The “penny-a-pill” fee, which will force drug manufacturers to pay to help combat opioid addiction, is expected to raise $12 million in the upcoming year.

By Kassidy Tarala

Gov. Mark Dayton has proposed a new strategy to combat Minnesota’s increasing opioid overdose problem, a plan that would increase prevention and treatment funding,  by a imposing a “penny-a-pill” fee on drug companies.

After the state saw an 18 percent increase in opioid overdoses over the past year, Dayton began spreading this plan across state Legislature, which has gained significant support from both Republican and Democratic state representatives.

Among these representatives in support of Dayton’s plan is Republican Rep. Dave Baker, whose 25-year-old son died of an opioid overdose seven years ago. Baker was one of the first to encourage Dayton to move forward with this proposal.

According to a report from Minnesota Public Radio News, Baker said. Dayton’s plan to handle the opioid crisis with a penny-a-pill fee would not only address the issue statewide, but it would also make Minnesota a leader in this epidemic across the entire nation..

Dayton’s plan would bring $12 million in the coming fiscal year to fight opioid addiction, which would be used in improving prevention and treatment programs across the state.

In addition to this $12 million, Dayton’s penny-a-pill fee is projected to raise about $20 million annually to help fight opioid addiction.

The purpose of charging drug companies a penny-a-pill fee would be to increase funding from Big Pharma companies rather than from Minnesota taxpayers, according to Dayton.

Democratic Sen. Chris Eaton is working alongside Baker to show support for Dayton’s anti-opioid proposal. Like Baker, Eaton lost her 23-year-old daughter to a heroin overdose 11 years ago, which led to her starting this bill three years ago.

Eaton said Dayton’s penny-a-pill plan would be a step towards “reparations” made by drug manufacturers in response to the deaths and other harm their drugs have caused. She has also been an active supporter of recent lawsuits’ claims that drug companies knew how addictive opioids were but continued to encourage prescriptions to increase their profits.

“Manufacturers say the real problem is synthetics. It’s not. No one starts out with synthetics. They start with prescription pills from these manufacturers,” she said.

Eaton said manufacturers have been skirting the system for years by paying legislators to get rid of (Drug Enforcement Administration) regulations.

Others are not so supportive of Dayton’s proposal. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Spokesperson Nick McGee said, the penny-a-pill plan would primarily focus on prescription painkillers rather than street drugs that contributed to this epidemic, which he sees as a problem.

McGee said that the penny-a-pill tax would unfairly penalize patients who actually rely on these types of prescribed medications for serious illnesses. Ultimately, the prescriptions that those individuals folks need for their potentially fatal conditions would increase in cost, too.

However, Eaton said these companies are responsible for a growing opioid addiction, regardless of their intentions. Nevertheless, Eaton supports the notion that these companies are responsible for paying a penny-a-pill tax in an attempt to reverse the effects of Big Pharma’s current actions.

“It’s not really a penny-a-pill plan because it goes by dosage, so while some prescriptions will cost a penny per pill, others might be 15 cents or more,” Eaton said.

According to Eaton, the major change would be in providing prevention, education, treatment, support, recovery and child protection to people struggling with opioid addiction.

“We just need people who, when they come to the ER, just start on a medication right away,” she said, adding that the process needs to be more streamlined so patients don’t experience negative withdrawal symptoms before getting into the hospital for treatment.

Eaton helped promote this bill at the Opioid Awareness Day in St. Paul on March 1n Thursday. During At the rally, Eaton sent people to talk to legislators with the guarantee that, if they use their vote on this bill, she will personally campaign on their behalf regardless of political party.

“This is not a partisan issue. It’s a human issue. It’s a Minnesota issue. I don’t care what party you’re running for. If you’re supporting this bill, I’ll support you,” she said.

The anti-opioid proposals would initially be covered by state funds throughout 2019 but would be covered by the penny-a-pill tax after that, Dayton told MPR News..

Other lawmakers across Minnesota are taking similar steps toward reversing the opioid crisis. Democrat Sen. Tina Smith announced on the same day as Dayton that she is going to propose a similar bill to the penny-a-pill plan, which would be active on the federal level.

“We need it to be as easy for people to get help as it is to get heroin,” Eaton says.

You can read more about Dayton’s anti-opioid proposals and penny-a-pill plan on his legislative fact sheet: http://mn.gov/gov-stat/pdf/2018_02_14_FACTSHEET_Legislative_Proposal.pdf