BUSINESS LAW 101 /Poisons and Pharmacists

By Albert L. Kelley, Esq.

In 1944, the Frank Capra movie, “Arsenic and old Lace” was released, starring Cary Grant.  It is a cute comedy that holds up pretty well after all these years. The premise of the movie is about a man on the eve of his marriage who learns that his two elderly maiden aunts have been poisoning little old men by slipping arsenic, strychnine and cyanide in a glass of elderberry wine and then serving it to the men. The men are then buried in the basement. I won’t spoil the story for anyone who hasn’t seen it (I do recommend watching it though).     There are other films about poisoning- usually a jilted lover slips a poison in their ex-lover’s drink.  Most of these are depicting murder or attempted murder.  But the act of poisoning by itself is unlawful. And it doesn’t require poison.  Anytime someone puts a poison, or a virus, bacterium, radioactive material, or chemical compound into anyone else’s food, drink, medicine, make-up, lotion, or anything designed to be eaten, drank ingested or applied to the body, if done with the intent to kill or injure the other person is guilty of a first-degree felony. 

A similar situation arose in them movie Batman Beyond, where the Scarecrow put a poison in the water supply for Gotham City.  Again, this action alone of putting a poison, virus, bacterium or other compound in a spring, well or water reservoir is a first-degree felony (Although I am equating this with movies for ease of understanding, there are real-life scenarios as well, such as in 1984 when a religious cult contaminated a city reservoir with salmonella.

There are any number of lethal chemicals that can be purchased easily, such as bleach, but the statutes limit the sales of many poisons to registered pharmacists.  No one except a registered pharmacist can sell: Arsenic and all its preparations, corrosive sublimate, white and red precipitate, biniodide of mercury, cyanide of potassium, hydrocyanic acid, strychnine, and all other poisonous vegetable alkaloids and their salts, and the essential oil of almonds, opium, and its preparations of opium containing less than two grains to the ounce, aconite, belladonna, colchicum, conium, nux vomica, henbane, savin, ergot, cotton root, cantharides, creosote, veratrum digitalis, and their pharmaceutical preparations, croton oil, chloroform, chloral hydrate, sulphate of zinc, mineral acids, carbolic and oxalic acids.   And even when sold by a pharmacist, they must investigate the reason for the sale.  The pharmacist must ask if the Buyer is aware that the chemical is poisonous and what they intend to do with it.  Only if they can provide a legitimate reason can the sale be concluded.  The pharmacist must then label the box, vessel, or paper containing the poison with the name of the article, the word “poison,” and the name and place of business of the seller. If the pharmacist fails to comply with these requirements, the owner or manager of the store may find themselves charged with a second-degree misdemeanor. 

Pharmacists can find themselves in trouble also if they alter any drug before dispensing it. This happened just over a year ago in Wisconsin.  A pharmacist there took 57 vials of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine and left them out of the cooler overnight.  The next morning, he returned them to the cooler, but again removed them overnight.  Because the Moderna vaccine is only supposed to be left out of a cooler for 12 hours, his actions adulterated the contents, and could have rendered them useless (The vials would have treated over 500 people).  The pharmacist was fired, arrested and charged with suspicion of recklessly endangering safety, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property.  In Florida, a pharmacist is held responsible for the quality of the drugs he sells. If he fraudulently adulterates a drug with intent to sell, or sells any drug he knows is fraudulently adulterated, the pharmacist can be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.   

Al Kelley has worked as an attorney in Monroe County for the last 32 years. He is the author of five law books available through Absolutely Amazing E-Books and the host of “Basics Of The Law”, a legal YouTube channel. He serves as the Vice Chair of the 16th Judicial Circuit Professionalism Panel.  He also previously taught business law, personnel law, and labor law at St. Leo University. This article is being offered as a public service and is not intended to provide specific legal advice. If you have any questions about legal issues, you should confer with a licensed Florida attorney.

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