[Senate Hearing 106-1033]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 106-1033
EMERGING DRUG THREATS AND PERILS FACING UTAH'S YOUTH
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JULY 6 AND 7, 2000
__________
SALT LAKE CITY AND CEDAR CITY, UT
__________
Serial No. J-106-101
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Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
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73-821 WASHINGTON : 2001
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COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah, Chairman
STROM THURMOND, South Carolina PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont
CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts
ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware
JON KYL, Arizona HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin
MIKE DeWINE, Ohio DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California
JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin
SPENCER ABRAHAM, Michigan ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey
JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York
BOB SMITH, New Hampshire
Manus Cooney, Chief Counsel and Staff Director
Bruce A. Cohen, Minority Chief Counsel
C O N T E N T S
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THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2000
STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE MEMBER
Page
Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., a U.S. Senator from the State of Utah...... 1
WITNESSES
Anonymous Person................................................. 43
Allred, Steve, Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Program
Manager, Utah County Division, Human Service................... 41
Bigelow, Sherryl, Mother of a Methamphetamine addicted Teenage
Daughter....................................................... 26
Greiner, Jon, Chief, Ogden City Police Department, Weber/Morgan
Task Force..................................................... 20
Marshall, Donnie, Administrator, U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration................................................. 5
Morgan, Kent, Salt Lake County Assistant District Attorney,
Narcotics Unit................................................. 23
Taylor, Colleen, President, Utah, PTA............................ 40
Warner, Paul, U.S. Attorney for Utah............................. 16
Wasden, Roy, Deputy Chief, Salt Lake City Police Department, Head
of Narcotics/Metro Task Force.................................. 23
Welch, Shari, M.D., Emergency Room Physician, LDS Hospital....... 37
FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2000
STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE MEMBER
Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., a U.S. Senator from the State of Utah...... 53
WITNESSES
Burns, Scott, Iron County Attorney............................... 65
Corry, Barbara, PTA Regional Director, Region 16, Cedar City, UT,
prepared statement............................................. 84
Green, Joseph R., District Director, U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service, Department of Justice, prepared
statement...................................................... 56
Davis, Bradley, Convicted Methamphetamine Manufacturer and Dealer 89
Harmon, Sandy, Program Director for Substance Abuse Treatment,
Southwest Center............................................... 82
Houston, Jana, Family Devastated by Methamphetamine, prepared
statement...................................................... 85
Milne, Tibby, Utah Council for Crime Prevention, prepared
statement...................................................... 78
Mendrala, Don, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Drug
Enforcement Administration..................................... 64
Peck, Russell, Captain, St. George Police Department, prepared
statement...................................................... 67
Warner, Paul, U.S. Attorney for Utah, prepared statement......... 58
EMERGING DRUG THREATS AND PERILS FACING UTAH'S YOUTH
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- -
THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2000
U.S. Senate,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Salt Lake City, UT.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:10 p.m., at
Highland High School, 2166 South 1700 East, Salt Lake City, UT,
Hon. Orrin G. Hatch (chairman of the committee) presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ORRIN G. HATCH, A U.S. SENATOR FROM
THE STATE OF UTAH
Chairman Hatch. Let's call this committee hearing to order.
Good afternoon, we welcome you all to this hearing of the
Senate Judiciary Committee. I'm holding these hearings both
here and in Cedar City examining the existing and emerging
threats posed by illicit drugs to Utah's young people.
I'm glad to see so many people here who are as committed,
as I am, to focussing attention, educational, and law
enforcement resources on combating this problem.
Let me just recognize some of the very important people we
have in attendance today. Joe Green, if you could stand so
everybody knows who you are. Joe is doing a great job, we
appreciate having you here.
Steve Branch, officer in charge of the Salt Lake City
Education Service, also doing a great job for us.
Greg Deardon, who I have a great deal of admiration for.
Greg is over here, the commissioner for the Department of
Public Safety for the State of Utah, he's doing a great job.
Camille Anthony. Where's Camille? Back in the back. Camille
is the executive commissioner of Criminal Juvenile Justice.
Randal Anderson, U.S. Marshal. Where's Randy? There he is.
We're honored to have you here. He's doing a terrific job as
U.S. Marshal, one of the best employments we've ever made, I
think.
Margaret Nadol. Margaret, you bet. Margaret is the Young
Women's General President of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints, and she has a tremendous influence over our
youth all over the country, especially here in Utah.
Mayor Janice Auger, the mayor of Taylorsville, doing some
very interesting work in this area. And we're grateful to have
all of you here today.
