he market in 1960. The original purpose of this depressant is to set people "free" from anxiety. In following years, similar drugs were released and were used by doctors for the same purpose, such as benzodiazepines. Later, with so many tranquilizers accessible, they reached the street illegally and became commonly taken with other substances, especially with alcohol, to increase its effects or to have multiplier effects. Cocaine or heroin abusers also used benzodiazepines and other depressants to increase their rushes of euphoria or alter the side affects related to over-stimulation or narcotic withdrawal. In the early 1960's, it was estimated that 9,000 million tranquilizer pills were sold and/or used!
             illegally, and in 1988, they were finally controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act.
             Barbiturates (see picture 2) are obtained from barbituric acid (C4H4N2O3), which is a combination of urea and malonic acid. They are classified as ultra short, short, intermediate, and long-acting barbiturates. The ultra short-acting barbiturates that are currently for medial use are methohexital, thiamylal, and thiopental. Short and intermediate-acting barbiturates are preferred by barbiturate abusers, which are pentobarbital, secobarbital, and amobarbital; and long-acting barbiturates involve Phenobarbital and mephobarbital. Sedatives, often referred to as sedative-hypnotic drugs, are either made up of chlordiazepoxide hydrochloride, bromide salt, or chloral hydrate. And the last category of depressants, tranquilizers, is made up of chemicals such as diazepam, estazolam, halazepam, oxazepam, midazolam, and clonazepam.
             Different kinds of barbiturates have different medical uses. Ultra short-acting barbiturates are used to induce rapid anesthesia, which last about one minute after intravenous administration. As mentioned before, short and intermediate-acting barbiturates are mostly preferred by abusers, but medically, they are used for induc...