Judge blocks New York from enforcing opioid tax on companies

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday blocked New York state from enforcing a recently-enacted law that aimed to collect $600 million from drug manufacturers and distributors to defray the costs of combating the opioid addiction epidemic.

District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan ruled that while the concerns driving New York’s decision to adopt the law were valid, the means by which the state would extract payments from the companies violates the U.S. Constitution.

The ruling came in a trio of lawsuits challenging the law by generic drugmakers group the Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM), drug wholesale distributor group Healthcare Distribution Alliance and opioid generics maker Mallinckrodt Plc’s unit SpecGx.

AAM said in a statement that while it supported proposals to address the opioid crisis, “legislative proposals must reflect an understanding of the pharmaceutical ecosystem and adhere to the tenets of the U.S. Constitution.”

-snip-

HEALTH NEWS DECEMBER 19, 2018 / 2:56 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Nate Raymond
2 MIN READ


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-opioids/judge-blocks-new-york-from-enforcing-opioid-tax-on-companies-idUSKCN1OI2FZ

[cstanleytech]

1. If states can set their own taxes on goods sold in the state like liquor, food and other things then

how does it violate the Constitution to set one on narcotics?

[hack89]

2. It forbid the companies from passing the cost on to consumers

in essence setting the cost of drugs in all 50 states. NY does not have that power.