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No substitute for action
no substitute for action Since the early times of professional pharmacy, the drugstore has been a gathering place and the pharmacist a man in whom his fellow citizens confided. Thus it is not surprising that again and again pharmacists have been made members of the legislative bodies as well as incumbents of many of the offices open to election. There have always been members of the profession in one or the other house of Congress, and . . . there is scarcely a country in the world which does not offer similar examples of the part played by pharmacists in government and politics on the basis of the confidence of their fellow citizens who elected them.
In this way the late George Urdang , ph armac eutical hi storian and author of Pharmacy's P art in Society , described the manner in which ph armacists in the past have accep te d their community resp on sibility . Histor icall y , the position of the ph armacist in society has been directly rel ated t o the degree of political activi t y in whi ch he has participated . The apot he cary guilds of the Middle Ages in France, Germany an d England wer e mor e or less political act ion com mittees, but as the apot hec ary 's atten tion to government declined , hi s profession al an d socia l problems in crea sed prop ortionately . On the other hand, in Italy the apot hecary guild serve d through out the Middle Ages an d R enai ssance as an important cog in the governme ntal machiner y of the city republics ; thu s it is not surprising that the Italian apot he ca ry was always con sid ered a p atrician . During the past half century , phar macy as a wh ole has not kept pace with the community need s for leader ship an d conse quently the profession ha s suffere d gre viously from its inatt ention to polit ics and govern me nt. F ortunately, many pharmacists are redi scovering t he fact tha t mor e a tten tion t o the science of govern me n t is needed . Fo r exa mple, APHA's section on gene ral practice of pharma cy featured a sy mposium on the pharmacist's community resp on sibility in M arch during the La s Vegas ann ual me eting and more recently the T exa s Pharmaceutical Associati on sponsored a public affairs conf er en ce t o discu ss politics and legislation . T he probl em was forcefully bro ug ht into focus by W . P aul Briggs recently wh en he addressed a sy m posium at W ayne State Unive rsity in M ichiga n. Dr. Briggs ob servedPharmacists must be leaders in towns, cities, states and nationally. Leading in pharmacy is not enough. Pharmacists must lead from the strength of the whole people not just our own fraternity ... If we expectthe pub lic to listen to pharmacy, we must be a vigorous part of the public rather than a silent profess ional servant of the people . . . . The future place of pharmacy will certainly be a reflection of it s value and integrity as a profess ion, but its comparative status will be largely determined by it s effectiveness on the political stage .. . Our efforts must be directed toward pharmaceutical statesmanship of the highest order and on major issues of public and professional concern.
In this issue of the J OURNAL, yo u are introduced to a number of pharmacists who are do ing th eir part to see that pharmacy participates in our democratic process and you will read of various action programs by groups who recognize that our American sys t em will prevail only as lon g as all ofus do our sha re t o make democracy work. W e hop e that afte r perusin g this issue, you will no longer be mystified by old cliches sugges ting that only certain organization s or spe cia l citizen s can make their voices heard effectively in legislative circl es. We hope that you will no longer hold any credence in the bu gaboos an d fall aci es- "politics is dirty bu sin ess" or " polit ics will hurt my professional standing in the community" -·which have been perpetuated about American politics and gove rnment. And mo st important of all , we hop e that this issu e will inspire you to a ct ion. R em ember, ther e is no subs titu te for political action- your action.
-editor
Vol. NS2, No.7 , July 1962
399
In this way the late George Urdang , ph armac eutical hi storian and author of Pharmacy's P art in Society , described the manner in which ph armacists in the past have accep te d their community resp on sibility . Histor icall y , the position of the ph armacist in society has been directly rel ated t o the degree of political activi t y in whi ch he has participated . The apot he cary guilds of the Middle Ages in France, Germany an d England wer e mor e or less political act ion com mittees, but as the apot hec ary 's atten tion to government declined , hi s profession al an d socia l problems in crea sed prop ortionately . On the other hand, in Italy the apot hecary guild serve d through out the Middle Ages an d R enai ssance as an important cog in the governme ntal machiner y of the city republics ; thu s it is not surprising that the Italian apot he ca ry was always con sid ered a p atrician . During the past half century , phar macy as a wh ole has not kept pace with the community need s for leader ship an d conse quently the profession ha s suffere d gre viously from its inatt ention to polit ics and govern me nt. F ortunately, many pharmacists are redi scovering t he fact tha t mor e a tten tion t o the science of govern me n t is needed . Fo r exa mple, APHA's section on gene ral practice of pharma cy featured a sy mposium on the pharmacist's community resp on sibility in M arch during the La s Vegas ann ual me eting and more recently the T exa s Pharmaceutical Associati on sponsored a public affairs conf er en ce t o discu ss politics and legislation . T he probl em was forcefully bro ug ht into focus by W . P aul Briggs recently wh en he addressed a sy m posium at W ayne State Unive rsity in M ichiga n. Dr. Briggs ob servedPharmacists must be leaders in towns, cities, states and nationally. Leading in pharmacy is not enough. Pharmacists must lead from the strength of the whole people not just our own fraternity ... If we expectthe pub lic to listen to pharmacy, we must be a vigorous part of the public rather than a silent profess ional servant of the people . . . . The future place of pharmacy will certainly be a reflection of it s value and integrity as a profess ion, but its comparative status will be largely determined by it s effectiveness on the political stage .. . Our efforts must be directed toward pharmaceutical statesmanship of the highest order and on major issues of public and professional concern.
In this issue of the J OURNAL, yo u are introduced to a number of pharmacists who are do ing th eir part to see that pharmacy participates in our democratic process and you will read of various action programs by groups who recognize that our American sys t em will prevail only as lon g as all ofus do our sha re t o make democracy work. W e hop e that afte r perusin g this issue, you will no longer be mystified by old cliches sugges ting that only certain organization s or spe cia l citizen s can make their voices heard effectively in legislative circl es. We hope that you will no longer hold any credence in the bu gaboos an d fall aci es- "politics is dirty bu sin ess" or " polit ics will hurt my professional standing in the community" -·which have been perpetuated about American politics and gove rnment. And mo st important of all , we hop e that this issu e will inspire you to a ct ion. R em ember, ther e is no subs titu te for political action- your action.
-editor
Vol. NS2, No.7 , July 1962
399