Reports > The Fourth Report > CHAPTER THREE - A Brief History of the Regulation of Controlled Drugs >
The Origins of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and the Passage of the Pharmacy Act 1868
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From as early as the sixteenth century, the importance of maintaining standards in the supply of medicines was recognised. A body of physicians, later to become the Royal College of Physicians, received letters patent from King Henry VIII, entitling them to inspect the premises of apothecaries, i.e. persons who prepared and sold medicines. The inspectors were known as 'censors' and their role was to identify defective or impure medicines and to destroy them. Responsibility for fulfilling this role remained with the College until 1856. From the seventeenth century, the Society of Apothecaries also undertook inspections and paid particular attention to preparations containing opium, which were used for a wide variety of purposes. |
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Until the second half of the nineteenth century, medicinal drugs were supplied by apothecaries, chemists and druggists, as well as medical practitioners. They could also be sold by any general dealer and there were many 'quack' dispensers of potions and remedies. In due course, the chemists, druggists and apothecaries joined forces in an attempt to impose restrictions on the sale of drugs and to oppose the activities of the 'quacks'. The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was established in 1841. It was granted a Royal Charter in 1843 and became the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) in 1988. Soon after the original formation of the Society, there were calls to restrict the right to practise pharmacy to those who were specially licensed, to promote professional standards of training and to establish controls on the sale of drugs. |
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These calls led to the passing of the Pharmacy Act 1868, which introduced a list of drugs, including opium, which could be sold only by 'pharmaceutical chemists'. Apart from the restrictions imposed by the 1868 Act, there was no legislative control of opiate drugs in the UK until 1916. |
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Introduction