Now, the goal of today's hearing is to begin a public
dialogue on how we can work together to combat the too-little-
known dangers of a growing substance abuse problem in our
country, but most of all in our community. A lot of Utahns
don't realize how significant and serious this is.
Most Utahns have never heard of methamphetamine. We know
meth is a horrible drug and the labs where it's manufactured
are producing tremendously toxic chemicals that pose risks to
whole neighborhoods. Meth's association with criminal gangs is
also very well known. The cycle of drug abuse and gang violence
is readily apparent to our fellow Utahns, and to deal with our
gang problem we also have to deal with a drug problem.
Fewer, however, are aware meth is just one of the so-
called, ``club drugs,'' that are beginning to attract a whole
new group of young people in Utah. The drugs known as ``club
drugs'' include methamphetamine, Ecstasy, GHB and Rohypnol, and
are often used at parties or night clubs.
The symptoms of club drug use are showing up everywhere.
Utah's emergency rooms, police departments, schools, and rape
crisis centers have experienced increases in reported cases,
and tragic consequences, of this drug use or should we say
abuse.
The Utah Rape Recovery Center, for example, received
reports of 40 rapes so far this year that are suspected to have
involved the club drug called GHB. That figure represents 35
percent of rapes reported to the center this year. Meanwhile,
last year, 7.3 percent of Utah high school students reported
having used methamphetamine at least once, and according to the
Drug Enforcement Agency (the DEA), law enforcement authorities
seized 266 methamphetamine labs in Utah in 1999.
A special danger inherent in these drugs is the fact that
many users of club drugs would not consider taking cocaine,
LSD, heroin, or marijuana, drugs that are perceived to be more
dangerous. But because of misinformation about the risks, these
young people knowingly ingest such substances as GHB, so-called
``date rape'' drug, and are experiencing the problems
associated with illicit drug abuse, including overdose,
addiction, amnesia, sexual assault, and permanent brain damage.
The lack of public awareness about club drugs is luring a whole
new population of Utah's young people into the horrible
consequences of illicit drug use.
Methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive stimulant that
produces increased wakefulness, increased physical activity,
decreased appetite, increased respiration, hyperthermia, and
euphoria. It can cause convulsions and can result in death.
Ecstasy is a synthetic, mind-altering drug with
amphetamine-like and hallucinogenic properties. Ecstasy has no
accepted medical use and it causes health problems similar to
those caused by the use of amphetamines and cocaine.
Psychological difficulties include confusion, depression, sleep
problems, drug craving, severe anxiety, and paranoia, effects
which have continued weeks later. Ecstasy users have died from
acute dehydration.
GHB and Rohypnol are predominantly central nervous system
depressants. Because they are often colorless, tasteless, and
odorless, they can be easily added to beverages and ingested
unknowingly, causing sedation, often rendering the victim--
usually a young woman--helpless. They have become notorious for
their use in crimes, particularly rape, because these drugs
produce amnesia, making it very difficult to arrest and convict
the perpetrator.
The novelty of these drugs is undoubtedly one reason for
the recent surge in their use. Because these drugs are
relatively new, young people may not perceive that taking them
is unsafe; rather, they believe that their reported adverse
effects are rare or exaggerated, and that such reactions could
never affect them personally.
As is so often the case, when a newer drug arrives on the
scene, young people hear much more about its so-called benefits
than about its potential harms. Young people are attracted to
the seemingly increased stamina and intoxicating highs these
drugs purport to offer to them. As Utahns, we all need to
understand that using these drugs canhave serious, and
potentially deadly, consequences, and we need to constantly work on
this problem.
Over the last several years we have worked hard to obtain
more resources for the local law enforcement. The formation of
the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, for
example, has brought additional DEA resources to Utah to stop
trafficking and close down labs. Just this week a new DEA
office in Utah was opened.
Additionally, Congress enacted the Methamphetamine Control
Act, which I sponsored, to toughen meth penalties and place
greater restrictions on the chemicals from which meth is made.
This important law has allowed the DEA and other law
enforcement entities to stop large quantities of precursor
chemicals from being purchased in the United States for the use
in manufacturing methamphetamine in Utah and elsewhere.
In our further effort to combat meth, we have also passed
the Methamphetamine Trafficking Penalty Enhancement Act and my
bill, the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act of 1999. The
latter bill, which passed the Senate unanimously last November,
in addition to helping local law enforcement, contains several
significant prevention and treatment provisions. We cannot
simply punish our way out of this problem.
Finally, we've enacted the Hillory J. Fairias and Samantha
Reid Date-Rate Drug Prohibition Act of 2000. This, of course,
names two victims of date rape, officially recognizes the harm
caused by GHB and designates it specifically as a controlled
substance.
