Much vs. many

On a message board, the following sentence came up:

How much drugs did we get?

Nothing nefarious in the subject matter by the way. It did start an argument over the grammar of the sentence however. I realize one's first inclination is to say that is bad grammar, but is it really? I find the alternative; to use the word "many", just as awkward. Can you help?

Did we get many drugs?

Changing the word order, and the use of many in preference to much, makes the sentence less awkward; and retains the meaning of the question.

Originally Posted by LarryJo

On a message board, the following sentence came up:

How much drugs did we get?

Nothing nefarious in the subject matter by the way. It did start an argument over the grammar of the sentence however. I realize one's first inclination is to say that is bad grammar, but is it really? I find the alternative; to use the word "many", just as awkward. Can you help?

Did the person buy or get prescribed more than one type of drug? If so, "many" is correct.

[Tdol]

Try rewriting the ssentence without 'drugs' if it is a single drug to avoid the problem:
How much were you prescribed?