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| Miscellaneous
Barbiturates |
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| Synonyms for
Barbiturates in General: Sleeping Pills |
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| Street Names for
Barbiturates in General:
Barbs, Downers |
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| Synonyms, Drug
Classes, Trade
Names, and Street Names for Individual Barbiturates: See table below. |
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| Description:
The barbiturates are central
nervous system (CNS) depressants derived from barbituric acid.
They were once commonly prescribed for
the treatment of anxiety and insomnia and are often referred to
as "sleeping pills". Barbiturates are commonly divided
into groups based on the onset and duration of their action. The intermediate and short-acting
barbiturates are the categories most commonly abused, most notably Seconal
(secobarbital) and Tuinal (secobarbital with amobarbital).
Long-acting barbiturates have an onset of action of 30 to 60 minutes
and a duration of action of 6 to 8 hours. Examples of long-acting
barbiturates are phenobarbital and barbital. Their slow onset of
action discourages their abuse. The
intermediate-acting barbiturates have an onset of action of 15 to 30
minutes and a duration of action of 4 to 6 hours. Examples of
intermediate-acting barbiturates are amobarbital, butabarbital, and
Tuinal. The short-acting barbiturates have an
onset of action of 10 to 15 minutes and have a duration of action of
2 to 4 hours. Examples of short-acting barbiturates are secobarbital
and pentobarbital. The ultra-short-acting barbiturates have an onset
of action of 0 to 45 seconds and a duration of action 15 minutes to
3 hours. These are barbiturates used as anesthetics. Their effects
are generally felt within one minute of intravenous administration.
Examples of ultra short-acting barbiturates are thiopenthal sodium,
hexobarbital, and methohexital. The rapid
onset and brief duration of action practically precludes the use of
ultra-short-acting barbiturates in the street environment. Concern
about the addiction potential of barbiturates and the
ever-increasing numbers of fatalities associated with them led to
the development of alternative medications. With the discovery of a
safer alternative, the benzodiazepines, the medicinal use of
barbiturates for treating anxiety and insomnia has been greatly
reduced since the 1970's. Nevertheless, phenobarbital is still
widely used as an anticonvulsant to control epilepsy and other
barbiturates are used to induce and maintain surgical anesthesia and occasionally
to treat depression. |
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| Excretion:
Excretion patterns
differ greatly among the barbiturates. In general, short-acting barbiturates are excreted in the urine as
metabolites, while long-acting barbiturates primarily appear
unchanged. |
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| Note:
Below list is not all-inclusive. Some trade names may no
longer be in production. |
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Barbiturate
Examples |
Synonyms |
Drug
Class |
Trade
Names |
Street
Names |
| Allobarbital |
|
CNS
Depressant,
Sedative-hypnotic |
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| Alphenal |
Phenallymal |
CNS
Depressant,
Sedative-hypnotic |
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| Amobarbital |
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Anticonvulsant,
CNS Depressant,
Sedative-hypnotic |
Amytal,
Tuinal
(Secobarbital with
Amobarbital) |
Blue
Heavens,
Christmas
Trees
(Tuinal), Rainbows
(Tuinal), Tooies (Tuinal) |
| Aprobarbital |
|
CNS
Depressant,
Sedative-hypnotic |
Alurate |
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| Barbital |
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CNS
Depressant,
Sedative-hypnotic |
Veronal |
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| Butabarbital |
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CNS
Depressant,
Sedative-hypnotic |
Barbased,
Busodium,
Butalan, Butisol,
Sarisol No. 2 |
Bute,
Stoppers |
| Butalbital |
Allybarbital |
CNS
Depressant,
Sedative-hypnotic |
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| Butethal |
Butobarbital |
CNS
Depressant,
Sedative-hypnotic |
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| Pentobarbital |
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Anticonvulsant,
CNS Depressant,
Sedative-hypnotic |
Ancalixir,
Nembutal,
Nova Rectal,
Novopentobarb |
Nembies,
Yellow Jackets |
| Phenobarbital |
|
Anticonvulsant,
Antihyperbilirubinemic,
CNS Depressant,
Sedative-hypnotic |
Barbita,
Luminal,
Solfoton |
Phennies |
| Secobarbital |
|
Anticonvulsant,
CNS Depressant,
Sedative-hypnotic |
Seconal,
Novosecobarb,
Tuinal
(Secobarbital
with
Amobarbital) |
Christmas
Trees
(Tuinal),
Rainbows
(Tuinal), Red
Birds,
Seggies, Red Devils,
Reds, Tooies (Tuinal) |
| Barbiturates.
HealthCentral. 07 Sept.
2001 http://www.healthcentral.com/mhc/top/001810.cfm>. |
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| Barbiturates
(Systemic). WebMD. 07 Sept.
2001 <http://my.webmd.com/content/article/3185.192>. |
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Beyond the ABC's
Information for Professionals - Tranquilizers and Sleeping Pills.
Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission. 07 Sept.
2001 <http://www.nadc.gov.ab.ca/aadac/addictions/beyond/beyond_tranquillizers_
sleepingpills.htm>. |
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| Criminal Justice
Home Page. Lincoln Land Community College. 07 Sept.
2001 <http://www.llcc.cc.il.us/justice/drugs/drugsclass.html>. |
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| Drug Information
- Barbiturates. The Centre for Recovery. 07 Sept.
2001 <http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/gjl37/druginfo/barbs.html>. |
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| Drug Photos from
the IPRC Website. Indiana Prevention Resource Center.
07 Sept. 2001 <http://www.drugs.indiana.edu/prevention/iprcpics.html>. |
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