is friction and drag similar or the same?

They are similar, but there is an essential difference.

Friction, or precisely "dry friction", is due to two surfaces in contact, and opposes sliding of the two. This is the F=mu*N kind of friction.

Drag (aka air drag, fluid drag, air resistance, viscous drag) is a force which opposes motion between a fluid and a solid object in motion. Unlike dry friction, this is dependent on speed, either proportional to speed, or the square of speed, depending on the flow conditions.

Dry friction is used much more often in introductory physics, because it doesn't change your math from algebra into differential equations, like fluid drag does. It will, but only in the rare case of a changing normal force (for instance, a skateboarder in a half-pipe ramp).

Frictional Drag

Air resistance is a different thing to plain surface friction, it is about pushing air out of the way. As to exactly why friction depends only on the normal force and materials, and not speed or surface area, I don't know.

Friction is the force of two solids sliding against each other, and is proportional to the material in the object and the force between them. Drag is the force of a fluid (liquid or gas) against a solid, and is proportional to the fluid density, velocity of the objects, and the cross-sectional area of the object through the fluid. They both effectively retard the motion of the object.

Friction creates drag. Much the same, in the end.