Giving Compass' Take:

• Governing magazine reports on the efforts of state lawmakers across the U.S. to raise taxes on pharmaceutical companies. The intent is to help pay for the cost of the opioid crisis, but success has been elusive.

• While stricter tax policies may be a tough sell in legislators, how can the nonprofit and private sector work toward a solution? Are there ways to work with policymakers on cross-sector prevention and treatment programs?

• One way to help: look beyond the stigma of addiction.

States haven't been very successful at taxing drug companies to help pay for the opioid crisis. But that won’t stop them from trying again next year.

Minnesota State Rep. Dave Baker, a Republican who sponsored a failed “penny a pill” bill during this year's session, has said that he plans on a different focus in 2019: pharmaceutical licensing reform. Liquor stores and bars pay thousands of dollars each year for the privilege of selling alcohol, Baker noted this week at a conference on opioids in Minneapolis, but drug companies only pay a few hundred dollars in licensing fees.

Baker's bill would have raised an estimated $20 million in new annual funding for abuse prevention and treatment efforts by charging pharmaceutical companies a fee for every opioid painkiller they sell. But after heavy lobbying by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the fee was dropped from the House version of the bill and, as a result, stalled in the Senate.

Like many lawmakers leading the charge against big pharma, Baker and co-sponsor Chris Eaton, who was also at the conference, have each lost a child to an opioid overdose. “I’m a pissed off dad," said Baker. "My son isn’t here anymore. The state has spent billions and [the drug companies] have profited billions.”

Minnesota’s effort comes as other states have struggled to hold big pharma financially accountable in response to the opioid crisis. California, Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Tennessee and Vermont all tried and failed to pass opioid taxes this year. Lawmakers in those states say they will try again in 2019.

Read the full article about states trying to tax drug companies to help fix the opioid crisis by Liz Farmer at Governing magazine.