We've also worked to bring more Federal prosecutors and INS
officers to Utah to facilitate action against those who are
corrupting and endangering our youth.
It is important that we all work together to respond to
this new peril confronting our young people. The Federal
Government can support State and local efforts. But it cannot
be a substitute for those loving and dedicated parents,
teachers, coaches, physicians, counselors, religious leaders,
and police officers who serve daily on the front lines in the
war against the life-threatening and life-ruining dangers
facing our children and grandchildren.
We need to educate ourselves about these dangers; gangs,
teen pregnancy, teen suicide, drugs, and now, club drugs, so
that we can better teach and guide our kids.
I personally appreciate the local newspapers writing about
these areas just this week. We love our children, and that's
why we should do this. And as your Senator and Chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, I want to hear first-hand from
Utahns who have observed the impact of these drugs in our
State. That is why I have scheduled these hearings in Utah.
We have two panels of distinguished witnesses to testify
about the work they are doing to reduce the threat posed by
these drugs to our young people, and I want to welcome our
witnesses and extend my appreciation to them for being here
with us today, and I look forward to their testimony.
Now, let me just introduce our first panel of witnesses.
This panel will discuss what is being done to address the drug
problem and possible solutions to combat this problem. We are
very pleased to have our first panel of witnesses.
Donnie Marshall, the Administrator of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration. Mr. Marshall began his law
enforcement career in 1969 as a special agent with the Bureau
of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the predecessor agency of the
DEA. After a distinguished career with the agency Mr. Marshall
was confirmed as the administrator just this year, making him
the first DEA agent to climb through the ranks and become head
of the administration. We are very fortunate to have him
running the DEA. I appreciate his coming here today, I have
great confidence in him and have a great deal of respect for
him. Mr. Marshall, we're really happy to have you here in our
home State.
We would also like to welcome Paul Warner, the U.S.
Attorney for Utah, doing a terrific job. Mr. Warner's
aggressive efforts on prosecuting drug cases, gang crime and
criminal re-entry cases are a significant cause of the recent
decrease in crime rates in our State, and we're glad to have
you here, Mr. Warner.
Next we'll hear from Chief Jon Greiner, with the Ogden City
Police Department on the Weber/Morgan Task Force. Chief Greiner
has been effective in leading Ogden City Police in its fight
against drugs, also in facilitating interagency cooperation in
Northern Utah. Appreciate you, appreciate having you here,
chief.
Also here is Roy Wasden, the Deputy Chief of the Salt Lake
City Police Department, Head of Narcotics/Metro Task Force.
Happy to have you with us.
Finally we are pleased to have Kent Morgan, who's the Salt
Lake County Assistant District Attorney in charge of the
narcotics unit. Mr. Morgan has experience with the prosecutor
and handled a number of high profile cases in the District
Attorney's Office.
We have tremendous respect for you three gentleman and the
work that you're doing. So we want to welcome you here, good
afternoon to each of you, welcome to the hearing on Emerging
Drug Threats and Perils Facing Utah's Youth.
Mr. Marshall, we'll start with you.
PANEL CONSISTING OF DONNIE MARSHALL, ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. DRUG
ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION; PAUL WARNER, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR
UTAH; CHIEF JON GREINER, OGDEN CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT, WEBER/
MORGAN TASK FORCE; ROY WASDEN, DEPUTY CHIEF, SALT LAKE CITY
POLICE DEPARTMENT, HEAD OF NARCOTICS/METRO TASK FORCE; AND KENT
MORGAN, SALT LAKE COUNTY ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY, NARCOTICS
UNIT
STATEMENT OF DONNIE MARSHALL
Mr. Marshall. Thank you, Senator Hatch, and I appreciate
the opportunity to be here today. It really is a privilege to
be here to discuss what I think is the most serious social
threat we've had in our country, now the drug threat in the
Nation, particularly the drug threat in Utah.
Before I start I want to thank you, Senator Hatch, for your
support to drug law enforcement and to DEA. I want to thank you
for your leadership on the methamphetamine issues and now on
the club drugs and MDMA and Ecstasy issues. These are really
troublesome issues, I think for the country and for Utah, and
I'm going to discuss each of these as we go.
The methamphetamine problem, first of all, is not a new
problem in this country. The methamphetamine problem was a
problem when I began the job about 30 years ago, and back then,
however, it was a little bit different.
Back during even the height of the drug culture in the late
1960s and early 1970s, your drug culture, for the most part,
stayed away from methamphetamine because they had a saying back
then that speed kills, and that culture stayed more with
marijuana, cocaine and even LSD.
