Article
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
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