8 
Editorial. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
January,  1920. 
relatively  small  and  require  but  limited  space,  it  will  not  be  easy  to 
follow  by  the  druggists  and  manufacturers  whose  varied  stocks  and 
the  ample  supplies  required  would  necessitate  a  large  space,  special 
compartments  or  rooms  and  each  must  be  under  lock  and  key. 
It  will  destroy  the  orderly  classification  and  arrangement  of  stocks 
and  moreover  the  segregation  will  advise  the  dope  fiend  and  the  thief 
where  such  valuable  and  narcotic  drugs  and  medicines  are  stored. 
Physicians  and  pharmacists  want  to  bear  in  mind  that  official 
orders  are  to  be  issued  for  the  purchase  and  transfer  of  narcotics 
and  that  duplicates  must  be  made  out  at  the  time  of  executing  the 
originals.  Further,  that  they  are  to  be  used  to  cover  each  and  every 
transfer  of  narcotics  between  those  registered  under  the  act,  but  they 
must  not  in  any  case  he  used  as  prescriptions.  The  order  issued  must 
specify  the  number  and  size  of  package  of  each  item  and  if  pills, 
tablets  or  other  similar  dosage  forms,  the  number  of  such  units  in 
each  individual  package.  The  prior  regulations  are  modified  so  as 
to  permit  a  person  licensed  under  several  classifications  to  transfer 
on  his  records  from  one  registry  to  another  without  the  issuing  of 
orders  against  himself,  but  his  records  must  show  every  such  trans- 
action. Unfilled  orders  should  be  returned  to  the  maker  with  a 
letter  of  explanation  and  this  letter  with  the  returned  order  is  to  be 
filed  as  part  of  his  records.  On  orders  filled  in  part  only,  the  vender 
and  likewise  the  vendee  shall  note  on  the  order  and  duplicate  the 
actual  quantities  supplied  with  date,  and  subsequent  deliveries  on 
account  must  also  be  noted  on  these  orders. 
Prescriptions  can  be  issued  for  narcotics,  only  by  practitioners 
duly  registered  under  the  act  and  can  be  filled  only  by  pharmacists 
also  registered  under  the  proper  classification.  The  regulations 
concerning  prescriptions  are  necessarily  exacting  and  must  be  care- 
fully studied  and  followed  by  dispensers.  A  prescription  can  only 
be  issued  for  legitimate  medical  purposes.  It  cannot  he  issued  as  an 
order  for  the  practitioner  to  purchase  his  supplies  nor  for  the  purpose 
of  supplying  addicts  with  narcotics.  The  prescription  must  he  written 
with  ink  or  indelihle  pencil  or  typewritten;  if  typewritten,  it  must  he 
signed  hy  the  practitioner  with  ink  or  indelihle  pencil.  This  may 
conflict  with  the  custom  in  some  dispensaries  and  clinics  to  have 
certain  frequently-used  prescriptions  printed  and  with  the  not  un- 
common practice  among  physicians  to  use  the  ordinary  lead  penci  1 
in  writing  prescriptions  and  not  the  indelible  type  now  officially 
directed.    The  prescription  must  he  dated  and  signed  the  day  of  issuing 
