'''^■^May^%To]  Editorial  283 
vides  further  that  "every  person  carrying  on  the  business  of 
retail  Hquor  dealer  in  any  state,  territory,  or  district  of  the  United 
States  contrary  to  the  laws  of  such  state,  territory,  or  district,  or 
in  any  place  therein  in  which  carrying  on  such  business  is  prohibited 
by  local  or  municipal  law,  shall  pay,  in  addition  to  all  other  taxes, 
special  or  otherwise,  imposed  by  existing  law  or  by  this  act,  $1,000." 
In  many  sections  of  New  Jersey  local  option  laws  have  been 
adopted  and  as  these,  as  a  rule,  do  not  exempt  pharmacists  in  the 
dispensing  of  prescriptions  for  liquors,  it  is  apparent  that  in  such 
districts  the  pharmacist  who  wished  to  quality  to  fill  such  bona  fide 
prescriptions  would  be  prevented  by  the  prohibitive  tax  of  $1,000 
plus  the  normal  Federal  Stamp  Tax  of  $25  paid  by  the  pharmacist 
situated  in  a  nearby  municipality  where  a  local  option  law  had  not 
been  adopted.  It  is  manifestly  unfair  to  the  patients  that  they 
should  not  be  able  to  have  their  medical  needs  supplied  near  home 
and  also  that  such  discrimination  should  exist  between  pharmacists 
engaged  in  business  in  the  same  State. 
One  of  the  prime  objects  of  this  law  was  to  provide  for  the  exemp- 
tion of  pharmacists  in  the  dispensing  of  distilled  spirits  and  wines 
needed  for  strictly  medicinal  purposes  from  the  provisions  of  local 
option  or  prohibition  laws  already  enacted  in  the  State  or  sub- 
divisions thereof.  By  this  act,  such  legitimate  prescribing  and 
dispensing  is  defined  as  coming  within  the  professional  duties  of  the 
physician  and  the  pharmacist  and  the  latter  is  exempted  by  the  State 
from  the  odium  of  being  classified  as  a  dealer  in  alcoholic  beverages 
and  from  the  license  fees  and  penalties  exacted  under  these  laws. 
Under  this  construction,  the  pharmacist  in  dispensing  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  the  act,  whith  to  all  intents  and  purposes  are 
the  same  as  those  of  the  Volstead  Act,  is  not  carrying  on  the  business 
of  a  retail  liquor  dealer  contrary  to  laws  of  the  State  or  place  therein 
