Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  j 
January,  19 18.  > 
Editorial. 
3 
While  not  indifferent  to  the  evils  resulting  from  intemperance,  and 
preferring  for  many  reasons  to  remain  a  total  abstainer  from  alco- 
holic beverages,  the  writer  cannot  encourage  radical  legislation 
bordering  too  closely  on  the  fanatical,  that  fails  to  recognize  the 
necessities  of  medicine  and  the  industries  for  pure  ethyl  alcohol. 
Would  any  sane  individual  dare  to  frame  regulations,  departmental 
or  otherwise,  that  would  demand  of  the  miner  of  iron  ore  or  the 
grower  of  cotton  that  they  must  be  licensed  and  under  bonded 
obligation  to  control  to  the  ultimate  consumer  the  use  of  their 
products?  The  importance  of  these  as  raw  materials  for  the  metal- 
lurgical and  textile  industries  is  conceded.  Why  then  is  not  the  im- 
portance of  ethyl  alcohol  as  a  raw  material  of  the  chemist  and  the 
pharmaceutical  manufacturer  equally  recognized? 
The  regulations  promulgated  not  only  divert  the  intent  of  the 
recent  enactments  referred  to  but  make  it  a  condition  that  the 
pharmacist  must  violate  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act  and  dispense 
adulterated  and  poisoned  alcohol  even  on  the  physician's  prescrip- 
tion for  alcohol. 
Section  6  of  the  Federal  Food  and  Drugs  Act  of  June  30,  1906, 
defines  the  term  "  drug  "  and  establishes  the  United  States  Pharma- 
copoeia and  the  National  Formulary  as  the  legal  authority  for  medi- 
cines and  preparations  used  either  internally  or  externally  for  the 
cure,  mitigation  or  prevention  of  disease. 
Section  7  of  that  important  law  in  defining  adulteration  of  drugs 
reiterates  the  authority  of  the  standards  of  strength,  quality  or 
purity  as  laid  down  in  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  and  the 
National  Formulary. 
There  can,  therefore,  be  no  question  raised  as  to  what  is  the 
legal  standard  for  alcohol  and.  that  this  must  comply  with  the  re- 
quirements of  the  Pharmacopoeia  when  used  or  intended  for  use 
for  medicinal  purposes. 
The  regulations  promulgated  by  the  Treasury  Department  make 
it  necessary  for  the  pharmacist  to  adulterate  alcohol,  even  when 
dispensed  on  a  physician's  prescription  and  for  medicinal  purposes, 
by  the  addition  of  a  poisonous  substance.  Such  adulteration  and 
labelling  would  appear  even  to  the  lay  mind  as  an  open  infraction  of 
the  Food  and  Drugs  Act. 
An  anomalous  situation  is  thus  developed,  where,  by  depart- 
mental dictum,  law-respecting  citizens  are  compelled  against  their 
