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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye on Olympia: Bill would ban drug company sales tactic

Richard Roesler The Spokesman-Review

OLYMPIA – Little-known fact: Drug companies can see what your doctor’s prescribing and use the information to tailor the pitches of their salespeople.

A bill approved late Monday night by the state Senate would ban that. Proponents say the practice drives up costs – are the salespeople really out there pitching generics? – and that doctors are often unaware of how much information drug companies can get.

Sen. Brian Weinstein, D-Mercer Island, cited a drug-company e-mail about doctors: “Hold them accountable for all the time, samples, lunches, dinners, programs that you have provided or paid for to get their business,” he read.

The drug industry spends $30 billion a year on marketing, he said, including $3 billion on a sales force, typically of “young, sexy women” dispatched to doctors offices with drug samples and information.

Critics – mostly Republicans – said the bill goes too far. The information comes from the American Medical Association, Sen. Cheryl Pflug said, which allows doctors to opt out. But Senate Bill 6241 won’t even let doctors opt in. And, she said, drug companies cannot see what individual patients are getting.

“I think we have, again, a case of ‘We love to beat up on pharmaceutical companies,’ ” said Pflug, R-Maple Valley. She also objected to the “sexy” characterization of the sales force. (“It’s true,” Weinstein said.)

Only the federal government, Sen. Mike Carrell said, can regulate interstate and international trade. He maintains that the bill is unconstitutional.

“I don’t know what it is about late at night,” said Carrell, R-Lakewood, “but this isn’t the first time the Legislature has tried to repeal gravity.”

Soft economy? Spend more

The plot thickened in Olympia last week, when lawmakers learned the treasury will have $423 million less than expected.

While that’s a tiny slice of the $33 billion two-year operating budget, it makes life hard for the many lawmakers hoping to get things into this year’s supplemental budget. The news also comes at a time when Gov. Chris Gregoire has been urging lawmakers to “batten down the hatches” on spending.

But as the economy slows, one budget think tank says this is the time for more spending, not less.

Budget cuts can worsen a recession and hurt the people who can least afford to lose the help, says Jeff Chapman, research director for the private Washington State Budget and Policy Center.

Chapman argues that the state should tap the “rainy day fund,” a brand-new account designed to be a state savings account for emergencies. So far, however, Gregoire has rejected that.

Chapman also says this is a good time to speed up the construction of schools, bridges, and affordable housing, as well as environmental cleanup. The resulting jobs, he says, will help local economies at a critical time.

New anti-crime proposal: Hand out guns

The Honorable State Master Robert Hill has been turning up at legislative hearings lately, and it’s always interesting.

Hill is apparently a colorful fixture at Tacoma-area government meetings and a legislative candidate. As a former Tacoma City Council candidate, his platform included fewer police, demolishing the Tacoma Dome, encouraging strip- and massage clubs and declaring prostitution the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority. He also had a proposal for a new, female-only holiday.

In Olympia, this year, Hill’s focus seems to be mainly on guns. He showed up one morning to testify in favor of firearms on college campuses, helpfully pulling out a hollow-point bullet to show lawmakers.

And recently, Hill weighed in on an otherwise-unexceptional bill to steer some money to block-watch anti-crime programs.

At the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hill’s testimony started out in the sort of droning policy-speak that’s the lingua franca of legislative hearings:

“I see the substitute as being an improvement on the original … as bulleted on the purple sheet, reducing the appropriation to $48,000 … considering that the first clause clarifies the availability of funds …”

And so on.

Then, his voice rising, he got to the meat of the matter: the money is too little for the sort of crime-deterrence he favors: Handing out guns. (The bill says nothing about buying guns for anyone.)

“If it were to stay at 48,000, that barely buys 120, you know, pistols,” Hill said, as lawmakers glanced around at each other. “And with tax, it’s only going to be about 100. And with the holster, whether it’s an ankle holster …”

At this point, he pulled up his pant leg to show that he was wearing such an ankle holster, although it was unclear from my seat in the back of the room whether there was anything in it. As Senate security staff circled close behind him, Hill outlined his plan to train and arm pistol-packing locals.

During this, Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, got up and left, and Weinstein, D-Mercer Island, seemed to jokingly pantomime ducking behind his desk.

But committee chairman Adam Kline was unfazed.

“Thank you very much,” Kline said, moving on to the next speaker.