WASHINGTON _ Former Vice President Joe Biden says he would combat the opioid crisis by banning pharmaceutical companies from making payments or providing incentives for physicians to prescribe their products.
Biden's campaign unveiled a list of proposals Wednesday aimed at curbing opioid addiction, just six days ahead of the March 10 Missouri primary. Biden will be campaigning in St. Louis and Kansas City Saturday as he pursues the Democratic presidential nomination.
Missouri has seen a steady rise of opioid-related overdose deaths since the 1990s, but remains the only state without a prescription drug monitoring program because of a yearslong legislative standoff.
Biden's plan would increase federal anti-addiction grants to Missouri but tie the funding to establishment of a prescription monitoring program. States with databases would have to require physicians to consult them before writing each prescription in order to qualify for a portion of $125 billion in grant funding over 10 years.
The $125 billion would be paid for by raising a tax on pharmaceutical company profits, according to the documents provided by the Biden campaign.
The proposal is similar to a bill introduced last year by one of Biden's opponents, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Her proposal would steer $100 billion into anti-addiction programs and pay for it by closing loopholes that allow wealthy families to avoid the estate tax.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, another leading contender for the Democratic nomination, is a co-sponsor of Warren's bill.
Biden's plan includes a range of proposals for stepping up federal enforcement and oversight of the pharmaceutical industry. It calls for the appointment of an Opioid Accountability Crisis Coordinator to oversee efforts across multiple federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Justice.
In targeting pharmaceutical companies, Biden's plan appears to draw on some of the work of former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat who led an investigation into opioid manufacturers before losing her 2018 campaign to Republican Josh Hawley.
While Biden's plan calls potential criminal cases against pharmaceutical companies, it would also end incarceration for people convicted of drug use alone. It would also expand the use of drug courts, which would steer offenders into treatment.
