She was hospitalized Aug. 28 after going into cardiac arrest during outpatient surgery for her throat. Dan Steinberg/AP Joan Rivers shows off her diva necklace during arrivals for the 44th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in 2002.
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia. narcotics. n. 1) techinically, drugs which dull the senses. 2) a popular generic term for drugs which cannot be legally possessed, sold, or transported except for medicinal uses for which a physician or dentist's prescription is required.
If they tell you that marijuana, cocaine, and meth are narcotics then count them among the vast legions of totally clueless people on this subject. The word narcotic comes from the Greek word narkos, meaning sleep. Therefore, narcotics are drugs that induce sleep. Specifically, that means the opiates such as heroin, morphine and related drugs. This is the correct meaning, so you should accept no other. Cocaine and meth are not narcotics. They are stimulants, the exact opposite of a narcotic. They cause people to be more awake and more active, not sleepy. Calling them :narcotics makes as much sense as calling coffee a narcotic.