Taxing opioids

My new article in The Hill has this:  “Make expenses of selling opioids non-deductible on income tax returns. That is, sellers could not deduct the costs of those gifts, junkets, dinners, and salespeople’s salaries on their income tax returns. Making drug companies’ marketing efforts non-tax-deductible is a move, even if a small one, in the right direction. And legitimate users shouldn’t bear any of the tax burden. What’s not to like?”  The federal government can do this, and each state can, too, for its state income tax returns.

http://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/382984-instead-of-taxing-opioids-we-can-it-put-the-tax-burden-directly-on-opioid