MO Pharmacist November 2022

by DALE SMITH, R.Ph., M.A. U.S. Pharmacy Stamp is 50 Years Old

D id you know that the United States issued a stamp to honor the pharmacy profession on November 10th, 1972? I had just returned from Vietnam where I served in an Army MASH unit for the 11thArmored Cavalry. I was a pharmacist specialist treating Army personnel and South Vietnamese soldiers. While sitting in my pharmacy class, the middle of No vember 1972, my professor introduced two gentlemen from Geigy Pharmaceutical Company. They surprised the whole class with a gift of their pharmacy cover. (figure 1) None of us were aware that the stamp was being issued. That day startedmy life of philatelic collecting of this stamp, and First Day covers, with a complete focus on this wonderful stamp honoring our profession. This 8-cent stamp has quite a history. It took nearly 38 years to convince the postal service to issue this stamp. First proposed in 1934 and rejectedmultiple times, efforts proved futile.There were repeated efforts for almost four decades by many leaders in the pharmacy industry who worked diligently to promote such a commemorative stamp. Failure after failure meant that efforts had to restart time and again, all the while promoters were learning what worked to convince the right individuals to consider such a stamp. Why shouldn’t there be a stamp honoring the pharmacy profession? Over a few years all themajor medical professions: doctors, dentists, osteopathic physicians, nurses and hospitals had already been honored with stamps. Many other nations had printed the pharmacy subject on stamps years before. But for some reason it was difficult to convince the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee (who decide which commem orative stamps will be issued each year) to recognize the devotion and conscientious service that pharmacists pro vide to the public in partnership with the health care providers mentioned above. Finally in the mid-60s journalist Irving Rubin, editor of Pharmacy Times, teamed up with leaders of pharmacy organizations, drug companies, pharma cists and politicians in Washington, DC and start ed an aggressive campaign for a pharmacy stamp. A groundswell of letters frompharmacists, National Association of Retail Druggists, American Pharma ceutical Association, and other pharmaceutical or ganizations and their members was finally working.

RK

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