Sedative

Solinol hyposprays, used as a tranquilizer.

A blowgun delivering a dart.

A sedative or tranquilizer is a name given to a type of drug which is effective as a depressant to the central nervous system, temporarily decreasing alertness and awakeness in a patient. At the furthest extreme, anesthesia sedatives induce a state of complete unconsciousness, often used in medical procedures and surgery.

Specifics

Sedatives are available in light, medium, or heavy forms. Examples available in the Federation include diphenylmethane (used as an anti-anxiety drug), melanex (which knocks out a patient for five minutes), and Melanex B (a heavy sedative). In the Romulan Star Empire, diaptrimone is used as a heavy sedative. A stasis sedative can be used to keep a patient stable during transit to a medical facility. Generically, a light sedative can be effective for two hours, medium sedative for four hours, and heavy sedative for six hours.

The effects of central nervous system depressants are reversed once the drug is removed. (ST reference: Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual)

A mild sedative can be used to calm a patient without inducing sleep. The USS Enterprise had a tranquilizer in the 2260s decade that was non-enervating and non-narcotic that was used as a relaxant. A mild sedative could block Betazoid psychic transfers.

Tranquilizers installed in dart cartridges and fired from a pistol were used by animal handlers or during a traditional animal hunt as well as on worlds without phasers by local police . They could also be used in circumstances or locations where a phaser shouldn't be fired or for stealth purposes . Tranquilizer darts such as carried by the Orion criminal Jorva act as a heavy sedative.

Patients can build up a natural resistance to a particular sedative, such that increasing doses were needed to produce similar results. Some neural depressants were addictive. An overdose of some sedatives could cause death.

Origins

Sedatives could be made from herbs. Cavern sponges on Vulcan were the origin of the mild sedative tetramyzol. Beverly Crusher created a mild sedative with hot milk toddy. One sedative derived from a chemical in a mole/worm native to Actonn. Alcohol and firewine acted as depressants.

Medicinal sedatives

• Adozine
• Ambizine
• Anesthetics
  • Anesthizine
  • Hypno-sedative
  • Knock-out powder
  • Morpheum
  • Morpheus-Nine
  • Neurazine
  • Nitrous oxide
  • Sleep of Eternity
  • Verapnerharmon
• Benzodiazepine
• Bajoran root tea
• Damitol
• Diaptrimone
• Diphenylmethane
• Ditrilin
• Duraxalamine
• Improvoline
• Liscom
• Kayolane
• Ke'eloveen
• Melanex
• Melanex B
• Melorazine
• Merfadon
• Morphine
• Omnicaine
• Quadrothorzine
• Reserpine
• Solinol
• Strelamine
• Tetramyzol
• Tetrovaline
• Traxadine
• Triptacederine

Example uses

Gary Seven's servo could emit a tranquilizer beam that yielded a pleasant sleep with no bad side effects for the recipient. (TOS novel: Assignment: Eternity, VOY - Strange New Worlds VI short story: "Seven and Seven")

An ordinary tranquilizer from the 23rd century took effect substantially faster than those of the mid-20th century. (TOS - The New Voyages short story: "Mind-Sifter")

In 2153, Phlox administered a light sedative to help T'Pol sleep when she suffered from Pa'nar Syndrome. (ENT episode: "Bounty") He gave Charles Tucker III sedatives to help him sleep when he had trouble dealing with the death of his sister. (ENT episode: "The Xindi")

In the 2260s, Genetics Research Station 17 carried four hand phaser stunners, designed to reproduce the effects of light, medium, or heavy sedation for laboratory animal use. (FASA RPG - Adventure Book module: Again, Troublesome Tribbles)

In 2267, sedatives calmed patients under the influence of blastoneurons. (FASA RPG module: Star Trek III Sourcebook Update, TOS episode: "Operation -- Annihilate!")

In 2267, administering tranquilizers to the entire USS Enterprise crew prevented Redjac from possessing any of them, forcing him back into Hengist's body. (TOS episode & novelization: Wolf in the Fold)

Leonard McCoy used an atarctic tranquilizer to suppress emotional responses in Ensign Sara George after she was overtaken by a Kyrosian personality while using a telescan cephalic implant. With the medicine, her original personality was able to explain what happened to her. (TOS novel: Spock, Messiah!)

In 2285, McCoy asked Admiral James T. Kirk jokingly if he needed a tranquilizer as they supervised Saavik taking control of the USS Enterprise to pilot her out of spacedock for the first time. (TOS movie & novelization: The Wrath of Khan)

McCoy was treated with tranquilizers at Earth Spacedock in 2286, as medics were unaware he was being affected by the presence of Spock's katra. (TOS movie & novelization: The Search For Spock)

Unusual effects or occurrences

Due to their physiology, a sedative affected Klingons slightly more quickly and for a longer time than Humans. (FASA RPG modules: The Klingons: Game Operation Manual, The Dixie Gambit)

In the 20th century, Ralph Offenhouse shadily sold thalidomide as a mutagenic tranquilizer. (TOS - The Eugenics Wars novel: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 1)

In 2268, McCoy tested a tranquilizer on Montgomery Scott while they were in the Melkotian's recreation of Tombstone, Arizona. When it didn't work at all, defying physical laws, it and other evidence led Spock to conclude they were in a psychic illusion. (TOS episode: "Spectre of the Gun", TOS novelization: The Last Gunfight)

In 2270, a very long-lasting sedative was fashioned into an anesthetizing gas to render the Enterprise crew, and later the population of planet Vulcan, unconscious long enough to prevent invading entities from feeding off of the terror they produced, disabling them without killing their host bodies. (TOS novel: Demons)

In 2274, Doctor Tath treated an injured Christine Chapel in the hospital at Isoth Fortress on Sarsithia. General Onoth secretly asked to stall recovery, so when McCoy administered a potential antidote, Tath injected her with a mild sedative to slow the serum's effects. However, it had the opposite effect. The sedative reacted with the antidote to create a powerful stimulant, giving her amnesia, paranoia, and making her prone to violence. (TOS comic: "Quarantine")

At the Muldor IV garrison in the late 23rd century, prisoners were usually kept tranquilized on to keep them docile. (FASA RPG module: Termination: 1456)

Appendices

References

• TOS episode & novelization: The Enemy Within
• TOS episode & novelization: The Doomsday Machine
• TOS episode: "Turnabout Intruder"
• TOS novel: Perry's Planet
• DS9 episode: "The Adversary"
• DS9 episode: "The Darkness and the Light"
• VOY episode: "Coda"
• VOY episode: "Scorpion"
• VOY episode: "Body and Soul"
• ENT episode: "Bounty"
• ENT episode: "In a Mirror, Darkly"
• ENT episode: "These Are the Voyages..."
• TNG novel: The Children of Hamlin
• TNG novel: Grounded
• Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of D'era: The Romulan Star Empire mission: "The Gentara Incident"
• Adventures RPG module: Hard Rock Catastrophe

External links

• Sedative article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
• Sedative article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.