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We have in these days literally an army of so-called inspectors who are presumed to inspect all sorts of things from steam boilers to little pills in a doctor's office, and each time a legislative body deliberates they unload on the public an addition to this army of inspectors. The reason alleged is that it is for the protection of the public, when to the close observer it would more properly appear to be for the creation of a few more jobs and the collection of a few more fines and taxes for the benefit of the politicians.

They are certainly open to the charge that their real purpose is to create positions and a fund from which to pay salaries, etc., by means of which political obligation may be had.

If the farmer believes (as he has been led to believe, as far as it lies in the power of these statesmen to lead him), that these laws are making for his benefit and that he is cared for and protected without cost to himself, he falls into a misconception.

If the manufacturer pays a special fee on a fertilizer, or on a stock food, or a poultry powder, or any other of his products, he most certainly includes the amount of this fee in his calculated cost of doing business and he most certainly expects to get it all back from the consumer; not only does he expect, but he does get it back. He may be entirely willing to pay this increased cost on his various products for the sake of the assurance given him as to their quality, but in a great many cases this effect amounts to nothing and it is frequently not possible to make definite statements pertaining to the quality of the numerous compounds which are offered.

We hope the present tendency to increase surveillance of this sort over general business has reached its climax, for if it continues much longer at the present rate we will all be inspectors and none left for them to prey upon.

THE

use.

LEGAL CONTROL OF POISONS.

'HE primary object of legislation to control the sale and use of poisons is the protection of the public. Easy access to poisons has greatly increased their However, the fatal dose taken accidentally or with suicidal intent forms only a very small part of the wrongful use of poisons and narcotics, and it has been a problem to frame laws which would prevent access to them by criminal and ignorant classes without restricting their use in proper channels such as medicine and the arts.

There is much difference of opinion as to a proper definition of the word poison in framing legislation, and whether or not a graduate scale of toxicity should be adopted. It is practically impossible to draw a sharp line of division between poisons and harmless drugs because among other things, what medical science terms the "idiosyncrasy' of the person using the drug must be considered, proving the old saying that "what would be food for one would be poison for another.

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The National Drug Trade Conference adopted a resolution requesting the Revision Committee of the U. S. P. to consider inserting in the next revision a definition of the word "poison." For want of a positive definition of a poison, prohibited lists of poisons usually contain only the most virulent, entirely overlooking those others which are harmless enough ordinarily but which may become exceedingly dangerous in the hands of the ignorant or those bent on criminal acts. From England come reports of deaths resulting from the use of camphor which has never been classed as a poison in this country. According to government reports, the list of poisons on which sale is restricted in England, contains eight drugs which have never been so classed in this country, although the South Dakota legislature has practically classed tobacco as a poison by prohibiting the manufacture and sale of cigarettes and snuff.

Good laws for the control of poisons and narcotics have been enacted in many states and are fairly well enforced, but the fact that there is no restraint placed on interstate commerce in such items renders these laws inactive to a large degree.

The Harrison Bill now pending in Congress will remedy this defect so far as the preparations and derivations of coca and opium are concerned, but it leaves the deadly bichloride of mercury and some other equally dangerous drugs free for transportation from a non-restrictive state to one where good laws are enforced within its borders.

At the last meeting of the National Drug Trade Conference two sets of resolutions were passed; one expressing the opinion that federal legislation on the bichloride. question should be deferred until the Revision Committee of the U. S. P. had decided on the restrictions to be admitted to the IX Revision; the other recommending to the Revision Committee the adoption of suitable regulations of size, shape and color for bichloride tablets in the next U. S. P.

In spite of the fact that pharmacy has more laws now than can be properly enforced, there is a real need for some effective federal legislation to complete the efforts of individual states to control these drugs. If the U.. S. P. lays down a standard for bichloride tablets, this will amount to federal legislation to that extent and the enacting of a law to regulate the interstate commerce should follow as a logical and natural

sequence.

THE LIMITATION OF DRUG STORES.

"As the bulk of the drug business of the near future will be done by grocers, peddlers and mail order agents, would it not be well to pass a law restricting the number of drug stores? This might result in better wages for the clerks and more profit to the owner. Wonder what the follows would think of it? Pharmacy needs some more laws any way."

HE above letter is from one of our subscribers.

THE

While writing in a vein "six fun

and half-dozen earnest" he touches a question which is likely to become a vital one in the near future.

Limitation of the number of drug stores by law is a new thing in this country, but has been practiced in several European countries where it works satisfactorily.

