The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-24
Regulating the Sale of Cocaine
 Morphine, Etc.

| Mobile Register. ,,,
 The following is a copy of Senate bill l 1l6 that has passed the Senate and Is now
 on the House Calendar:
 "S. 1l6. A bill to be entitled an act | to regulate the sale or disposal or CO., caine, opium or certain preparations of | either in Alabama.
 Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legis- lature of Alabama-That after the pass age of this act 1t shall be unlawful for any person to sell, give away or other wise dispose of any cocaine or its salts' any opium or its alkaloids or prepara- | tions of either containing more than one | fourth grain of morphine. one-twentieth h grain ot opium or one-half grain of CO., | came. except physicians, dentists, drug | gists and apothecaries.
 Sec. 2. It shall be unlawful for drug | gists or apOthecaries to give away. sell or otherwise dispose of any of the medi- cines mentioned in Section 1 of this act except upon the prescription of legally practicing physician or dentist. and 1t shall be unlawful to refill any such pre- scription except upon the written order of the physician or dentist to sell, give l away, dispense or otherwise dispose of or | prescribe for any person any such med | icine othet than for legitimate use; pro vided, that the provisions of this act sha Il Il not apply to sales made by wholesale | dealers, manufacturing chemists or other persons to druggists, physicians or dent ists.
 provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not less than ten nor more | than two hundred dollars
 "Sec. 4. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby re- pealed."
 The purpose of this bill is good. It for bids the sale of any preparation of opium, | morphine or cocaine which contains more than one-fourth grain of morphine. one twentieth grain of opium. or one-half grain of cocaine except upon physi- clans prescription. Those who understand the conditions and methods of the vend- ing of drugs make no criticism of the bill so far as cocaine Is concerned but the provisions relating to preparations of opium or morphine have no parallel in any other State. If these provisions are to apply to medicinal preparations which necessarily contain opium or morphine, they would prohibit the sale of many of the simplest cough syrups, cholera cures, toothache drops and liniments without a special prescription from a physician. In 1 the country, where doctors are scarce, it would often be impossible to procure, ex- | cept at great delay, trouble and cost. the in almost universal use. The law might even apply to medicine for horses and cattle, Every good citizen should favor l laws to suppress the opium evil; but this
 bill goes far beyond any statute in the
 United States, and If enforced would
 cause the most widespread inconvenience | and great and unnecessary hardship.
 The same question has been carefully | considered in other States, and very re- | gently In Texas. The last Legislature oi
 that State passed a drastic law to regu-
 late the sale of these drugs, but the fol l lowing proviso was deemed proper in or der to avoid needless injustice: "Provid.
 ed. this act shall not apply to proprie-
 tary medicines sold by druggists or oth'
 CTS containing any of the drugs or tho
 derivatives thereof such as are men
 toned in Section of this act Provided
 further. such drugs. or the derivatives
 thereof be not compounded and sold foi
 the purpose of evasion of this act"
 This proviso makes the Texas law clear
 and, without impairing It's value. guard: | against unwise attempts to extend 1t;
 application beyond the evil it seeks tC l r11ndN