AGO 1998-023.

• Court: Connecticut

Connecticut Attorney General Opinions 1998. AGO 1998-023. Novebmer 23, 1998Opinion No. 1998-023The Honorable Mark ShiffrinCommissionerDepartment of Consumer Protection165 Capitol AvenueHartford, CT 06106 Dear Commissioner Shiffrin:

You have asked this office for an opinion regarding whether Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 20-627 to 20-630 apply to the "Pequot Pharmaceutical Network", a pharmacy owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation in Ledyard, Connecticut. These statutory provisions regulate "nonresident pharmacies", which are defined as "any pharmacy located outside this state which ships, mails or delivers, in any manner, legend devices or legend drugs . . . into this State." Conn. Gen. Stat. § 20-627.1 Thus, the dispositive question is whether a pharmacy located solely on reservation land situated within the geographical boundaries of the State of Connecticut is "within" the State of Connecticut for purposes of the statute. We conclude that the "Pequot Pharmacy Network" is located within the State of Connecticut, and thus Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 20-627 to 20-630 do not apply.2

This office has previously addressed a virtually identical question relating to the applicability of state banking statutes to a branch office of a bank located on the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation. AG Opinion No. 95-024, John P. Burke, August 24, 1995 (attached as Exhibit A). In AG Opinion No. 95-024, this office concluded that a branch office of a Connecticut bank established on the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation was within the State of Connecticut for purposes of Conn. Gen. Stat. § 36a-145(b) and P.A. 95-155.

As we noted in AG Opinion 95-024:

While federally recognized Indian tribes retain attributes of sovereignty over their members and reservation, "tribal lands within the boundaries of state or organized territories have always been considered to be geographically part of the respective state or territory." Cohen, Felix S., Handbook of Federal Indian Law (1982 Fed.) p. 649.

Federal and state cases and statutes and regulations support a finding that the Reservation is "in this state." The Tribe received federal recognition in 1983 by an act of Congress entitled the Indian Land Claims Settlement Act of 1983 (the "Settlement Act"). 25 U.S.C. §§ 1751 et seq. The Settlement Act also established

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