By Louie Graves
News-Leader staff
After an inspection by the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy on Thursday, Jan. 25, Morris Drug, formerly Pile Drug, in Nashville was closed.
A news release from the pharmacy board said that the owner and pharmacist, Ron Morris, had surrendered his pharmacist license and pharmacy permit.
The pharmacy is permanently closed, the news release said. Further investigation is pending. The news release was over the name of Luke Daniel, identified as general counsel of the state board of pharmacy.
A note taped to the inside of the 116 S. South Main business’s door said that customers should contact their prescribers and have them send prescriptions to a new pharmacy.
No details were released for either the inspection or the closure.
Nashville Assistant Police Chief, Amy Marion, ironically ill with flu, said that after the pharmacy board completed its inspection of the drug store, they called the police department.
An officer was sent to stand by while the store was locked. Officer Marion said that she had no idea why the pharmacy was being investigated.
Morris Drug is an extension of a longtime pharmacy presence on Main Street in Nashville. Originally it was named Owl Drug. It was already established when, in the late 1930s pharmacist Brice Carlton purchased it. He sold to John Brook Reese in the mid-1950s. The next owner was WWII Marine Corps veteran David Pile who sold it to his assistant, Morris – who began his pharmaceutical career on June 17, 1963.
Brice Carlton’s daughter, Cay Carlton Teague, recalled the store’s fountain drink counter and the homemade ice cream sold by her father. She said that he delivered prescriptions in town and in the countryside by night, seven days a week.