It's ironic that even back then the drug culture recognized
that methamphetamine was more dangerous than even those drugs.
But more recently methamphetamine began expanding again in our
country, about 6 to 7 years ago, it caught on in a big way in
California in the west and spread rapidly through the Midwest,
southwest and on to the southeast.
Now, you in the Judiciary Committee and the Congress of the
United States have helped us respond to this growing
methamphetamine problem with legislation to combat
methamphetamine, to combat the precursor chemicals, and to
provide additional training and that sort of stuff.
Now, those efforts, I think, have paid off in some ways. We
have a long, long way to go and the use of and trafficking of
methamphetamine are still expanding in this country, but there
are a few isolated signs of progress, particularly against the
super labs, the large labs that are operated by the Mexican
based drug traffickers.
What you see on this chart here is that we are
experiencing, particularly coming out of those Mexican super
labs, lower methamphetamine purities in this country. For
instance, in 1994 we saw purities of about 71.9 percent, and in
1999 we're seeing purities down in the 31.1 percent range.
Another encouraging sign, we've seen a shift by the Mexican
laboratory in particular from methamphetamine to amphetamine,
and we've also seen the decline in the hospital emergency room
statistics in 1998 and we hope that that will hold.
Now, I believe that these positive signs are a result of a
number of things. A result of the legislation that we've gotten
in the last few years, they're a result of aggressive law
enforcement, including law enforcement cooperation both here in
Utah and nationwide, and particularly I think that they're the
result of our ability to have impact on the availability of
chemicals that are available to these labs.
Chairman Hatch. Tell the folks what ``purity'' means.
Mr. Marshall. Purity means simply the strength of the
powder. If you have a gram of powder, for instance, if it's 71
percent pure, that means that 31 or 29 percent of it is some
other product, such as sugar or starch or that sort of stuff.
Generally the less pure a drug is--the less pure a drug of any
kind is--the less dangerous it is, and that holds true for
cocaine, heroin and certainly methamphetamine.
Chairman Hatch. What else does it mean, the lower the
purity that means we're----
Mr. Marshall. The lower the purity, that basically means
that the traffickers have difficulty in producing a high purity
drug, and I think that's what we're seeing here.
Chairman Hatch. So purity means we're really in the--the
low purity means we're making head way?
Mr. Marshall. Exactly.
Chairman Hatch. That's what I wanted to focus on.
Mr. Marshall. Now, I talked about the progress in the
Mexican area, and that's good news. But unfortunately, I think
the progress in that area has lead to more laboratories that
are operated by what we call the ``mom and pop operations,''
and these are less sophisticated laboratories, they're smaller
laboratories, and they're generally laboratories that are
operated by methamphetamine users. And they will typically
produce 1 or 2 ounces of methamphetamine, enough to satisfy
their own habit, and sell enough to get money to then do their
next batch of methamphetamine.
Now, the decline in the Mexican laboratories has resulted
in an increase in the mom and pop laboratories, and
unfortunately what that means is that there are more
laboratories out there, and that means also that there's a
greater risk to the public safety and there's a greater risk to
officer safety as a result of the greater number of
laboratories.
What it also means is that the operators of these
laboratories are harder to attack because, unlike the Mexican
organization, there's really not a large criminal organization
associated with these labs. They're usually independent
operators, which makes it harder for law enforcement to find
them and attack them.
So the bottom line is that we have a lot more work to do in
the area of methamphetamine. I'm hopeful that the
Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act of 1999 will be passed
very soon and that will give us additional funding for law
enforcement investigation; it will help lab clean up, help the
law enforcement training prevention program, and perhaps most
importantly it would ban the exchange of methamphetamine
recipes on the internet.
Now, turning to the other problem that we're looking at
this afternoon; Ecstasy and the ``club drugs,'' and there are
many of them. GHB, Ketamine, MDMA. To me these drugs are more
frightening even than methamphetamine because they are
literally a wolf in sheep's clothing.
What we see in the world today, in the U.S. today, is that
there is a perception, a decreased perception of the risk of
using these drugs on the part of our young people in this
country. There's a portrayal of these drugs, particularly
Ecstasy, as a ``feel good drug,'' as a ``hug drug,'' a
portrayal as really a harmless drug.
I recently, for instance, saw an article in Time Magazine,
it was actually a cover story on the drug Ecstasy, and in some
places it was a reasonably balanced portrayal of Ecstasy. But
there was one quote in a Time Magazine article, this is the
mainstream press of the country, there was one quote that just
jumped off the page at me. The quote was as follows, that
Ecstasy, ``Appears to have few negative consequences.''
