Arkansas Code Annotated
Ark. Code Ann. § 17-92-607 (2026)
Unlawful for hospital to hold licensed pharmacy permit — Exceptions
✓ current as of May 2026
- It shall be unlawful for any nonprofit, tax exempt, or governmentally funded hospital to acquire direct or indirect interest in or otherwise hold directly or indirectly a licensed pharmacy permit pursuant to the provisions of § 17-92-405, for the sale at retail of drugs and medicines.
- However, nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit any hospital having a direct or indirect interest in or otherwise holding either directly or indirectly a permit before March 28, 1975, from continuing to have an interest in or holding the permit. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit any hospital so holding a permit before March 28, 1975, from receiving a renewal of the permit.
History. Acts 1975, No. 659, § 8; A.S.A. 1947, § 72-1061.
Case Notes
Constitutionality.
The fact that this section is broader in scope than the federal Robinson-Patman Act (15 U.S.C. § 13 et seq.) does not invalidate the state statute, for, in applying the rational basis test, the judiciary will not act as a superlegislature to question the means employed to accomplish the state objective. The fact that the General Assembly chose to limit drug diversion by eliminating retail sales by nonprofit hospitals, rather than solely by making such actions a crime, does not render the legislation overly broad. Ark. Hosp. Ass'n v. Ark. State Bd. of Pharmacy, 297 Ark. 454, 763 S.W.2d 73 (1989).