# What's The Most Powerful Narcotic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687 "2002-03-17T03:24:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/1 "2002-03-17T03:24:15Z")
I’m wondering which drugs out there are the most powerful pain-killers, legal or otherwise. Morphine is the strongest drug I’ve seen used for pain (after abdominal surgery); is there anything stronger/more effective? Ideally, I’d like somebody to say, “Well, according to my professors at med school, X is the most potent drug known to science.” I’ve been unable to find anything really good along these lines on the net–maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong places. Let me say that this isn’t a search for medical advice, nor do I want to engage in a “I-like-to-get-stoned-on-this-drug” conversation. This is a serious question and I don’t want to see this thread get locked or deleted or anything. Thanks in advance people! Notice how I avoided making any bad “Straight Dope” puns . . . ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/2 "2002-03-17T05:21:04Z")
Of those narcotics available on prescription, Fentanyl (Sublimaze) is the most potent on a milligram for milligram basis. [Here](http://www-users.med.cornell.edu/~spon/picu/referenc/analges.htm) is a chart comparing equivalent analgesic doses. ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/3 "2002-03-17T05:33:07Z")
Keep in mind that narcotics, like all drugs, affect different people differently. I’m sure morphine, for instance, is a powerful narcotic. It has no such effect on me, however … after I had knee surgery, the nurses kept giving me more and more when it wasn’t working at all, and they might just as well have pumped me full of syrup of ipecac. No pain relief, no happy magic floaty land, just an endless display of my gastro-intestinal system discovering reverse. (My pain reliever of choice is Toradol (aka Ketorolac) but I don’t believe it’s a narcotic) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/4 "2002-03-17T10:49:11Z")
I would imagine that LSD is right up there, the effect can be felt from far smaller dosages than any of the opiate family. ---
**Author:** ![choosybeggar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/5 "2002-03-17T14:09:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by casdave \* > \*\*I would imagine that LSD is right up there, the effect can be felt from far smaller dosages than any of the opiate family. \*\* LSD is potent alright. So potent that you may be hallucinating that it is an opiate. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/6 "2002-03-17T14:26:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragonblink \* > \*\*Keep in mind that narcotics, like all drugs, affect different people differently. I’m sure morphine, for instance, is a powerful narcotic. It has no such effect on me, however … after I had knee surgery, the nurses kept giving me more and more when it wasn’t working at all, and they might just as well have pumped me full of syrup of ipecac. No pain relief, no happy magic floaty land, just an endless display of my gastro-intestinal system discovering reverse. > > (My pain reliever of choice is Toradol (aka Ketorolac) but I don’t believe it’s a narcotic) \*\* Same here. I hope that I don’t ever need a good pain-reliever. I’m sure that the doctors will take awhile believe that morphine just doesn’t work for me. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/7 "2002-03-17T14:49:56Z")
Yesterday, I was watching a show on poisonous fish and snakes of the ocean. They said that pain killers found in the poisons of these fish were many times stronger than morphine. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/8 "2002-03-17T16:01:27Z")
What’s The Most Powerful Narcotic? Love. ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/9 "2002-03-17T18:52:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragonblink \* > \*\*Keep in mind that narcotics, like all drugs, affect different people differently. I’m sure morphine, for instance, is a powerful narcotic. It has no such effect on me, however … after I had knee surgery, the nurses kept giving me more and more when it wasn’t working at all, and they might just as well have pumped me full of syrup of ipecac. No pain relief, no happy magic floaty land, just an endless display of my gastro-intestinal system discovering reverse. > > (My pain reliever of choice is Toradol (aka Ketorolac) but I don’t believe it’s a narcotic) \*\* Hmm, NEVER heard of it having no affect before. Sure it might not reduce the pain, but it will have an effect on your mind. ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/10 "2002-03-17T19:39:06Z")
From the research paper I did, heroin is very high up there. It is more potent than morphine, with a ratio of 2:3 in regards to heroin:morphine doses and effectiveness. The H-bomb works exactly like morphine, and it’s hard to tell the difference between the two. However, because of the two acetyl groups tagged onto the morphine molocule of heroin, it crosses the blood-brain barrier much faster and more effectively, making a sense of euphoria almost instantaneous. It kicks in fully about two minutes after administration. Interesting side note: heroin was first marketed as a replacement to morphine, billed as having no addictive properties. ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/11 "2002-03-17T22:49:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Niobium Knight \* > \*\* > > Hmm, NEVER heard of it having no affect before. Sure it might not reduce the pain, but it will have an effect on your mind. \*\* [mild hijack] It didn’t have any effect on my mind. The only thing making me less than my usual self was the fact that I was in a LOT of pain. If it’d sent me on a happy little trip I wouldn’t’ve minded the pain so much. [/mild hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/12 "2002-03-17T23:12:37Z")
Medically speaking, narcotics mean opiates. The more strongly the opiate molecule binds to the opiate receptor, the more powerful it is. One of the most powerful is Sufenta, binding ten times more strongly than even fentanyl. [http://www.pain.com/onlinepainjournal/pj\_implantds/pj2\_mech\_opiods.cfm](http://www.pain.com/onlinepainjournal/pj_implantds/pj2_mech_opiods.cfm) ---
**Author:** ![Zweistein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/54ee81/32.png) [@Zweistein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zweistein)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/13 "2002-03-17T23:42:03Z")
I would interpret “most powelful” differently. For me, for obvious reasons, it’s nicotine. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Frink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Mr.Frink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Frink)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/14 "2002-03-18T00:53:14Z")
As others have pointed out, the word “narcotic” refers to a specific _type_ of drug. **LSD** and **Nicotine** are not narcotics. However, due to the federal gov’ts overuse of the word, it seems as though the word “narcotic” now represents _any_ drug in the mind of the public. Kind of annoying. But I guess it provides a useful loophole. When I went away to college, my dad told me that he’d cut off my college funding if he found out I used _any narcotic._ As an occassional user of cannabis, I agreed, hoping that I could get away with my smoking…considering that marijuana is not, strictly speaking, a narcotic… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/15 "2002-03-18T02:12:17Z")
Unfortunately, **frinkboy** , that depends on who’s doing the defining. By some medical definitions, any drug which reduces pain and induces sleepiness is a narcotic. Marijuana would qualify by that description. By other definitions, only those drugs which activate the opiate receptors qualify. In legalese, it can be any controlled substance, including pharmaceutical testosterone. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/16 "2002-03-18T02:20:19Z")
Thanks for the comments/info people, especially those of you who provided links. I guess I should have used the word “painkiller” instead of “narcotic,” but fortunately everybody seemed to understanad what I meant. I guess I chose my wording because it’s mostly just narcotics that I’ve seen prescribed for serious pain. Thanks for the straight dope, everybody. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/17 "2002-03-18T02:27:10Z")
Courts define narcotics differently from most doctors to include drugs restricted by law. To avoid confusion, many doctors refer to opiates. Morphine and codiene both come from poppies and are natural opiates. Semi-synthetic opiates are created by chemical processing, e.g. heroin is diacetylmorphine. More processing tends to mean a more potent drug, meaning a smaller amount has the same effect. The four members of the fentanyl family (Lo, Remi, Al and Su) are completely synthetic and more than 80 times more potent than morphine. But this does not mean fentanyl, or sufenta, is necessarily the best painkiller. Furthermore, due to its short half life, the withdrawal effects can be very severe. Not all pains even respond to opiates. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-narcotic/98687/18 "2002-03-18T03:17:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*What’s The Most Powerful Narcotic? > > Love. \*\* Actually, Love is classified as a hallucigen.