6 
Editorial. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
January,  1920. 
Registrants  under  this  Act  should  be  careful  to  see  that  they  carry- 
on  their  business  in  these  drugs  in  strict  accordance  with  the  classi- 
fications of  the  law  and  the  differentiations  of  what  can  be  actually 
done  under  each  class.  '  'A  Retailer' '  cannot  engage  in  the  sale  of  origi- 
nal stamped  packages  of  these  drugs  unless  he  likewise  is  registered 
as  a  wholesale  dealer  and  pays  the  annual  tax  of  $12.0  imposed 
upon  those  so  classified.  Nor  can  a  "Retailer"  or  a  "Wholesale 
Dealer"  engage  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  non-exempted  articles 
such  as  Laudanum  and  Dover's  Powder  without  also  registering 
under  Class  i — Importers,  Manufacturers,  Producers,  Compounders. 
As  a  consequence  those  engaged  in  a  complex  business,  or  who  supply 
physicians  and  hospitals,  for  example,  will  have  to  be  registered 
under  several  classifications  and  keep  the  required  records  for  each. 
While  a*  "Wholesale  Dealer"  under  the  definition  of  the  Act  may  sell 
stamped  full  packages  of  other  manufacture  than  his  own,  when  he 
sells  his  own  products  of  these  narcotic  drugs,  he  must  do  so  as  a 
licensed  "Manufacturer"  and  stamp  tax  these  at  the  specified  rate 
of  I  cent  for  each  ounce  or  fraction  thereof  of  the  preparation  and 
not  the  narcotic  contained. 
Attention  is  especially  called  to  the  classification  of  chemists, 
who  are  not  employees  of  a  registered  manufacturer,  but  who  make 
analyses  of  narcotic  drugs  or  preparations  or  use  such  in  the  analysis 
of  other  things,  as  liable  to  the  tax  as  compounders  of  $24.00  per 
year.  They  must  procure  the  narcotic  drugs  to  be  used  as  test 
reagents  in  their  analytical  work  on  official  order  forms  and  keep 
records  and  make  the  same  form  of  returns  as  do  the  manufacturers. 
This  may  be  very  unwelcome  to  the  majority  of  chemists  who  but 
very  seldom  engage  in  such  analyses  or  to  the  toxicologist  who  may 
unexpectedly  be  called  into  a  case  requiring  such  reagents  to  confirm 
his  findings. 
Practitioners  who  prescribe  narcotic  drugs  must  register  and  pay 
the  tax  of  $3.00  per  annum  even  though  they  do  not  keep  such  drugs 
in  their  possession.  A  practitioner  may  sell  to  his  own  bona- fide 
patients  narcotic  drugs  for  legitimate  medical  purposes  without  in- 
curring liability  as  a  retailer. 
Institutions,  such  as  colleges  of  pharmacy,  sanatoriums,  clinics 
and  hospitals  not  exempt  as  federal,  state,  county  or  municipal 
public  institutions  must  pay  the  same  tax  as  individuals  similarly 
engaged  in  handling  narcotics. 
Itinerant  vending  or  peddling  is  precluded  as  all  sales  and  dis- 
