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WEST VIRGINIA. 



AN" ACT to regulate the practice of pharmacy and the sale of medicines and poisons. 



[Chapter 52, passed February 21, 1881, as amended and reenacted by chapter 112 of the acts 1882, 

 adjourned session, passed March 25, 1882.] 



Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia : 



SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any person not a registered pharmacist or who 

 does not employ as his salesman a registered pharmacist within the meaning of 

 this act, to conduct any pharmacy, drug store, apothecary shop, or store for the pur- 

 pose of retailing, compounding, or dispensing medicines or poisons for medical use, 

 except as hereinafter provided. 



SEC. 2. It shall be unlawful for the proprietor of any store or pharmacy to allow 

 any person except a registered pharmacist to compound or dispense the prescrip- 

 tions of physicians, or to retail or dispense the poisons named in schedules A and B 

 herein, for medical use, except as an aid to or under the supervision of a registered 

 pharmacist. 



SEC. 3. The board of public works shall appoint one person from each Congress, 

 ional district from among the most competent pharmacists of the State, all of whom 

 8 hall have been residents of the State for five years and of at least five years' prac- 

 tical experience in their profession, who shall be known as " commissioners of 

 pharmacy for the State of West Virginia; " one of whom shall hold his office for one 

 year, one for two years, one for three years, and one for four years, and each until 

 his successor shall be appointed and qualified; and each year thereafter one com- 

 missioner shall be so appointed for four years and until a successor be appointed 

 and qualified. If a vacancy occur in said commission, another shall be appointed, 

 as aforesaid, to fill the unexpired term thereof. Said commissioners, a majority of 

 whom may act, shall have power to make by-laws and all necessary regulations for 

 the proper fulfillment of their duties under this act, without expense to the State, 

 and to examine applicants and grant certificates. 



SEC. 4. The commissioners of pharmacy shall register, in a suitable book, a dupli- 

 cate of which is to be kept in the office of the secretary of state, the names and 

 place of business of all persons to whom they issue certificates, and the dates thereof. 

 It shall be the duty of said commissioners of pharmacy to register, without exami- 

 nation, as registered pharmacists, all pharmacists and druggists who are engaged in 

 business in the State of West Virginia at the passage of this act as owners or prin- 

 cipals of stores or pharmacies for selling at retail, compounding, or dispensing drugs, 

 medicines, or chemicals for medical use, or for compounding and dispensing phy- 

 icians' prescriptions; and all assistant pharmacists, not under eighteen years of 

 a ge, engaged in said stores or pharmacies in the State of West Virginia at the pas- 

 sage of this act, and who have been engaged as such in some store or pharmacy 

 where physicians' prescriptions were compounded and dispensed for not less than 

 five years prior to the passage of this act : Provided, however, That in case of failure 

 or neglect on the part of such person or persons to apply for registration within 

 sixty days after they shall have been notified, they shall undergo an examination 

 such as is provided for in section five of this act. 



SEC. 5. That the said commissioners of pharmacy shall, upon application, and at 

 such time and place and in such manner as they may determine, examine, orally 

 or otherwise, under such regulations as they may by by-law prescribe, each and 

 every person who shall desire to conduct the business of selling at retail, compound- 

 ing or dispensing drugs, medicines, or chemicals for medicinal use, or compounding 

 or dispensing physicians' prescriptions as pharmacists. And if a majority of said 

 commissioners shall be satisfied that said person is competent and fully qualified to 

 conduct said business of compounding or dispensing drugs, medicines, or chemicals 

 for medicinal use, or to compound or dispense physicians' prescriptions, they shall 

 enter the name of such person as a registered pharmacist in the book provided for 



