recreational pharmaceutical

English

Noun

recreational pharmaceutical (plural recreational pharmaceuticals)

1. A medication or similar controlled substance which is consumed outside the context of normal medical treatment for the sole purpose of inducing pleasant sensations, mental reverie, or a state of intoxication.
   • 2003, Dominic Streatfeild, Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography, →ISBN, page 67:

     If there is one person who can be held responsible for the emergence of cocaine as a recreational pharmaceutical, it was Freud.

Synonyms

• recreational drug