Nothing could be further from the truth. There's a movie
out--actually a number of movies--but there's a particular
movie by the name of Groove that has not yet been released but
has been received for reviews of this movie, and generally the
reviews say that the movie is not really about drugs, it's not
really about Ecstasy, it's about the culture of music and the
culture of clubs and the culture of raves. But in these
reviews, when you look down at the very end kind of in the fine
print, the one that I have here with me today says that the
Groove movie is rated R because, ``It includes party language
and many, many drug references.'' And yet the movie is being
reviewed and sold as a kind of a harmless fun-type of movie.
Now, I'd also like, if I could, to show you a shortvideo
clip. It's about 3 or 4 minutes long and it shows the nature of the
recent news coverage that we've had in this country over the last
several months, and in this clip--do we have time do that, sir?
Chairman Hatch. Yes.
Mr. Marshall. In this clip you will see how the rave club
scene and the party scene, and even the Ecstasy scene, you'll
see how they can be perceived by young people as harmless or
even luring. But you're also going to see in this clip some
very alarming scenes about the dangers and the dark side of
Ecstasy.
If we could run that video, please.
[Videotape shown.]
Mr. Marshall. That, to me, is a very sobering clip about
the realities of Ecstasy. I want to point out that the heart of
the marketing strategies of these Ecstasy traffickers is in
fact the portrayal of this drug as a harmless drug.
I have with me some samples of Ecstasy, and you can see
here--I'll pass them up to you in a moment--but these pills are
packaged in a way that they will be attractive to young people.
They have logos such as Warner Brothers, Calvin Klein, Tweety
Bird, Tony the Tiger, and ironically, they even have one with
the DEA logo on them. They are clearly designed to attract
young people.
Now, as a part of the marketing of Ecstasy, the organizers
of these rave parties and that sort of stuff, they package it
in such a way that it might be attractive, not only to the
young people but to parents as well. And the reason it might be
attractive to parents is because there is open advertising of
these raves as a music event, and anything that is openly
advertised and not clandestine would give the appearance of
something not too risky. They advertise no alcohol at these
events, which there is not.
They all too frequently hold these events in a respectable
venue. I've seen one case where a rave was held at a city
convention center. They often advertise that there's security
at these events, which there often is, in the form of off-duty
police officers who themselves are ill informed about what's
really going on there.
So parents might think that these things are a safe place
to send even their younger kids, but I'm telling you nothing
could be further from the truth, because Ecstasy itself, as
we've seen in these clips, is a frighteningly dangerous drug,
when you combine it with other of the date-rape drugs that you
referred to, Senator, and when you combine it with the sexual
predators that hang out around these rave clubs, it is an
absolutely horrifying drug.
In fact, I just saw a story right here in Salt Lake from
Friday, June 30, about a young lady who almost died after she
was unknowingly drugged with GHB at a club here in Salt Lake
City, and that's an example--one more example of the
frightening nature of this drug.
Now, I want to close out--I'm almost done with my time--DEA
is taking a leadership role in trying to combat Ecstasy. We
recently concluded a nationwide investigation called
``Operation Rave,'' and you can see here what we learned, a
little bit about the Ecstasy traffic from ``Operation Rave.''
We learned that it is produced primarily in Europe and
Belgium and the Netherlands; that it is brought into the
country primarily by European, Israeli and Russian organized
crime. We have learned that it costs about 50 cents to a
dollar, some cases $2 to produce a tablet. And then it sells
retail in this country for $25 to $40 per tablet. So you can
see the profits would be enormous.
Now, in this particular investigation, which was
nationwide, we seized about 620,000 tablets of Ecstasy and
about $1 million in illegal proceeds from the Ecstasy
trafficking organization. We're also, in July, planning to hold
a national conference on the subject of club drugs, and we're
going to invite a number of law enforcement people from around
the country to this conference.
Our purpose is to raise law enforcement awareness of club
drugs and to devise, I think, more effective and more cohesive
national strategies to combat these club drugs. So we are
beginning to take action on this, and I feel like with the help
of the Judiciary and you, Senator Hatch, and others, that
hopefully we will be able to make some progress on the club
drugs as we have hopefully done with methamphetamine.
Again, I want to thank you for your support and I'd be
happy to answer any questions at the appropriate time.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Marshall follows:]
Prepared Statement of Donnie R. Marshall
Senator Hatch, distinguished members of the Committee: I am pleased
to have the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the
emerging drug threats facing the youth of America today. I would first
like to thank you personally and the Committee for it's continued
support of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and overall
support of drug law enforcement.
