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                                                            OMB APPROVAL       
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- --------                                            OMB Number:  3235-0104  
 FORM 3                                             Expires: September 30, 1998 
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                                                    hours per response .... 0.5
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                    U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, DC 20549

            INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES

    Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
                                 Section 17(a)
      of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(f)
                     of the Investment Company Act of 1940


                                                                                                                     
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 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person   2. Date of Event Requiring    4. Issuer Name and Ticker or     6. If Amendment, Date 
    Wesson       Bruce         F.             Statement                     Trading Symbol                    of Original
- ----------------------------------------      (Month/Day/Year)           Halsey Drug Co., Inc (HDG)          (Month/Day/Year)
     (Last)     (First)     (Middle)            3-10-98                  ------------------------------
    60 Whittredge Road                     ----------------------------  5. Relationship of Reporting     7. Individual or Joint/   
- ----------------------------------------   3. IRS or Social Security          Person to Issuer               Group Filing (Check
             (Street)                         Number of Reporting           (Check all applicable)           Applicable Line)       
                                              Person (Voluntary)         X  Director   ___  10% Owner        X Form filed by One   
     Summit      New Jersey    07901             ###-##-####             ___Officer     X   Other              Reporting Person
- --------------------------------------     ----------------------------  (give title below)  (specify below) __Form filed by More  
      (City)      (State)      (Zip)                                                                           than One Reporting  
                                                                                                               Person
                                                                         General Partner of Galen Partners
                                                                         III, L.P. which together with affiliated 
                                                                         entities owns convertible debentures
                                                                         exercisable for approximately fifty
                                                                         percent (50%) of the common stock
                                                                         of Halsey Drug Co., Inc.
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                                                            TABLE 1 -- NON-DERIVATIVE SECURITIES BENEFICIALLY OWNED      
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 1. Title of Security                         2. Amount of Securities         3. Ownership Form:         4. Nature of Indirect     
    (Instr. 4)                                   Beneficially Owned              Direct (D) or              Beneficial    
                                                 (Instr. 4)                      Indirect (I)               Ownership (Instr. 5)
                                                                                 (Instr. 5)                 
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Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly.                   (Over)
                                                                               (Print or Type Responses)             SEC 1473 (8/92)
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FORM 3 (CONTINUED) TABLE II -- DERIVATIVE SECURITIES BENEFICIALLY OWNED (E.G., PUTS, CALLS, WARRANTS, OPTIONS, CONVERTIBLE SECURITIES) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Title of Derivative Security 2. Date 3. Title and Amount of 4. Conver- 5. Owner- 6. Nature of Indirect (Instr. 4) Exercisable and Securities Underlying sion or ship Beneficial Ownership Expiration Date Derivative Security Exercise Form of (Instr. 5) (Month/Day/ (Instr. 4) Price of Deriv- Year) Deri- ative vative Security: Security Direct ------------------------------------------------- (D) or Date Expira- Amount or Indirect (I) Exercis- tion Title Number (Instr. 5) able Date of Shares - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stock Option * * Common Stock 10,000 $3.125 D - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Explanation of Responses: *Date of grant of stock option March 10, 1998; Date Exercisable and Expiration Date to be determined. /s/ BRUCE F. WESSON 3/18/1998 **Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal ------------------------------- ------------- Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a). **Signature of Reporting Person Date Note. File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. Page 2 If space provided is insufficient, See Instruction 6 for procedure. SEC 1473 (8/92)