Actaea

Aha!
Ment's post prompted me to reread and translate it once more. And I didn't find any medicines there. Fellow linguists, help me figure this out! :)

(issue)
1. The first speaker doesn't use the word "drugs" at all
2.

"This can't go ahead," argues @@RANDOMNAME@@, a nurse at one of @@NAME@@'s hospitals. "Drugs are, and always will be, one of the greatest threats to the nation's physical and mental health! My job's hard enough as it is without having the wards overrun by patients who were stupid enough to drink the damned stuff. The distribution of drugs must be strictly controlled by the government and kept for medicinal uses."

This cannot go on like this! — says a nurse at one of the hospitals.

It is not a pharmacist speaking, but a nurse.

Drugs have always been and will always be one of the greatest threats to the physical and mental health of the nation. My job is hard enough as it is, without hospital wards overrun by patients stupid enough to drink this damned stuff.

This refers to the hallucinogenic soda from the previous speaker, not medicines at all.

The distribution of drugs (or medicines?) must be strictly controlled by the government and kept for medicinal uses.

I didn't find any medicines here. Only drugs. And I certainly didn't find Revan's words that all medicines are dispensed only by prescription.
If a pharmacist were speaking, I would understand. But here it is a nurse who will be treating people who have drunk drugs. And she speaks only about drugs.