Contribution to a terminological definition of “drug”
In French, qualifying drugs proceeds generally more from a process of evaluation than of description, which explains why its definitions tend to be more connotative and cultural than designative or denotative. Indeed, most of the existing definitions are lexicographical rather than terminological, which explains why many criticize the definition of drug for not being scientific. This article therefore proposes a theoretical and methodological reflection, mobilizing philosophical, chemical, and legal data, in order to define what a drug is (and not what drug uses are). The term «drug» will be defined according to the terminological method in order to consider, in an inductive and taxonomic approach, the relation existing between object, designation and concept. The inconsistencies of the legal classification of drugs, which is not scientific since it does not respect any of the scientific imperatives of classification, are especially considered in the process of building a definition (intension type) of a drug. The concept of drug is also compared with the related concepts of food and medicine, showing that drug and food are incompatible concepts, whereas drug and medicine can be compatible. Based on the (chemical and biological) description of the drug object and the (terminological) definition of the drug concept, the article proposes to reconcile object and concept by validating its most concise definition: psychotropic substance. It is then possible to conclude that no moral, political, social or even legal criterion can enter into a definition of drug without questioning the principle of adequacy that is central to definitions by intension.