Question

Explain what distinguishes medicines from drugs and why medicines are drugs, but not all drugs are medicines.

Answer 1

Medicines are drugs used to treat, cure, and prevent disease. This means that all medicines must be drugs. However, since not all drugs are used to treat disease, not all drugs can be considered medicines.

Answer 2

The difference between drugs and medicines is pretty basic, but a lot of people often interchange them. The main thing that differentiates them are their legality and society's perception of them. Both are used for the treatment or cure of diseases, but drugs have a more stimulating and addictive effect to the body than medicine. On the other hand, medicines generally don't have such effects.