Tribe Helps Old Friends With Pharmacy Project

Mashantuckets Support Penobscots Of Maine

By KAREN FLORIN
Day Staff Writer, Casinos/Gambling
Published on 11/29/2005

Indians have long memories, says Bill Millar, a Mashantucket Pequot pharmacy employee who helped the Penobscot Nation of Maine open a mail order pharmacy earlier this month.

The Penobscots helped the Mashantuckets open their high stakes bingo hall in 1986 and managed the Connecticut operation for two years. The Mashantuckets parlayed the bingo operation into Foxwoods Resort Casino, the largest casino in the world, and opened other businesses on their reservation, including a successful pharmacy enterprise called the Pequot Pharmaceutical Network.

Three years ago, when the Penobscots were looking to get into the pharmacy business, the Mashantuckets found themselves in a position to help.

The new Penobscot Indian Nation Rx, or PIN Rx, is located in a renovated warehouse on the tribe's reservation on Indian Island, which is 12 miles north of Bangor in upstate Maine. Ten employees –– seven of them tribal members –– are filling prescriptions for people on the state's version of Medicaid and other assistance programs who have chronic medical problems such as heart disease and diabetes. The tribe purchases the drugs from a wholesaler who negotiates prices with the manufacturers. The tribe resells the prescriptions to Medicaid patients at an anticipated savings to the state of about $5 million a year.

The Mashantuckets, who fill about 5,000 prescriptions a week, have clients in Maine, but did not hesitate when it came to helping their longtime friends. With approval from the Tribal Council and the pharmacy's directors, Millar, special assistant to the president of the Pequot pharmacy business, and Henry Pedro, director of the Mashantucket pharmacy, put together a budget and helped the Penobscots obtain grants and loans.

They sent a proposal to the State of Maine suggesting the state give its Medicaid prescription business to the Penobscots rather than continuing to send it out of state to Texas. He suggested a mail-order pharmacy would bring jobs and revenue to Maine and would provide remote retailers access. The Penobscots also wanted to be involved should the importation of cheaper drugs from Canada become legal.

The state turned down the proposal twice before the Maine Council of Senior Citizens –– a lobby with access to about a third of the state's population –– got involved.

“They got directly to the governor, who thought it was the greatest thing since popcorn,” Millar said.

Gov. John Baldacci had consistently opposed the Penobscot's efforts to open a casino but had vowed to support other economic development ventures. His office helped the tribe obtain a $400,000 economic development grant for the pharmacy project. Baldacci attended the recent groundbreaking on Indian Island.

Tim Love, a Penobscot Indian who lived in Connecticut for several years and worked with the Mashantuckets, moved back to Maine to help his tribe with economic development after the tribe's latest effort to open a casino failed in 2003. Maine voters rejected a Penobscot-Passamaquoddy casino venture by a 2-to-1 ratio.

“Gambling is out for now,” Love said recently.

The tribe obtained the $400,000 grant and mortgaged an oceanside property to finance the pharmacy. It converted a vacant audio cassette factory on the reservation into a state-of-the-art mail order prescription facility. Tribal members hope to employ 40 people within a year and eventually 100.

The new venture has met with resistance from the Maine Pharmacy Association, which is concerned the PIN Rx will drive smaller pharmacies out of business.

“The State of Maine spends $362 million a year on drugs,” Love said. “I think there's enough room for all of us.”