FLORIDA BOARD OF PHARMACY, APPELLANT,
v.
WEBB'S CITY, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLEE

Fla. | 1969-02-26
No. 37230
ROBERTS, DREW, THORNAL and CALDWELL (Retired!), JJ., and WALKER and TAYLOR, Circuit Judges, concur., ERVIN", C. J., concurs in part and dissents in part with opinion.
219 So. 2d 681 Florida Supreme Court (1969) Caution
Cited by 10 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed a trial court decision invalidating a statute that prohibited retail drug establishments from advertising prescription drugs. The court found the advertising restriction unconstitutional, relying on precedent from Stadnik v. Shell's City, Inc.


Holding

The court affirmed the trial court's invalidation of Section 1(2)(f) of Chapter 67-521, holding that the statute's prohibition on advertising prescription drugs is unconstitutional.


Key Quotes

“No pharmacist, owner or employee of a retail drug establishment shall use any communication media to promote or advertise the use or sale of any of the following...Any drugs which require a prescription.”

The statutory provision at issue that prohibited all advertising of prescription drugs

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

The Florida legislature enacted Chapter 67-521, which amended Section 465.23 of the Florida Statutes to prohibit pharmacists, owners, and employees of…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

We here review on direct appeal a decision of the trial court holding invalid Section 1(2) (f) of Chapter 67-521, Laws of Florida, which purported to amend Section 465.23, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., and expressly prohibiting retail drug establishments from using any communication media to promote or advertise the use or sale of “any drugs which require a prescription”.

Chapter 67-521, Laws of Florida, omitting the formal parts, provides :-

“Section 1. Section 465.23, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
“465.23 Promoting sale of certain drugs prohibited.—
“(1) It is declared that the unrestricted use of certain narcotics, central nervous system stimulants, tranquilizers, barbiturates and other hypnotic and somni-facient drugs and any drugs which require a prescription, causing abnormal reactions that may interfere with the user’s physical reflexes and judgments may create hazardous circumstances which may cause accidents to the user and to others, thereby affecting the public health, safety and welfare. It is further declared to be in the public interest to limit the means of promoting the sale and use of these drugs. All provisions of this section shall be liberally construed to carry out these objectives and purposes.
“(2) No pharmacist, owner or employee of a retail drug establishment shall use any communication media to promote or advertise the use or sale of any of the following:
“(a) Narcotics;
“(b) Central nervous system stimulants ;
“(c) Tranquilizers;
“(d) Barbiturates;
“(e) Other hypnotic and somnifacient drugs;
“(f) Any drugs which require a prescription. (Emphasis added.)
“Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 1967.”

Only Section 1(2) (f) of the Act was involved in the final judgment of the trial court.

*682The case sub judice is controlled by the decision of this court in Stadnik v. Shell’s City, Inc., 140 So.2d 871, and the decision here under review is therefore

Affirmed.

ROBERTS, DREW, THORNAL and CALDWELL (Retired!), JJ., and WALKER and TAYLOR, Circuit Judges, concur.

ERVIN", C. J., concurs in part and dissents in part with opinion.

ERVIN, Justice

(concurring in part and dissenting in part):

Subsection (2) (f) of Section 465.23, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., as amended by Chapter 67-521, reading, “Any drugs which require a prescription,” is subject to the rule ejusdem generis since it must be read in connection with all the language of the section.

The section’s object is not to regulate the advertising and promotion of all drugs requiring a prescription, but only those which have narcotic or abnormal stimulating effects as described in the first portion of the section.

Therefore, it follows subsection (2) (f) refers to any prescription drugs of the same class or classes of drugs referred to in the preceding subsections (2) (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) of the section. None of the drugs or items by their names or descriptions as provided in subsections (2) (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e), nor any of the same that require a prescription to be sold" may be advertised for sale contrary to Section 465.23, Florida Statutes, F.S.A.

In Stadnik v. Shell’s City, Inc. (Fla.), 140 So.2d 871, the prior regulation held invalid sought to prohibit the advertisement of the names or prices of all prescription drugs. The regulation there was not confined to drug» of the narcotic and stimulant types here considered. There, the object was an attempt to prohibit price competition in all prescription drug business. Here, the object is to curtail sales promotion of drugs susceptible of narcotic or stimulating effects whether prescribed or not. So considered, the instant statute appears to have a reasonable relation to public safety, health, morals and general welfare.

Other
ERVIN, Justice

ERVIN, Justice

(concurring in part and dissenting in part):

Subsection (2) (f) of Section 465.23, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., as amended by Chapter 67-521, reading, “Any drugs which require a prescription,” is subject to the rule ejusdem generis since it must be read in connection with all the language of the section.

The section’s object is not to regulate the advertising and promotion of all drugs requiring a prescription, but only those which have narcotic or abnormal stimulating effects as described in the first portion of the section.

Therefore, it follows subsection (2) (f) refers to any prescription drugs of the same class or classes of drugs referred to in the preceding subsections (2) (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) of the section. None of the drugs or items by their names or descriptions as provided in subsections (2) (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e), nor any of the same that require a prescription to be sold" may be advertised for sale contrary to Section 465.23, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. In Stadnik v. Shell’s City, Inc. (Fla.), 140 So. 2d 871, the prior regulation held invalid sought to prohibit the advertisement of the names or prices of all prescription drugs. The regulation there was not confined to drug» of the narcotic and stimulant types here considered. There, the object was an attempt to prohibit price competition in all prescription drug business. Here, the object is to curtail sales promotion of drugs susceptible of narcotic or stimulating effects whether prescribed or not. So considered, the instant statute appears to have a reasonable relation to public safety, health, morals and general welfare.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • …e. Nothing in that decision compels the result reached here unless it can be said that the statute under scrutiny is totally arbitrary. In Stadnik v. Shell’s City, Inc., 140 So. 2d 871 (Fla.1962), and Florida Board of Pharmacy v. Webb’s City, Inc., 219 So. 2d 681 (Fla.1969), the Court struck down a pharmacy board rule and a statute, respectively, that prohibited the advertisement of the price, or any promotion of the use of prescription drugs. It was held that the rule and statute in question bore no relatio…
    1 / 2
  • Chicago Title Ins. Co. v. Butler, 770 So. 2d 1210 (Fla. 2000)
    …ent of the name or price of prescription drugs on the basis that it was an attempt to prohibit price competition which had no reasonable relation to public safety, health, morals or general welfare. In Florida Board of Pharmacy v. Webb’s City, Inc., 219 So. 2d 681 (Fla.1969), we held invalid a statute which prohibited retail drug establishments from using the media to promote the use or sale of prescription drugs. In recent years, the United States Supreme Court also has struck down governmental statutes or…
  • The Soc'y FOR the Welf. OF Animals, Inc. v. Walrath, 343 So. 2d 934 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977)
    …or for the trial court to prohibit the advertising as same constituted an infringement on its constitutional right of freedom of speech, citing Stadnik v. Shell’s City, Inc., 140 So. 2d 871 (Fla.1962); Florida Board of Pharmacy v. Webb’s City, Inc., 219 So. 2d 681 (Fla.1969); Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, 425 U.S. 748, 96 S.Ct. 1817, 48 L.Ed.2d 346 (1976). We disagree, and affirm. Pursuant to § 474.031(ll)(c), Florida Statutes (1975), the services performed by the do…

Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw