Gov. Janet Mills (D) has signed an emergency bill carving out an exception to the state’s new law prohibiting stores containing pharmacies from selling tobacco products.
Because of this, small grocery stores could still potentially be eligible for a tobacco license, assuming that several other key conditions are met.
Although many retail pharmacies, including CVS in 2014 and Hannaford in 2020, have already independently decided to stop offering tobacco products in stores, most businesses will not have a choice beginning in April of this year.
Under these new regulations, it is considered a civil violation punishable by a fine of up to $2,000 daily for a pharmacy, or retail establishment that contains a pharmacy, to sell tobacco products.
[RELATED: Janet Mills Signs Bill Preventing Maine Pharmacies from Selling Tobacco Products]
To be exempt from these prohibition, a retail establishment must have less than 26,000 square feet of customer-accessible retail area and be operated primarily as a grocery store.
Pharmacies in these grocery stores must operate as a “separately demised, leased space under a written lease and holds a separate pharmacy license.”
Furthermore, the lease agreement between the pharmacy and the grocery store must have been established prior to July 7, 2025, when the original regulation was signed into law by the governor.
In addition to this, all of the grocery store’s tobacco sales would need to be made outside of the pharmacy’s leased premises, through the grocery store’s separate point of sale system, and from the store’s separate inventory.
After being unanimously recommended for passage by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee, lawmakers in both the House and Senate approved the bill by a voice vote.
Since LD 2134 was designated as an emergency piece of legislation, it will be able to take immediate effect, bypassing the typical 90-day waiting period following the end of the legislative session.
Unlike regular bills, however, emergency measures must be passed by at least a two-thirds margin in both chambers.
I don’t understand how people who want to ban the sale of cigarettes but are still willing to allow vaping, street drugs (fentanyl, cocaine, etc.) and marijuana to be purchased.
This really makes me want to drive to NH and get clove cigarettes so I can smoke them outside the Blaine House for a week straight. And I quit in 2018.
The nanny-stating going on here is ridiculous.
You can shoot up illicit substances and leave needles all over Maine cities, be saved with Narcan dozens of times, and never once face the criminal justice system even though you’re costing Mainers thousands a year.
You can set up an illegal Chinese pot farm, destroying Maine housing and poisoning the pot, Mainers, and the land with illegal chemicals. And you’ll still be allowed to apply for a legit license.
But cigarettes must be banned utterly.
Ok here we go ,,,they way this state treats smokers ,,Why are they not banning Booze in these places also ..I never smoked 12 cigerettes and smashed into a tree .or got into a fight with another person .or |Killed anyone by smoking and driving .it is a personal choice but those yahoos in Disgusta ,,always go after things..ban Booze also then see what happens ..oh yea its the Nector of idiots
The emergency legislation should have been to repeal the original legislation.
There is profit be made in cigarettes, there’s really no profit in filling prescriptions today, pharmacies make money selling everything else which is why CVS and Walgreens are the way they are — pharmacy tucked away in the back corner with everything else in front of it.
What this law is going to do is create “pharmacy deserts” — vast stretches of rural Maine whether there is no pharmacy nearby. It’s also gonna cause some of these rural stores to fail at which point we will have “food deserts“ — areas where you can get a candy bar, but not head of lettuce.
The fact that some of the best pizza can be had at gas stations in Maine should tell people something about the economy of Maine, at least outside of York County.