248 
Drug  and  Food  Inspection  Decisions. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1907. 
It  is  necessary  for  the  reduction  in  drug  cases  to  be  made  without 
the  patient's  knowledge.  It  is,  of  course,  understood  by  all  physi- 
cians that  you  can  not  trust  a  drug  habitue  to  properly  make  his 
own  reductions,  for,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  if  he  knew  to  what  extent  I 
was  reducing  his  daily  allowance  of  opiates,  he  would  imagine  the 
reduction  too  rapid,  he  would  get  frightened,  and  would  take  to  his 
former  drug  for  relief.  Treatment  prepared  in  this  way  I  do  not 
think  would  come  under  the  head  of  a  proprietary  preparation  or  a 
patent  medicine,  as  I  prescribe  the  contents  of  each  bottle  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  each  individual  patient.  All  instructions  as  to 
the  conduct  of  treatment  and  the  use  of  auxiliary  remedies  are  given 
by  letter ;  consequently  there  are  no  printed  labels  or  cartons  con- 
taining any  claims  concerning  the  efficacy  of  this  treatment. 
I  would  be  pleased  to  have  you  inform  me  whether  in  your 
opinion  I  would  be  violating  the  pure-food  law  in  any  manner,  shape, 
or  form  should  I  continue  to  label  my  preparations  as  I  am  now 
doing,  and  in  having  them  prepared  in  and  forwarded  direct 
to  my  patients  in  this  and  other  States. 
If  a  package  compounded  according  to  a  physician's  prescription 
be  shipped,  sent,  or  transported  to  any  State  or  Territory  or  the 
District  of  Columbia  to  another  State  or  Territory  or  the  District 
of  Columbia  by  a  compounder,  druggist,  physician,  or  their  agents, 
by  mail,  express,  freight,  or  otherwise,  the  label  upon  such 
package  is  required  to  bear  the  information  called  for  by  Congress. 
If,  however,  the  patient  himself,  or  a  member  of  his  household,  or 
the  physician  himself  carries  such  package  across  a  State  line,  and 
such  package  is  not  subject  to  sale,  it  is  held  that  such  package  need 
not  be  marked  so  as  to  conform  with  the  law,  because  such  a  trans- 
action is  not  considered  one  of  interstate  commerce. 
The  package  may  be  marked  so  as  to  comply  with  the  act  by 
either  stamp,  pen  and  ink,  or  typewriter,  provided  all  such  written 
matter  is  distinctly  legible  and  on  the  principal  label,  as  prescribed 
in  Regulation  17. 
James  Wilson, 
Secretary  of  Agriculture. 
Washington,  D.  C,  March  13,  1907. 
