{"id":884847,"date":"2026-10-16T22:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T22:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/884847\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T22:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T22:36:13","slug":"mainers-who-import-prescription-drugs-face-new-customs-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/884847\/","title":{"rendered":"Mainers who import prescription drugs face new customs rule"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792190171_205_df0485ff-d152-47b4-a416-4553c6ba1aa2_1690409141.jpg\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" alt=\"Russ Reed\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792190173_953_author_avatar.png\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" alt=\"Default author avatar\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>BANGOR, Maine \u2014<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"0\">A new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rule would make it nearly impossible for personal prescription shipments from pharmacies outside the United States to enter the country, affecting Maine residents who rely on lower-cost prescriptions from Canada and elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"1\">The change was supposed to start next week on Thursday, Oct. 22, but CBP decided Wednesday to delay the deadline 90 days to Jan. 20, 2027.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"2\">The group Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wabi.tv\/2026\/10\/15\/mainers-who-import-prescription-drugs-face-new-customs-rule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WMTW media partner WABI<\/a> that the reprieve came after its members sent more than 107,000 letters to Congress. The group says it is seeking a permanent solution.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"3\">Ken Hunter, executive director of the Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation, said some patients may not be able to afford their drugs under the new rule.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"4\">&#8220;Some patients are going to be in the situation of not being able to afford their drugs. We&#8217;re not talking about a $10 or $15 price increase. This is hundreds of dollars per month. Then you multiply that across multiple prescriptions that, for instance, a senior might take, you can see that can be a couple of thousand dollars,&#8221; Hunter said. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to be very important that we get personal pharmaceuticals carved out and set aside from this new rule, because it&#8217;s really a matter of life and death.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"5\">Hunter said a number of U.S. senators, including Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), signed a letter to CBP demanding personal prescriptions be exempted, arguing the rule will not help with tariffs or stopping fentanyl, its intended purpose. Hunter said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was not among the senators who signed on to the letter, but added that he would welcome her support.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"6\">Hunter is urging people to keep pressuring Congress at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.personalimportation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.personalimportation.org\/\">personalimportation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BANGOR, Maine \u2014 A new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rule would make it nearly impossible for personal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[371339,311324,114963,1340,275,926,371346,97,371341,371343,14849,10482,14971,371347,243,371345,371342,18754,371344,24679,371340,371319,16597,72963,6601,14972],"class_list":["post-884847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-campaign-for-personal-prescription-importation","tag-canadian-border","tag-cbp","tag-congress","tag-day","tag-dollar","tag-group-campaign","tag-health","tag-imported-prescription-drugs","tag-ken-hunter","tag-letter","tag-maine","tag-maines-total-coverage","tag-mainer","tag-medication","tag-new-custom-rule","tag-new-customs-rule","tag-patient","tag-personal-prescription-shipment","tag-prescription-drug","tag-prescriptions-from-canada","tag-sen-susan-collins","tag-thursday","tag-u-s-customs-and-border-protection","tag-wednesday","tag-wmtw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}