Drugs vocabulary
Inaccurate terminology when dealing with drugs

To claim that the drugs kills is as foolish as it is to say that water drowns or that drugs illuminate "1)
One of the main problems of the drug issue is the inadequate and arbitrary use of terminology, demonstrating the widespread ignorance that exists in the field.
In contemporary culture there is a habit of talking about "hallucinogens" referring to all psychoactive plants. In fact, most of the compounds classified as drugs or declared illegal are not hallucinogenic.
The expression "narcotics" is also frequently used. Contradictorily, the word applies to many substances whose effect is precisely the opposite, as is the case with cocaine, which as is known is a central nervous system and narcotic stimulant has nothing. Derived words, such as “narco” or “drug traffickers” referring to traffickers or the commercialization of cocaine, are equally inappropriate.
Another commonly used term, of rather imprecise meaning, is "narcotic" (substances that produce stupor). The word "stupor" has two main senses: a) amazement and b) numbness, numbness. From that point of view it can be said that there are numerous drugs that produce “stupor” in either of the two senses, most of which can be used legally.
The expression "drug" itself is also very general and inadequate to designate illegal compounds. In botanical pharmacology, the part of the plant that is used is simply called a drug10. In a generic sense, a drug is used as a synonym for “drug,” a substance with biological effects on the body whose characteristics and intensity vary with doses. In the first case it could also be called "medicine" and in the second case "poison." In fact, no substance is medicine or poison, only the doses are.
As for the quality of “addictive” attributed to certain prohibited substances, it is totally inappropriate. Many of the illicit "drugs" are not addictive, while there are a large number of legal products that produce strong addictions.
In short, the vocabulary of prohibitionism is systematically imprecise and contradictory. The only reasons that determine the designation of a substance as an illicit drug are historical-cultural and refer to irrational qualifications promoted by dogmatic sectors beyond all scientific logic.
In fact, to be able to refer to the subject in an objective way, it is necessary to take into account the relativity of the uses and effects of the various psychoactive substances. Only in this way will the conceptual precision necessary to approach the issue in a dialogical and reasonable manner be achieved.
Reproduced from "Peoples, Drugs and Snakes", D. Antón, Piriguazú Ediciones
1) Phrase of Fericgla, J.M .; in "The Arduous Terminology Problem"