States Intent on Taxing Big Pharma Over the Opioid Crisis

States haven't been very successful at taxing drug companies to help pay for the opioid crisis. But that won’t stop them from trying again next year. Minnesota State Rep. Dave Baker, a Republican who sponsored a failed “penny a pill” bill during this year's session, has said that he plans on a different focus in 2019: pharmaceutical licensing reform. Liquor stores and bars pay thousands of dollars each year for the privilege of selling alcohol, Baker noted this week at a conference on opioids in Minneapolis, but drug companies only pay a few hundred dollars in licensing fees. Record numbers of people are dying each year from drug overdoses. Last year, more than 70,000 people died of an overdose a 13 percent increase over 2016.