The Apothecary

Nucla, Colorado, just an hour’s drive from Telluride, has seen hard times ever since the U.S. uranium industry collapsed in the late 1970s. It’s a hardscrabble town, where the folks who haven’t fled barely eke out a living. One oasis of activity is The Apothecary Shoppe, the sole pharmacy within a 40 mile radius. The owner, Don Colcord, gamely occupies multiple roles as druggist, surrogate doctor, life counselor and community benefactor. Colcord’s sanguine public persona, however, belies a long-suffered private pain for which there is no drug, no cure and no relief.