The liberty-loving American does not relish the paternalistic in government and in imagination we can hear the wail of protest that would follow the suggestion of limiting the numbers of drug stores. The saloon business is the only governmentlicensed business in this country and the only ground on which even this is possible is the evil influence which emanates from the saloon.

To have the law designate the number of drug stores which shall be permitted to each unit of population, just as the saloon business is regulated in many sections, without equally restricting other lines of trade, savors too much of paternalism to be complacently accepted by the retail druggist. Even though commercial conditions and competition with stores other than drug stores has forced him to largely surrender the professional end of his business in favor of commercial lines, he still retains his self respect and would chafe under any legal regulation which might create in the public mind the idea that his is a business not to be trusted to the guidance of an individual except under government supervision.

Under present conditions we can see no more reason why this limitation should be applied to drug stores than to hardware or grocery stores, or to physicians since none of these lines exert an evil influence on the public.

If it should ever be considered necessary to so limit the number of drug stores, a great many stores would be closed up and such a stigma placed upon those left as to rob the owner of one of the greatest perquisites of his profession, viz: the pleasure and peace of mind which comes with work which one honors and loves to do. The consideration of the limitation of drug stores brings us to the subject of proper classification of drug stores to distinguish the professional from the commercial.

Some steps have already been taken in a movement toward certified pharmacies, more with a view to preserving pharmacy to itself, rather than to cast any reflection on the business of the commercial drug store, and those in favor of this proposition see in it the salvation of ethical pharmacy. The plans for such certification have not as yet been worked out, nor have its advocates intimated who will be selected to pass on the qualifications of a store which has both its ethical and commercial features.

We would never favor the limiting of the number of drug stores unless the same limitation is applied to all other lines of business, but we believe the time is coming when ethical pharmacy will demand its proper place and at present no other solution offers than the so-called certification.

Perpetual Registration in Ohio

A SYMPOSIUM

THE PROPOSAL FOR PERPETUAL REGISTRATION.

By J. H. BEAL, Scio, Ohio.

At first sight one is tempted to pronounce in favor of the repeal of that portion of the Ohio Pharmacy Law which requires the triennial registration of pharmacists and the payment of a fee of two dollars for pharmacists and one dollar for assistant pharmacists, but the importance of the subject to the future of pharmacy in the State is such that we should first make sure that we are not giving up real and substantial benefits in exchange for unsubstantial and shadowy returns.

Most of us perhaps would be willing to be relieved from the payment of taxes on real estate and personal property, but if relief from such taxes should mean that we were to be deprived of the benefits of civilized society which those taxes secured, we would be greatly losers by the bargain.

When pharmacy laws were first proposed, the legislatures could generally be persuaded to enact them only upon condition that the State treasuries were not to be burdened with the cost of their enforcement, and this led to the requirement of fees for examination and registration for the creation of a fund from which the salaries and expenses of the board of pharmacy could be met. The earliest laws did not require periodical registration, but when funds began to run short, some ingenious person suggested the expedient of re-registration with an accompanying fee and the necessities of the board were thus provided for. Other states followed suit and the later pharmacy laws generally included the re-registration requirement from the start. The objects of re-registration are two: (1) to secure funds for the maintenance of the board of pharmacy and the administration and enforcement of the law; and (2) to enable the board at all times to have a nearly perfect list of those entitled to practice

pharmacy, thus preventing the abuses of renting or loaning certificates or the conducting of stores under the certificates of men who have died, removed from the State, or gone into other lines of business.

One of the states of the middle west some years ago reported more than 12,000 registered pharmacists on its rolls, when it probably did not have more than onefourth of this number. The state had no re-registration clause and the rolls consequently showed the names of all those who had been registered from the time the law was first enacted. The records of the board were hopelessly muddled and it was at a great disadvantage in its attempts to enforce the requirement that stores should always be under the care of a registered pharmacist, or to prove its case when suit was brought for violation of this requirement.

It is argued in defense of the proposed repeal of the Ohio re-registration requirement that since physicians are registered for life, so one registration should be sufficient for pharmacists. This does not follow unless it can be shown that the life registration for physicians is correct. If a physician should leave the practice of medicine and for a number of years engage in the sale of real estate or some other business which has no connection with the practice of medicine, in my opinion, he should not be permitted to return to the practice of medicine without first showing his competency to do so. If the medical law does not make this requirement, it is a defective law and is not a model to be followed by pharmacists.

