Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1920. 
Editorial. 
363 
should  be  made — one  that  will  doubtless  meet  the  hearty  approval 
of  this  Association  and  one  that  will  result  probably  in  the  elimina- 
tion of  the  objectionable  title.  We  are  told  that  an  Act  of  Congress 
would  be  necessary  to  change  the  classification.  Doubtless  our 
Congressmen  will  appreciate  the  fairness  and  justness  of  this  protest 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  our  Association,  at  this  time,  will  provide 
proper  measures,  through  the  Council,  to  bring  about  a  relief  to 
pharmacists  from  the  odium  which  this  unfortunate  classification 
brings.  By  headlines  and  articles,  by  what  should  be  considered 
as  unwarranted  reflections  upon  the  profession,  sensation  mongers, 
in  exploiting  their  trade,  are  doing  much  to  make  this  odium  more 
difficult  for  the  professional  pharmacist  to  bear.  It  may  be  said, 
in  this  connection,  that  one  of  the  prominent  members  of  the  Council 
believes  that  the  pharmacist  should  be  entirely  relieved  of  dispensing 
of  liquor  and  the  Government  should  be  asked  to  assume  the  sole 
responsibility  of  dispensing  it.  It  is  the  opinion  of  your  president 
that  the  dispensing  of  medicines  is  a  duty  properly  belonging  to 
the  pharmacist.  So  long  as  those  liquors,  the  sale  of  which  has  been 
prohibited  except  as  medicine,  are  regarded  as  remedial  agents,  it 
would  certainly  be  an  evasion  of  responsibility  to  decline  to  perform 
this  service  of  dispensing.  If  any  pharmacist  degrades  himself 
and  his  calling  by  illegally  dispensing  these  medicinal  agents,  he 
should  be  held  responsible  and  prosecuted  the  same  as  if  he  wilfully 
violated  the  narcotic  law. 
"As  unpleasant  and  unfortunate  as  it  may  appear,  should  we 
not  be  true  now  to  the  duty  placed  upon  us,  a^nd  in  the  meantime 
may  we  not,  by  constant  and  persistent  research,  reduce  the  use 
of  liquors  in  every  way  feasible  and  endeavor  to  find  a  proper  and 
adequate  non-habit  producing  substitute  for  them?  Here  is  a 
field  of  investigation  worthy  of  the  cooperation  of  the  pharmaceutical 
and  medical  professions." 
Among  the  topics  of  internal  interest  to  the  Association  was  the 
question  of  the  Journal  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association 
and  the  various  suggestions  that  had  been  offered  for  changing  the 
scope  and  improving  the  Journal  and  for  increasing  the  activities 
of  the  the  Association  by  increasing  the  income  from  dues.  It 
may  be  said  in  passing,  later  it  was  determined  that  at  least  some  of 
these  questions  will  be  submitted  to  the  membership  in  a  referendum 
vote  to  be  taken  by  mail. 
The  question  of  pharmaceutical  research  has  been  one  of  the 
