[Relations between pharmacies and drug stores during the first years of Czechoslovak independence]

Union of chemists exploited the disputes between pharmacists and legislators for its own prosperity. In 1780 the sale of natural drugs was permitted to the chemists for first time and the Trade Rules of 1856 (later amended) gave them a possibility of production, preparation and sale of poisons and medicaments, unless they were reserved for pharmacists only (section 15, article 14). Among the first founders of chemist's shops belonged the pharmacists who could not establish their own pharmaceutical store due to lack of finance or complaints from their colleagues. The chemist's didn't have to fulfill the obligatory requirements for rooms and equipment, they were not regularly checked and they had less expenses and also lower prices. Their lower profit from the sale of medicaments was compensated by selling typical chemist's articles. The pharmacists brought the level of chemists nearly to the level of organized pharmacy (pharmaceutics supervisory committee, division into regions, a two-years special school, producing and purchasing cooperatives). However, around 1925 the pharmacists became aliens from the point of view of chemists. The chemists felt their own existence threatened and tried to refuse pharmaceutical studies as an approval for chemist trade and tried to limit the sale of cosmetics and dietetics in the pharmaceutical stores. Without bashfulness, they themselves dispatched and prepared medicaments on medical and veterinary prescriptions even though it was illegal. Later they tried to legalize this state during the discussions of the reform of pharmaceutical law. Protesting pharmacists did not have efficient support either from the pharmaceutics supervisory committee, Ministry of Health Care, or Chamber of Commerce. The state solution to this problem which lacked any concept, and together with inconsistency and disunity among pharmacists themselves contributed to deepen the problems between pharmacists and chemists. Unfortunately, pharmacists often focused on minor matters and omitted the essential problems of their profession.