Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
January,  1920.  j 
Editorial. 
7 
pensing  must  be  done  from  a  fixed  address  and  a  peddler  of  such 
drugs  will  be  regarded  as  incurring  a  separate  tax  liability  and  com- 
mitting an  additional  offense  at  each  place  where  a  sale  is  made. 
Even  the  exempted  preparations  may  be  sold  only  at  or  from  regis- 
tered places  of  business.  This  should  eliminate  the  evil  of  the  wagon 
peddler  selling  promiscuously  paregoric  and  exempted  proprietaries 
to  the  grocers  and  general  store  keepers  who  are  irresponsible  and 
usually  not  qualified  by  the  laws  of  the  state  to  engage  in  such  trade. 
Nurses  are  not  permitted  to  register  nor  to  be  in  possession  of 
narcotics  except  as  agents  of  physicians  or  those  prescribed  as  medi- 
cines for  their  personal  needs  and  they  are  subject  to  the  same 
limitations  as  other  consumers.  A  practitioner  must  account  on 
his  records  for  all  narcotics  left  with  nurses  for  administration  and  all 
such  as  are  not  administered  must  be  returned  to  him. 
While  officials  of  national,  state,  county  or  municipal  hospitals 
or  public  institutions,  who  in  the  discharge  of  official  duties  have  to 
dispense  or  handle  narcotics,  are  exempt  from  registration  and  the 
payment  of  the  special  tax  imposed  upon  registrants,  they  must  have 
the  orders  on  which  they  secure  the  supplies  of  narcotics  approved 
by  the  collector  of  the  district  and  as  a  prerequisite  satisfactory 
credentials  of  the  exemption  and  official  capacity  of  the  official  must 
be  filed  annually  before  July  ist.  The  exemption  granted  does  not 
relieve  them  of  the  necessity  of  keeping  the  required  narcotic  records. 
Ample  provisions  are  made  for  change  of  address,  change  of 
ownership  for  any  cause,  and  the  mode  of  procedure  in  such  cases 
is  prescribed. 
The  forms  for  records  and  reports  for  each  class  of  registrants  are 
specified.  The  required  records  are  exacting  and  the  keeping 
thereof  will  entail  much  labor  and  may  prove  nigh  impossible  to 
the  busy  practitioner  or  dispenser.  The  reports  are  to  be  made 
out  monthly  and  in  triplicate,  and  exhibit  all  receipts  of  narcotics 
and  their  disposition  and  stock  in  hand. 
Instructions  are  given  for  the  cancellation  and  application  of  the 
special  narcotic  stamps  to  be  applied  by  importers  and  manufac- 
turers and  the  reports  required  provide  for  an  accounting  of  all 
stamps  purchased,  used  and  unused. 
The  practicability  as  well  as  the  wisdom  of  the  requirement 
that  narcotic  drugs  and  preparations  must  at  all  times  be  segregated 
and  be  kept  under  lock  and  key,  is  questioned.  While  such  a  method 
may  be  readily  practiced  by  a  practitioner  whose  stock  should  be 
