标题:The Realization of the State Policy on Expanding the Drugstore Network in the Russian Empire between the 18th and the First Half of the 19th Centuries
摘要:This article seeks to analyze the historical experience of organizing drugstores across the Russian Empire between the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries. To this end, the author examines the legal and regulatory framework of the organization and activity of drugstores, the origin of which is traced to 1701, when a decree by Peter the Great instituted the so-called “drugstore monopoly”. This time period marks the beginning of the process of systematic expansion of the Russian drugstore network under the control of the state. The aim of the state policy to expand the number of drugstore institutions was founded on the need to root out potion-mongering and quackery and, accordingly, making medication help better available to the Empire’s residents. The author’s analysis reveals that there was trouble with realizing the state policy, namely the lack of qualified specialists, the lack of capital for opening a drugstore, and the need to get permission from the owners of other drugstores already in operation.