As you are well aware, the alarming spread of illegal drug abuse by
our youth is having a profound effect in communities throughout the
United States. It is fair to say that the increasing use of synthetic
or club drugs such as 3,4 Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA aka
Ecstasy). GHB, Ketamine, LSD and methamphetamine by young adults is
quickly becoming one of the most significant law enforcement and social
issues facing our nation today. DEA reporting indicates widespread
abuse within virtually every major city throughout the United States
with indications of trafficking and abuse expanding to smaller cities
across the nation. Perhaps most frightening is the decreased perception
of risk that young teens have regarding the use of these drugs. Many
mistakenly believe they are not as harmful or addictive as mainstream
drugs.
Of particular concern is the recent explosion of Ecstasy seizures
and nationwide hospital emergency room mentions related to Ecstasy.
Although available since the 1980's, its use has escalated in the
1990's among college students and young adults, particularly those who
participate in all-night dance parties called ``raves.'' Recent
statistics indicate that between 1998 and 1999, past year use of
ecstasy rose by a third among 10th graders, and by 56 percent among
12th graders. The greatest number of MDMA users fell into the 18-25
year old category with slightly greater than 1.4 million people
reporting its use.
While methamphetamine is not an entirely new problem in the United
States, about six years ago an upsurge in methamphetamine trafficking
and abuse began taking hold in many regions of the nation, starting on
the West Coast, and rapidly expanding into the Midwest and Southwestern
United States. DEA statistics indicate that in 1993, DEA seized a total
of 218 methamphetamine labs nationwide. Current DEA statistics indicate
that in 1999, DEA alone seized 2,021 clandestine laboratories and that
the total number of laboratories seized by Federal, state and local law
enforcement officers nationwide was 7,060 (note: 97% of all reported
lab seizures were either methamphetamine or amphetamine labs). In Utah
alone, DEA participated in the seizure of 208 clandestine laboratories
in CY-1999. As such, due to the potential health and safety threat each
pose to the general public, and in particular, America's youth
population, I will focus my testimony today on methamphetamine and MDMA
trafficking.
part i
Methamphetamine nationwide
Traditionally considered the ``poor-man's'' cocaine,
methamphetamine is a central nervous system stimulant. Police reporting
clearly indicates that methamphetamine addiction and trafficking has
resulted in increased violence and severely impacted the quality of
life in many American communities. Increasing methamphetamine
production and abuse poses a unique challenge for drug enforcement in
the United States. Law enforcement agencies must now face the burdens
of additional specialized training for officers, hazardous waste
disposal, environmental contamination, and additional public safety
issues of fires, explosions, and poison gas, in addition to the crime,
violence, and abuse problems typically associated with controlled
substances.
Until 1998, methamphetamine abuse in the United States was growing
at a faster rate than any other illegal drug. Drug Abuse Warning
Network (DAWN) statistics show more than a three fold increase in
nationwide estimated emergency room admissions for methamphetamine from
1991 to 1997. We are cautiously optimistic that precursor chemical
controls and aggressive local law enforcement measures were the primary
factors in reversing this trend and were the impetus for the dramatic
drops in emergency room admissions which were noted in both 1996 and
1998.
There are at least three distinct components to combating the
overall methamphetamine problem: comprehensive domestic and
international precursor chemical control and enforcement, fighting
organized, high volume drug traffickers and the identification and
clean up of the growing number of smaller producing, ``mom and pop''
laboratories. Over the past several years, established Mexican drug
trafficking organizations operating in Mexico and Southern and Central
California have seized control of the illicit methamphetamine trade.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations have the ability to exploit an
existing, well established transportation and distribution network, on
both sides of the border, and to illegally secure large amounts of
precursor chemicals. Mexico based, poly-drug trafficking organizations
have revolutionized the production of methamphetamine by operating
large-scale laboratories in Mexico and California that are capable of
producing unprecedented quantities of methamphetamine.
Almost all of the ``super labs'' operating in the United States are
located in California. Although Mexican organizations operate only a
small percentage of the total methamphetamine laboratories seized
nationally, these super labs produce an estimated 85% of the
methamphetamine distributed in the United States. These criminal
organizations have saturated the western United States market with
methamphetamine, established their distribution cells in other regions
of the United States, and are increasingly moving their methamphetamine
to markets in the Midwestern and eastern United States.
