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Just like in medicine, if its not strong enough to kill, its not strong enough to cure either.

Of course, in medicine that's not actually true. Where do people come up with these silly sayings?

I think it was supposed to be a "rule of thumb" not a law of nature. I heard it used in response to "snake oil" cures that were supposed to be completely harmless but cure everything from cancer to pancreatitis.

If you carry it out to the point of absurdity, even water can kill people if too much is ingested too fast.

Yup, if you're starting to suffer from the onset of scurvy, don't bother with vitamin C - no way it's strong enough to cure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C#Overdose

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

"The mechanism of death from such doses (1.2% of body weight, or 0.84 kg for a 70 kg human) is unknown, but may be more mechanical than chemical. The LD50 in humans remains unknown, given lack of any accidental or intentional poisoning death data."

That seems an awfully low threshold for "strong enough to kill".

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