Barbiturates are drugs that act as central nervous system depressants, and, by virtue of this, they produce a wide spectrum of effects, from mild sedation to total anesthesia. They are also effective as anxiolytics, as hypnotics, and as anticonvulsants. They have addiction potential, both physical and psychological.
Barbiturates have now largely been replaced by benzodiazepines in routine medical practice - for example, in the treatment of anxiety and insomnia – mainly because benzodiazepines are significantly less dangerous in overdose. However, barbiturates are still used in general anesthesia, as well as for epilepsy. Barbiturates are derivatives of barbituric acid.
Barbiturates like pentobarbital and phenobarbital were long used as anxiolytics and hypnotics. Today, benzodiazepines have largely supplanted them for these purposes, because benzodiazepines have less potential for lethal overdoses.
Barbiturates are classified as ultrashort-, short-, intermediate-, and long-acting, depending on how quickly they act and how long their effects last. Barbiturates are still widely used in surgical anesthesia, especially to induce anesthesia, though their use during induction of anesthesia has largely been supplanted by propofol. Ultrashort barbiturates such as thiopental (Pentothal) produce unconsciousness within about a minute of intravenous (IV) injection. These drugs are used to prepare patients for surgery; other general anesthetics like sevoflurane or isoflurane are then used to keep the patient from waking up before the surgery is complete. Because thiopental and other ultrashort-acting barbiturates are typically used in hospital settings, they are not very likely to be abused, noted the DEA.
Phenobarbital is used as an anticonvulsant for people suffering from seizure disorders such as febrile seizures, tonic-clonic seizures, status epilepticus, and eclampsia. Long-acting barbiturates take effect within one to two hours and last 12 hours or longer.
Thiopental, an ultra-short acting barbiturate that is marketed under the name Sodium Pentothal, is sometimes used as a "truth serum". When dissolved in water, it can be swallowed or administered by intravenous injection. The drug does not itself force people to tell the truth, but is thought to decrease inhibitions, making subjects more likely to be caught off guard when questioned.
In the 1950s and 1960s, increasing reports began to be published about barbiturate overdoses and dependence problems, which eventually led to the scheduling of barbiturates as controlled drugs.
In 1970, several barbiturates were designated in the United States as controlled substances with the passage of the American Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Pentobarbital, secobarbital and amobarbital were designated schedule II drugs, butabarbital schedule III, and barbital and phenobarbital schedule IV.
In 1971, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances was signed in Vienna. Designed to regulate amphetamines, barbiturates, and other synthetics, the treaty today regulates secobarbital, amobarbital, butalbital, cyclobarbital, and pentobarbital as schedule III, and allobarbital, methylphenobarbital, phenobarbital, and vinylbital as schedule IV scheduled substances.
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