Another reason for the methamphetamine lab epidemic is the
evolution of technology and the increased use of the Internet. With
modern computer technology, and chemists willing to share their
recipes, production information is now available to anyone with
computer access. Aside from marijuana, methamphetamine is the only
illegal drug abused by a noteworthy percentage of the population that
an addict can produce themselves. A cocaine or heroin addict cannot
make his own cocaine or heroin, but a methamphetamine addict only has
to turn on their computer to find a recipe that details the chemicals
and process needed. Many addicts have elected to produce the stimulant
themselves.
The growing popularity of methamphetamine has led to an alarmingly
high number of clandestine laboratory seizures across the country. The
number of clandestine labs (all types of illegal drugs) seized
nationwide by DEA has increased from 306 lab seizures in Calendar Year
1994 to 2,047 in 1999, a 569% increase. The statistics for 1999 also
indicate that 97% of the clandestine laboratory seizures reported to
the El Paso Intelligence Center in 1999 were methamphetamine and/or
amphetamine labs. These labs are usually far smaller than the larger
laboratories operated by the major methamphetamine trafficking
organizations, but are equally as dangerous to law enforcement officers
who encounter them.
In 1997, DEA reported 31 fires and 11 explosions associated with
the 1,451 clandestine drug lab seizures in which DEA participated. In
1999, the National Clandestine Laboratory Database indicated that the
number of reported incidents of fires increased to 64, explosions 101,
and labs which had explosives and/or booby traps, 80. The National
Database also revealed 877 incidents in which children were present
during the seizure of a lab in 1999. The Drug Enforcement
Administration and state and local police organizations also must deal
with the dangerous and expensive hazardous waste cleanup problems
created by clandestine labs.
During the last two years, the national methamphetamine situation
has changed significantly. Until 1999, the methamphetamine problem was
increasing at a dramatic rate. The national purity level for
methamphetamine, as well as amphetamine, has gone down dramatically in
1999-2000. As previously stated, precursor chemical controls, the
international ``letter of non-objection'' program, and chemical
interdiction, combined with aggressive national and local law
enforcement efforts, have produced positive results. The average purity
of methamphetamine exhibits seized by DEA dropped from 71.9 percent in
1994 to 31.1 percent in 1999. The average purity of amphetamine
exhibits seized by DEA dropped from 40.5 percent in 1994 to only 20.8
percent in 1999. Decreasing purity levels for methamphetamine and
amphetamine should have some effect on the number of emergency room
admissions and overdose deaths related to methamphetamine.
Methamphetamine prices vary considerably by region. Nationwide,
prices range from $3,500 to $30,000 per pound at the distribution
level. Retail prices range from $500 to $2,500 per ounce and $25 to
$150 per gram. Arrests in DEA methamphetamine investigations increased
in Fiscal Year (FY) 1999, to 8,680, a 10% percent increase from the
7,888 arrests in FY 1998, but a 41% increase over the 6,145 arrests in
FY 1997, and a significant 113% increase over the 4,069 arrests in FY
1996.
The methamphetamine situation in Utah
Methamphetamine remains the most threatening drug in Utah. Mexican
poly-drug trafficking organizations continue to dominate
methamphetamine distribution. Methamphetamine produced in Mexico and
southern California by Mexican nationals is readily available in ounce
and multi-pound quantities. Utah also is a source state for precursor
chemicals.
Geographical remoteness in Utah creates an ideal environment for
clandestine laboratory operations, and an increase in laboratories has
occurred during the past few years. With this increase in
methamphetamine laboratories, an increase in the availability and use
of methamphetamine in Utah has occurred. Methamphetamine is now one of
the top four drugs abused in Utah high schools.
In 1989, the Utah legislature implemented a precursor chemical
control bill regulating ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and iodine. These
laws placed restrictions on the sale of various precursor chemicals.
Over the last decade, this bill has had a positive impact on reducing
the availability of chemicals necessary for the manufacture of
methamphetamine. It now appears that the increased difficulty in
obtaining precursors has caused prices of methamphetamine to rise.
Additionally, the difficulty in obtaining precursors has caused the
average purity of methamphetamine to drastically decrease. In FY 1997,
average purity was 43 percent. Average purity dropped to less than 27
percent in FY 1999 in Utah.
Since the DEA-Metropolitan Narcotics Task Force was created in July
1993, the number of clandestine drug laboratory investigations has
continued to increase, making Utah the number one state for per capita
methamphetamine laboratories. It should be noted that, in 1997, Gen
Barry McCaffrey, Director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, recognized the DEA Metro Narcotic Task Force as one of the
finest multi-jurisdictional task forces in the country.
The Salt Lake office was upgraded to District Office status in May
2000. Currently, 19 Special Agents, as well as other personnel, are
assigned to this office, with 2 of the Agents posted to duty at St.
