Drug Free Forever First Class Postage Stamps

A white five-pointed star, with lines of red, light blue and blue radiating from one side of each point. Aaron Draplin made the original artwork, Greg Breeding designed the stamp and set the type, and William J. Gicker was the art director. The radiating lines are the whole argument of the design: drug use is not handled at one level, so the star does not sit alone. It is a plainer, more graphic stamp than most commemoratives, which is what lets it work on serious mail.

The context behind it is not subtle. Surveys put the number of Americans aged 12 and over who used an illicit drug in the past year above 50 million, and the CDC counts overdose among the leading causes of injury-related death in the country. Treatment centers, prevention programmes, school districts and community health organizations use these on outreach and fundraising mail, where a flag would say nothing and a flower would say the wrong thing. Sheets of 20. The design is restrained enough that it does not turn a routine letter into a statement, which is usually the point.