narcotic

noun

1. Any substance or drug that reduces pain, induces sleep and may alter mood or behaviour; in some contexts, especially in reference to the opiates-and-opioids class, especially in reference to illegal drugs, and often both.

   “"Real San Juan Colorado," he said. "Excitable people like you are the better for narcotics. Heavens! don't bite it! Cut - and cut with reverence!"”

   “In 2016, the CDC established guidelines for prescribing narcotics for chronic pain.”

   “The State Department has given Ecuador $81 million since 2018 to help the country with its fight against organized crime and narcotics.”

2. Any type of numbing or soothing drug.

   “But, for the unquiet heart and brain, ⁠A use in measured language lies; ⁠The sad mechanic exercise, Like dull narcotics, numbing pain.”

   “Podson grabbed at his tobacco with a fervent, "God! just about saved my life." With a cigarette going he grabbed at the papers, requiring spiritual sustenance as well as a divine narcotic.”

   “Which means that at the moment Raven entered her, a very small hypodermic needle slipped imperceptibly into the engorged frontal vein of his penis, automatically shooting a cocktail of powerful narcotics and depressants into his bloodstream.”

adj

1. Of, or relating to narcotics.
2. Inducing sleep; causing narcosis.

   “The duration of a prescription may give clues into how long a person ends up using a narcotic painkiller, a new study finds.”