Shiffrin, 112398 CTAGO, AGO 1998-24

Case DateNovember 23, 1998
CourtConnecticut
The Honorable Mark Shiffrin
AGO 1998-24
No. 1998-024
Connecticut Attorney General Opinion
November 23, 1998
         The Honorable Mark Shiffrin          Commissioner          Department of Consumer Protection          165 Capitol Avenue          Hartford, 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
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