Show Is 1 tobacco a drug an interesting case of splitting hairs has arisen in ireland in the administration of the national insurance act as to whether tobacco is ft a drug a necessity or a luxury all three views being taken by different authorities says london tit alt bits it appears that the super superintending intending medical officer of the dublin district recommend enthat a consumptive patient coming un under berthe the provisions of 0 the act bo be given tobacco for sm kang to comfort him in his last days offering to pay forche for aha weed himself but the insurance committee decided that the tobacco was necessary to the patients treatment and sent in the bill to the insurance commissioners two weeks later the local authorities received a ler lengthy gilly communication demanding an explanation of their action in charging the government with a shillings worth of tobacco their reply was that tobacco was recognized as a drug in the british codex under the title of nico tiana taba clum and that it had been prescribed by a registered practitioner thereupon the commissioners consulted learned K C s and they are still wrestling with the subject meanwhile the patient Is dead the tobacco has been smoked and the expense of the disputation has already reached a hundred times the cost of the original tin of shag |