Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
January,  1920.  ) 
Editorial. 
9 
and  must  hear  the  full  name  and  address  of  the  patient,  the  name,  ad- 
dress and  registry  number  of  the  practitioner.  The  responsibility  for 
the  proper  writing  of  the  prescription  is  upon  the  practitioner  and 
he  is  Hable  to  the  penalties  provided  if  he  fails  to  insert  thereon  the 
information  required  by  the  law. 
Physicians  who  have  occasion  to  treat  incurable  diseases  such  as 
cancer  and  advanced  tuberculosis  where  narcotics  are  necessarily 
prescribed  in  relatively  large  quantities,  or  who  are  attending  aged 
and  infirm  addicts,  the  withdrawal  of  the  drug  from  whom  would  re- 
sult in  death,  are  permitted  to  prescribe  the  narcotics  needed  in 
accordance  with  their  judgment,  provided  endorsement  is  made  upon 
the  prescription  that  the  drug  is  dispensed  for  the  condition  stated, 
and  in  the  latter  case  give  the  age  of  the  patient  and  state  that  the 
drug  is  necessary  to  sustain  life. 
The  druggist  filling  the  prescription  must  show  on  the  back  thereof 
the  signature  and  address  of  the  person  who  secures  the  drug  prescribed 
and  must  preserve  the  prescription  for  a  period  of  two  years. 
The  refilling  of  a  narcotic  prescription  is  prohibited,  except  where 
the  preparation  covered  by  the  prescription  might  have  lawfully 
been  sold  in  the  first  instance  without  a  prescription  or  official  order. 
The  permission  to  refill  prescriptions  for  exempted  drugs  and 
preparations  is  a  distinct  modification  of  the  previous  regulations 
which  differentiated  between  "prescription"  and  "preparation"  and 
the  selling  of  exempted  drugs  as  either.  Partial  filling  of  prescriptions 
will  not  be  permitted  under  any  circumstances,  nor  can  prescriptions 
for  narcotics  be  accepted  over  the  telephone.  This  provision  will  con- 
flict with  the  custom  of  many  physicians  to  telephone  their  pre- 
scriptions to  the  pharmacists. 
The  order  forms  supplied  for  the  purchase  and  transfer  of  narcotics 
must  not  be  used  as  prescriptions.  The  pharmacist  filling  the  pre- 
scription must  affix  to  the  package  a  label  showing  the  name  and  regis- 
tered number  of  the  dealer,  the  serial  number  of  the  prescription  and 
name  and  address  of  the  patient  and  the  name  and  address  and  regis- 
tered number  of  the  practitioner  writing  the  prescription.  As  containers 
frequently  used  for  prescriptions  will  not  be  large  enough  to  permit  a 
label  giving  directions  and  also  the  additional  data  required  by  this 
regulation,  it  may  be  necessary  to  attach  to  the  package  a  special 
label  containing  the  data  directed. 
The  collector  of  literary  curios  will  find  a  number  of  these  in  the 
recent  Congressional  enactments  and  in  regulations  framed  by  the 
