A narcotic drug or drugs used to subdue a disruptive person, typically a patient in an institution.
health experts have denied claims that sedatives are being used as a chemical cosh for the elderly
Example sentencesExamples
Some of his songs dealt directly with asylum life, as viewed by an inmate through the haze of a chemical cosh.
The National Association of Young People in Care believes the chemical cosh was widely used in children's homes 20 years ago.
We must avoid the use of these drugs as a potentially dangerous chemical cosh to patients who would be better off without it.
Campaigners last night said that action was needed to prevent children being treated with "chemical cosh" drugs rather than therapies such as counselling.
Dementia patients could be better treated with common painkillers such as paracetamol rather than chemical cosh anti-psychotic drugs, a study has found.
Doctors will face up to five years in jail under a plan to stop anti-psychotic drugs being used as a potentially fatal chemical cosh to sedate dementia patients.
It is a matter of good fortune that care staff are on hand to deal with difficult situations, rather than simply administering a chemical cosh.
She discovered that she had been injected with a chemical cosh of sedatives at the age of seven while in council care.
Ritalin, nicknamed the "chemical cosh", has been criticised amid claims it has dangerous side-effects, including abdominal pain, anxiety, dizziness, headaches and psychosis.
Some of Scotland's most vulnerable schoolchildren will have to be controlled using the "chemical cosh" Ritalin because staff fear prosecution if they use physical restraint, ministers were warned last night.