State Opioid Taxes Would Needlessly Harm Patients | Economics21

State Opioid Taxes Would Needlessly Harm Patients | Economics21:
"Americans face a daily barrage of news of the latest casualties in the deadly scourge of opioid addiction.
The estimated 115 opioid overdose deaths that happen in the United States every day cut across demographic and class lines, affecting communities across the country.

More than two million Americans are caught in the grips of a dependency on prescription painkillers and street pills, with little sign of decline in most states.
...wide-scale taxation is a recipe for increased suffering and black market activity.  
In addition to these unintended consequences, any increase in medication costs will raise the costs of Medicaid and Medicare.
Over the past few months, lawmakers in some of the states most affected by the opioid epidemic have proposed taxing pharmaceutical companies for bringing painkillers to market.
...Within the overwhelming majority of opioid users that are not addicted, most patients would either absorb the higher cost or endure increased pain. 
An “effective” opioid tax, then, would punish millions of Americans for whom opiods are the only cure for immense physical pain..."
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