January 9: Friday Pharmacy Fun Fact

Do You Know Which State Was the First to Require Pharmacists to be Licensed?

Which state was the first to require licensure for pharmacists?

Answer: Louisiana!

Although licensure seems like a no-brainer now, no pharmacists were licensed until 1816, when Louis Dufilho Jr. became the first licensed pharmacist in the country.1 Louisiana passed the law in 1804, requiring a licensing examination for any pharmacist. Before that, anyone could compound and dispense medications.2

Dufilho Jr. opened his own apothecary in New Orleans a few years after he passed the exam. His former business now houses the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.2

REFERENCE

  • Milenkovich, N. New Orleans Pharmacy Museum and the Beginnings of Licensure. Pharmacy Times. https://www.pharmacytimes.com/publications/issue/2018/august2018/new-orleans-pharmacy-museum-and-the-beginnings-of-licensure Published August 8, 2018. Accessed Jan 9, 2020.
  • New Orleans Pharmacy Museum website. https://www.pharmacymuseum.org/ Accessed Jan. 9, 2020.

Stay tuned each week for our new series: the Friday Pharmacy Fun Fact! Impress your friends and colleagues with useful facts about the history of pharmacy, inventions created by pharmacists, and more. If you have a fun fact to contribute, email AAntrim@pharmacytimes.com, and it may be included!