406 
Editorial. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1919. 
HOW  PHARMACISTS  MAY  OBTAIN  DISTILLED  SPIRITS 
AND  WINES  FOR  MEDICINAL  AND  PHARMA- 
CEUTICAL PURPOSES. 
The  prohibition  wave  that  has  overflowed  our  country  with  its 
associated  extreme,  yet  imperfect,  legislation  has  created  new  prob- 
lems and  difficulties  for  pharmacy.  With  the  sale  of  beverage  spirits 
of  any  kind  whatsoever,  either  distilled,  vinous  or  malted  we  are  not 
at  all  concerned.  In  our  opinion  ethical  pharmacy  has  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with  the  sale  or  handling  of  beverage  liquors  and  any 
pharmacist  who  will  sell  his  professional  birthright  by  engaging  in 
such  traffic  should  have  his  license  to  practice  pharmacy  cancelled 
and  he  should  forever  be  debarred  from  the  profession  that  he  has 
disgraced. 
The  zealot,  blinded  by  ignorance  or  bigotry,  may  fail  to  appre- 
ciate the  indisplaceable  position  that  alcohol  holds  as  an  essential 
ingredient  for  the  preparation  or  preservation  of  many  medicines. 
Many  of  the  propositions  submitted  in  Congress  and  in  the  State 
Legislatures  are  exhibitions  of  fanaticism  and  woeful  ignorance  of 
the  needs  of  medicine  and  pharmacy.  It  is  fortunate  that,  up  to  the 
present  time,  the  rational  legislators  have  been  in  the  majority  and 
the  several  federal  acts  as  well  as  the  prohibition  Amendment  to  the 
U.  S.  Constitution  recognize  that  there  are  legitimate  uses  in  medi- 
cine for  distilled  spirits  and  wines  and  exempt  from  the  severe  pro- 
visions of  these  laws  such  for  "  medicinal,  and  other  non-beverage 
purposes." 
Our  investigations  convince  us  that  the  preponderance  of  opinion 
among  practicing  physicians  is  that  there  is  a  legitimate  and  neces- 
sary use  for  certain  distilled  spirits  and  wines  as  medicinal  agents. 
To  the  ethical  physician  and  pharmacist  distilled  or  vinous  spirits 
have  no  other  significance  than  that  of  articles  of  materia  medica. 
When  indicated  in  the  judgment  of  the  physician  he  will  prescribe 
these  and  the  prescriptions  for  such  will  be  compounded  just  the 
same  as  in  other  cases  where  he  may  prescribe  epsom  salt,  potassium 
bromide  or  nux-vomica. 
As  representing  pharmaceutical  and  medical  interests  we  are 
concerned  when  the  materia  medica  is  restricted  by  either  legislation 
or  departmental  regulation.  To  jeopardize  the  lives  of  our  sick  by 
restricting  the  remedial  agents  at  the  command  of  the  physician 
would  be  a  national  crime  and  not  less  heinous  because  dictated  by 
radicalism  and  fanaticism. 
