Here’s a reason to use snail mail: New postage stamp supports veterans with PTSD

The United States Postal Service rolled out its newest semipostal stamp just in time for Christmas card season.

The best part? Using the stamp helps support veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The “Healing PTSD” stamp went on sale Monday and features a photographic illustration of a green plant sprouting from a bed of fallen leaves.

The stamp costs 65 cents — a 10-cent markup for the usual 55 cents — to cover First Class Mail postage rates. The extra revenue will be donated to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the release said.

“The Postal Service is honored to issue this semipostal stamp as a powerful symbol of the healing process, growth and hope for tens of millions of Americans who experience PTSD,” vice chairman of post office board of governors David Williams said in a statement. The money raised can “help treat soldiers, veterans, first responders, health care providers and other individuals dealing with this condition,” the statement said.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, between 11 and 20 percent of veterans who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are diagnosed with PTSD in a given year. Twelve percent of Gulf War veterans suffer from the condition while an estimated 30 percent of Vietnam War veterans will have PTSD in their lifetime.

The department says trauma-focused psychotherapies — treatment that focuses on the memory of traumatic events — are most commonly recommended for people with PTSD.

The “Healing PTSD” stamp is a semipostal stamp, which USPS uses to advance causes “it considers to be in the national public interest and appropriate,” the release says. The Alzheimer’s semipostal stamp released in 2017 was the first of its kind with “Healing PTSD” being the second.

Under the Semipostal Authorization Act, a semipostal stamp canbe sold for only two years.