E-DRUG: Drugs or Medicines?
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[Moderators have had a 'virtual meeting' and we feel that our identity as e-drug has been known and tested for 10 years. We like our name. We don't believe we should change in the interests of current political correctness. In addition, drug is still so much in use even on the regulatory level that we do not think we should/need to change. Comments are welcome of course. BS]
Dear E-druggers
My article " Using Drugs for Good Purpose: A New Paradigm" was published on the www.pharmabiz.com. Please visit www.pharmabiz.com/article/detnews.asp?articleid=25990§ionid=46
Based on the article, I advocate change of term 'e-drug' to 'e-medicine'.
Using Drugs for Good Purpose: A New Paradigm
A drug is a chemical substance that causes change(s) in the body. Drugs in common parlance mean herbal, allopathic and homeopathic products, alcohol, nicotine, heroin, illegal drugs and also addictive drugs. Medicines are those drugs which are primarily used to prevent or treat illness or relieve its symptoms. People have been using certain drugs for thousands of years, usually as medicines to treat diseases or illnesses. Therefore the word 'drugs' is clumsy and not explicit and creates a wrong impression in the general population about the use of drugs either for good or ill.
Pharmaceutical products do have a role to play in better health. Since time immemorial one of man's most basic concerns has been to provide safe and effective drugs. It is being increasingly recognized that the use of the term 'drug' can be confusing, since it can be related to illegal drug, addictive drug and illicit substances i.e. drug for ill or bad purposes. The word 'drug' in any standard dictionary has two meanings- medicine or illegal substance. While medicine is defined in the dictionary as a substance which is drunk or swallowed as a treatment for illness or injury, on the contrary drug is defined as a chemical substance which is taken for pleasure or to improve someone's performance of an activity. Clearly chemical substances as pharmaceutical products used for improvement of health of a population are better referred to as medicines. Elementary as this may sound, there is a saying; all medicines contain drug but not all drugs are medicines. For example, wine contains ethyl alcohol, and cigarettes contain nicotine. Ethyl alcohol and nicotine are drugs. But wine and cigarettes are not medicines.
A change for the better: The world health organization (WHO) has recognized the importance of terminology of the pharmaceutical product and is much concerned about its nomenclature. Accordingly in 2002, world health organization changed the name from "essential drugs" to "essential medicines". The phrase 'medicine information (MI)' was adopted in the United Kingdom in the year 2000.
To keep pace with changing times and overwhelming misuse of drugs for illicit purposes, a closer look about change of nomenclature was always in the agenda of various drug controlling bodies. This is dominated by simple dichotomy of using drugs for good versus using drugs for ill purposes - medicines versus drugs. Medicines, this dichotomy holds, cure disease, lessen suffering and make peoples' lives better, on the other hand drugs (recreational, addictive or illegal) damage physical and mental health. Since the word 'drugs' is sometimes associated with drugs of abuse or misuse rather than therapeutic agent, increasingly the word 'medicines' is being adopted worldwide to ensure that they are used to the benefit of people's health.
Subal C Basak, MPharm, FIC, PGPT (BELGIUM)
Selection Grade Lecturer, Department of Pharmacy
ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY, Annamalainagar 608 002 (TN)
Phone (O): +914144-239738; (R): +914144-2385567
Email : cdl_scbasak@sancharnet.in , scbasak@sify.com