: Alcohol; Benzodiazepine; Tranquilizers