/oss/taxonomy/term/986/all en /oss/article/medical-history/dead-cow-moldy-hay-and-drug-discovery <p>There are roughly 20,000 prescription medicines approved for use around the world and in developed countries two thirds of the population takes one or more of them. Then there are all the non-prescription drugs and the various supplements that claim to have some sort of therapeutic effect that vastly outnumber prescription drugs. Obviously, drug development is a gigantic business, which is understandable given that health matters more than anything else in life and drugs promise to help with a wide range of ailments.</p> Thu, 31 Aug 2023 17:11:53 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9614 at /oss /oss/article/drugs-health-history-quirky-science/what-drug-may-have-been-detected-had-dorothys-and-cowardly-lions-urine-been-tested-they-entered <p>Not if it tested for morphine, as long as we let L. Frank Baum get away with a little poetic license. In the 1939 movie classic The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West conjures up a poppy field in front of the Emerald City to prevent Dorothy, the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow from entering. As the four wander through the field, Dorothy and the Lion mysteriously fall asleep, succumbing to the vapours released by the poppies. The Tin Man and the Scarecrow, not possessed of human or animal biology, are unaffected.</p> Fri, 26 Apr 2013 01:42:56 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1922 at /oss