Is "hard drug" a technical term in that it has a functional definition?!

When people say hard drugs I think of heroin and cocaine. Soft drugs I think of as alcohol and pot. But is the distinction meaningful. If you measure harmful effects, then heroin taken in a controlled setting, as is the case in the UK, produces constipation as the main side-effect. It seems that alcohol is a deadly and addictive as any of the so-called hard drugs but I never hear anyone refer to it that way. Even Prozac leads people to suicide.

My point is, is there a measurable distinction based on criteria such as addictiveness, bodily harm, mental harm, harm to family, that can be used to distinguish drugs.?Health Question & Answer

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