If the perpetual registration of pharmacists is adopted, it should be coupled with a requirement compelling an annual registration of the store or establishment where pharmacy is conducted, and such registration should also be accompanied by a report of the persons engaged in such business, with the date and number of their registration certificate. This in effect would be re-registration under another title.

Whether a fee should be exacted or not would depend upon the financial necessities of the board.

The pharmacists of Ohio should not delude themselves with the idea that by the repeal of the re-registration clause they will be relieved of the cost of enforcing the law. It is common in all inspection laws to place the cost of inspection on the persons or things inspected, and the tendency of law-makers is to extend rather than to narrow this custom. The only striking exception to this rule which occurs to my mind is the inspection of drugs and foods, where there is good reason for the exception, since it would hardly be practicable on account of the large number of substances to be examined.

Several years ago the Ohio Legislature proposed to levy an occupation tax of $25 per year on each drug store in the state, and this bill was defeated only by the most strenuous efforts of the O. S. P. A. Auxiliary, which at that time was a live and active organization.

The most effective argument that was offered in opposition to the bill was that pharmacists already paid what was in effect an occupation tax in fees required for their examination and registration and for their triennial registration.

In these parlous days when law-makers are searching heaven and earth for new objects of taxation, druggists are likely to be confronted with a new proposition for an occupation tax at any session of the legislature. If the support of the Board of Pharmacy and the enforcement of the pharmacy law are made a charge upon the State Treasury, the argument in favor of such a tax will be practically unanswerable, and such a law may be looked for the first time the treasury is short of funds.

In conclusion, those in favor of the repeal of the re-registration clause should, before pushing the matter any farther, present the question to that great State Council of Pharmacy, the Ohio State Pharmaceutical Association at its next annual convention, where the proposition can be fully and freely discussed from every side. The proposition should also be accompanied by an accurate draft of the substitute legislation by which it is proposed to secure the registration of pharmacies, keep a record of those entitled to practice in the state and of the means by which the Board of Pharmacy is to be supported and the enforcement of the law secured.

When such a complete program has been presented, we will be able to discuss the question intelligently, and not until we do have such a program before us shall we be able to answer “"yes" or "no" to the proposition to repeal the present requirement of the law for triennial re-registration.

Life Registration.

HENRY W. COTNER, Athens, Ohio.

For many years, life registration has been ideal with me. The thought that all the professions, excepting pharmacy, were deemed of such importance to the public good, as to be maintained at least partially at the public expense, brings a realization that our profession is either the victim of inertia on our part, or of class legislation. For myself I believe it to be the inertia or lack of properly looking after our own interests. And this can be truly said of the druggists of Ohio, who as a class are most active in many political ways, but not in their own behalf.

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The pharmacy laws of Ohio should be revised and made adequate to our present needs, and the enforcement thereof placed in the hands of drug commissioner, who may or may not be under the agricultural commission, as is deemed best, and the board of pharmacy made an examining and registering board, the same as other professional boards. The fees need not be exorbitant, say $5 for each examination and a registering fee of $10 to $15 for assistants and $15 to $25 for pharmacists, these fees to apply to those who are hereafter examined. As to requirements, a certain time of service experience, together with a comprehensive knowledge of the subject, as evidenced by an examination before the board, should be sufficient.

An objection to life registration is advanced, that can be said of all other professions: that is the possibility of a registered person becoming mentally unfit

to practise his profession through being
addicted to the use of drugs or liquors.
Another objection offered is the liability
of a certificate being farmed out to a non-
registered person. The same course of
action necessary today to revoke a
certificate, can be made to apply to
life registered pharmacists excepting a
provision to make the first offense
where deemed best for the profession,
instead of the second, as
now, the
period at which such certificate is
revocable. There is no intention to
allow any but pharmacists and assist-
ants now registered in Ohio, and engaged
in the practice of their profession at the
time the new law becomes effective, to
become life registered under this plan.
The board of pharmacy prosecutions,
under the old plan seldom went outside
the drug trade, and the violations of
the law by general stores, grocers and
others, for want of funds and inspectors,
were allowed to go unpunished, until
now they are almost past remedy and
are a serious infringement upon the
drug trade.

At this time the druggists of Ohio
as well
as other states realize they
must take part in legislation for the
advancement of the profession and one
of the first steps in Ohio is to place the
board of pharmacy upon an equal
footing with the examining and register-
ing boards of the other professions, and
the first step in this direction is to
place the pharmacists of Ohio upon the
same standing as the members of other
professions, recognized by the laws of
Ohio as such.

There is no disposition on the part of the ones interested in this movement

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