In the Immortal Words of Steve Dallas

"DON'T SUE PEOPLE WHO DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY"

This is, apparently, a rule which Mike Hatch, the Minnesota AG follows to the letter. Otherwise why would he be suing Pfizer and Merck on behalf of the great State of Minnesota to recoup the costs of cleaning up meth labs?

{...}Hatch said he plans to sue giant international drugmakers such as Pfizer and Merck on grounds that they long have known that large quantities of their legal products have been diverted to illegal meth labs, spurring an epidemic of addiction, crime and shattered lives across America.

It is a step likely to stir opposition, especially in an election year when the DFL attorney general is a leading candidate to challenge Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Drugmakers say Hatch's plan would penalize makers of valued medicines for others' misuse of their products.

"I'm sure it's controversial," Hatch said. "But we've got to be serious about this. This industry essentially lied to the American public. They're clearly dumping [meth ingredients] in a way that allows creation of this illegal substance."

{...}Hatch noted, however, that the companies "strenuously opposed legislation that would have made their products more difficult to obtain."

Hatch said he will seek enabling legislation to assist the courtroom assault -- including extending the drugmakers' liability six years into the past -- an idea that got a chilly reception from Republican leaders.

Hatch suggested, however, that he could move ahead without legislation, adding that "current law already provides legal theories for recovery of costs caused by meth from the manufacturers and suppliers of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine."{...}

{my emphasis}

Is this sounding vaguely familiar to you all?

{Insert the sound of Kath repeatedly slamming her head on her desk here}

Of course you know what's coming, don't you?

In a related move, the legislature, under prompting from Governor Pawlenty, decided to institute a seventy-five-cent per box "fee" on cold medicine because the cost of cleaning up meth labs is apparently as good an excuse as any for the legislature to raise some moolah for some other arm of government to spend.

When Pawlenty was called on his behavior, he scoffed, "Well, you know, I don't, I'm not a big fan of growing revenues through new mechanisms like this as I hope I've proven as governor but the bottom line was we had a historic government shutdown we had to find common ground and compared to the alternatives of the Democrats wanting to tax everything including income and business taxes and a variety of other things. This was the least offensive. And the good news is other states have done it and meth making has decreased dramatically, and so this has a health benefit as well."

Just you wait.

Posted by Kathy at February 19, 2006 10:28 PM | TrackBack