Location: Wilmington Street in Raleigh
County: Wake
Original Date Cast: 1979
To respond to the needs of fellow druggists and to forestall attempts by doctors to dictate pharmaceutical standards, several pharmacists in Wilson in the postwar era sought to create a statewide association for their mutual benefit. Druggists statewide were contacted, and their help was sought in the development of a concise request for legislation from the General Assembly. The result was the creation of the North Carolina Pharmaceutical Association in 1880. The founders recognized a need for a professional organization to establish industry standards and ensure the growth of the profession. Additionally, the new Medical Society of North Carolina petitioned the legislature for the creation of a law to require licensing of pharmacists.
In August 1880, about 100 druggists from throughout the state held a convention in Raleigh to create the organization, meeting in the Senate Chamber of the State Capitol. The convention adopted a constitution and by-laws and elected Edward M. Nadal of Wilson their president. A committee then was created to draft a bill on the regulation of pharmacies by the state. A final version of the draft was presented to the convention and adopted. The proposed “Pharmacy Law” was then presented to the legislature and passed into law at the following session.
The North Carolina Pharmaceutical Association in time developed into the present-day modern organization working to improve pharmaceutical standards, ethics, and to encourage scholarship in the pharmaceutical industry. In 2000, the North Carolina Pharmaceutical Association merged with the North Carolina Society of Heath-System Pharmacists, the North Carolina Chapter of the America Society of Consultant Pharmacists, and the North Carolina Retail Pharmacy Association to create the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists in order to unite, serve and advance the profession of pharmacy for the benefit of society.
References:
Alice Noble, “The North Carolina Pharmaceutical Association, 1880-1929,” Carolina Journal of Pharmacy (1929)
Proceedings of the North Carolina Pharmaceutical Association (1880)
North Carolina Association of Pharmacists: http://www.ncpharmacists.org/