In Re Potter

Petitioner is held under arrest by virtue of two criminal complaints, the one charging him with a violation of the so-called “Poison Act,” the other with a violation of a resolution and regulation prescribed by the state board of pharmacy under and by virtue of certain provisions of the Poison Act. The legal questions presented under the two applications are intimately related and may be considered together.

The so-called “Poison Act” is “An act to regulate the sale of poisons in the state of California and providing a penalty for the violation thereof.” It was approved March 6, 1907. (Stats. 1907, p. 124.) It has been amended in 1909 (Stats. 1909, p. 422), and again in 1911 (Stats. 1911, p. 1106). But these amendments do not affect the original act as to any of the legal questions herein to be considered. The Poison Act enumerated many poisonous, deleterious and injurious drugs and other substances in a list called “schedule A.” It regulated the sales of the articles in schedule A, and in section 4 provided:

The “Pharmacy Act,” “An act to regulate the practice of pharmacy in the state of California,” was originally adopted in 1905. (Stats. 1905, p. 535.) It declared in section…