Am.  jour.  Pharm.  1      Decision  on  Tincture  of  Ginger.  7 
January,  1921.  j 
changed  by  the  proper  procedure.  As  chairman  of  the  sub-com- 
mittee on  tinctures  the  writer  will  welcome  all  suggestions  for  modi- 
fying the  formula  and  will  assure  that  these  will  receive  careful 
consideration.  He  must,  however,  protest  against  any  attempt  at 
revision  by  departmental  edict. 
From  the  information  at  hand  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  the 
officials  of  the  Prohibition  Enforcement  Division  were  badly 
advised  and  the  action  of  the  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue 
in  the  issuing  of  this  decision  was  based  upon  insufficient  evidence. 
The  intent  of  this  decision,  to  prevent  the  consumption  of  tincture 
of  ginger  as  a  beverage,  is  commended.  If  the  tincture  of  ginger 
produced  by  any  manufacturer  was  sold  or  consumed  for  intoxicat- 
ing beverage  purposes  then  it  became  the  duty  of  said  manufacturer 
to  correct  his  methods  of  sale  so  as  to  prevent  such  illicit  use,  or 
accept  the  responsibility  and  become  liable  for  the  penalties  pro- 
vided in  the  law. 
The  proposition  to  denature  this  tincture  by  doubling  the 
amount  of  drug  contained  may  have  been  presented  in  a  plausible 
manner,  but  we  have  no  confidence  in  its  effectiveness.  It  is  doubt- 
ful if  double  the  amount  of  ginger  root  can  be  extracted  in  accord- 
ance with  the  process  described  for  the  making  of  tincture  of 
ginger  in  the  U.  S.  P.  Likewise,  whether  such  a  double  strength 
preparation  would  be  entirely  suitable  for  medicinal  purposes. 
Physicians  at  times  have  complained  that  the  present  official  tincture 
of  ginger  is  too  strong.  Moreover,  by  dilution  with  water  and  the 
use  of  a  filtering  medium,  such  double  strength  tincture  can  readily 
be  made  potable. 
By  revoking  Section  94,  paragraph  (a)  of  Article  XVII,  Regu- 
lation No.  60,  the  restriction  that  Jamaica  ginger  may  not  be  sold  by 
retail  druggists  or  other  persons  to  the  consumer  in  quantities  ex- 
ceeding one  or  two  ounces  at  one  time  is  rescinded  and  the  unre- 
stricted sale  of  the  proposed  double  strength  tincture  of  ginger  will 
hereafter  be  permitted.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  this 
will  defeat  the  very  purpose  for  which  T.  D.  3092  was  promul- 
gated. Already  the  druggists  are  being  importuned  by  manufac- 
turers to  purchase  ample  supplies  of  this  double  strength  tincture. 
With  the  unrestricted  sale  to  be  permitted  this  is  prone  to  become 
