The Mena weekly star., 1921-10-27
ALLOWS BEER AND
 | WINE FOR SICK
New Internal Revenue Regulations Permit Manufacture and Prescrip- tion--"Bone Dry Law Holds in
 Arkansas-Iilts Lid in g States.

Washington. Oct 25.-The bureau of internal revenue has issued regu- lations which vii permit the manufac- ture of beer, to be prescribed by phy- sieians.
 The amount which can be pre- scribed at one time is set at two and half gallons.
 The regulations do not, however, limit the frequency with which physi- clans may issue beer prescriptions. Nor do they specify the amount of alcohol the beer may contain.
 The regulations at the same time authorize physicians to prescribe not more than two quarts of wine, with out stipulating how often wine may be prescribed The use of spirituous liquors-whiskies, brandies, etc., is limited to pint in ten days.
 Puts It Up to Physicians.
 The rules mean that patient can have as much beer and wine as his physician thinks he needs. David H. Blair, commissioner of internal reve- nue, said there was no time limit or the issuance of prescriptions except that of reasonable frequency"
 The regulations were issued from the treasury after long delay, and in spite of the fact bill is pending in Congress which would make the use of beer as medicine illegal. This bill already has pas . the House, but action on 1t in the Senate was de- ferred thru the efforts of ''wets" and others who contended the bill in- fringed on the constitutional rights of citizens against unwarranted search and seizure.
 Secretary Mellon explained that the delay in issuing the regulations arose because it seemed probable that the anti-beer bill would become law.
 Legal Right, Mellon Says.
 However" he said, flor some time past it has been strongly urged 1 by those interested that this depart ment had no right longer to withhold the regulations, and that in so doing the department was denying to those interested their clear legal right, and thereby imposing serious loss upon them.
 "The legal rights of the parties concerned being plain, the depart ment is unable to delay the issuance of the regulations"
 l The regulations are issued under an opinion delivered last March by A. Mitchell Palmer, when he was attor- ney general. That opinion has never l been successfully disputed. Palmer held that there was nothing in exist 1 ing law to prevent the use of beer and wine as medicine, and that the mum Der of prescriptions physician might issue within specified period could not legally be curtailed. Palmer's ruling was responsible for the prepa- ration of the anti-beer bill and its advocacy before Congress by the "dry" forces.
 The Regulations Covering Beer. The manner in which beer may be made and dispensed are described in a detailed and complicated set of rules.
 1 In general, the procedure is the same as that which governs the use of whiskey as medicine. Manufac- turers, dealers, physicians, all must have permits. Careful records must be kept thruout the entire process by which the beer finally reaches the person who is to consume 1t. Bottles and cases must be labeled carefully in manner prescribed by the bureau. The beer may be made "only by a duly qualified brewer on brewery premises"
 A druggist is admonished to "re- fuse to fill any prescription for liquor if he has reason to believe that phy- sicians are prescribing for other than medicinal uses or that patient is obtaining thru one or more physicians quantities of intoxicating liquor in excess of the amount necessary for medicinal purposes" Prescriptions may not be refilled and physician may not write prescription for him self.