Demerol® (
meperidine hydrochloride) is a narcotic pain medication that is classified as a controlled substance in the United States. Like other narcotics, it has a significant potential for abuse. It can be found using many drug screening tests, causing many people to wonder, "How long does it stay in the body?"
The elimination half life of a medication is the time it takes for the blood levels of the medication to be reduced by half. The elimination half life of Demerol in healthy adults is approximately 2.5 to 4 hours; so every 2.5 to 4 hours, the level of Demerol in your blood will drop by 50 percent of the previous level. This means that Demerol will be mostly out of your system in 10 to 20 hours (at least for most practical purposes, but not for drug-testing purposes).
(Click How Long Does Demerol Stay In Your System? for more information on how long the medicine stays in the body, to find out what factors may alter Demerol's half life, and to learn about the abuse potential of the drug.)