George, Utah. Drug Enforcement Administration personnel participated in
the seizure of over 100 clandestine laboratories in the state of Utah
in both 1997 and 1998, and Utah reported 208 clandestine lab seizures
to DEA in 1999.
Congressional action
In the last several years, Congress enacted important legislation
to help prevent methamphetamine manufacture, to deter trafficking in
methamphetamine and its precursor chemicals, and to encourage effective
prevention, education, and treatment of methamphetamine abuse. The
regulatory and enforcement framework for precursor control was
established with the ``Chemical Diversion and Trafficking Act of 1988''
(Pub.L. 100-690). Twelve more chemicals were added to the regulatory
scheme by amendments in the ``Crime Control Act of 1990'' (Pub.L. 101-
647). The first bill specifically targeting the illicit production of
methamphetamine (and the related drug methcathinone, which has
virtually disappeared as a clandestine product) was the ``Domestic
Chemical Diversion Control Act of 1993'' (Pub.L. 103-200). The 1993
amendment began to close the ``legal drug exemption'' that had allowed
traffickers to avoid regulatory requirements by buying their chemicals
through thousands of ``legal'' FDA-approved tablets. The bill brought
over-the-counter, single-entity ephedrine products under DEA regulatory
control, and permitted DEA to add other products by regulation. It also
required registration of handlers of ``list I'' (formerly precursor)
chemicals similar to those for controlled substances. In 1996, Congress
enacted a major piece of methamphetamine-related legislation, the
``Comprehensive Methamphetamine Control Act of 1996'' (Pub.L. 104-237),
most of which became effective on October 3, 1996. The most recent
enactment, the ``Methamphetamine Penalty Enhancement Act of 1998''
(Pub.L. 105-277, Div.E), lowered certain quantity thresholds for
mandatory minimum trafficking penalties.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, under Chairman Hatch, has developed
landmark methamphetamine legislation, The Methamphetamine Anti-
Proliferation Act of 1999 [S.486]. This bill substantially contributes
to national methamphetamine enforcement efforts by directing the
Sentencing Commission to increase base level penalties for amphetamine
so they are commensurate with those for methamphetamine, and setting
higher sentencing thresholds for the manufacture of methamphetamine or
amphetamine if it is determined that the criminal offense creates a
substantial risk to human life or the environment, or if this risk is
to a minor or incompetent person. It also prohibits the teaching,
demonstrating, or disseminating of information on the manufacture or
use of controlled substances to a person, knowing that the person
intends to use this information to commit a federal crime. Furthermore,
the bill provides for increased drug prevention, treatment, including
medications development, and research.
part ii
MDMA: The drug
Primarily illicitly manufactured in and trafficked from Europe,
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), a Schedule I drug under the
Controlled Substance Act (CSA), is the most popular of the club drugs.
Its origins can be traced to Germany in 1912 where it was patented but
never studied or marketed for human consumption. In the 1970's and
early 1980's some health care professionals experimented with the drug
in ``introspective therapy'' sessions, outside of FDA-approved
research. DEA reporting indicates widespread abuse of this drug within
virtually every city in the United States. Although it is primarily
abused in urban settings, abuse of this substance also has been
reported in rural communities. Although prices in the United States
generally range from $25 to $40 per dosage unit, prices as high as $50
per dosage unit have been reported in Miami.
The drug is a synthetic, psychoactive substance possessing
stimulant and mild hallucinogenic properties. Known as the ``hug drug''
or ``feel good'' drug, it reduces inhibitions and produces feelings of
empathy for others, the elimination of anxiety, and extreme relaxation.
In addition to chemical stimulation, the drug reportedly suppresses the
need to eat, drink or sleep. This enables club scene users to endure
all-night and sometimes 2-3 day parties. MDMA is taken orally, usually
in tablet form, and its effects last approximately 4-6 hours. Taken at
raves, the drug may lead to severe dehydration and heat stroke, since
it has the effect of ``short-circuiting'' the body's temperature
signals to the brain. An MDMA overdose is characterized by rapid
heartbeat, high blood pressure, faintness, muscle cramping, panic
attacks, and in more severe cases, loss of consciousness or seizures.
One of the side effects of the drug is jaw muscle tension and teeth
grinding. As a consequence, MDMA users will often use pacifiers to help
relieve the tension. The most critical, life-threatening response to
MDMA is hyperthermia or excessive body heat. Recent reports of MDMA-
related deaths were associated with core body temperatures ranging from
107 to 109 degrees Fahrenheit. Many rave clubs now have cooling centers
or cold showers designed to allow participants to lower their body
temperatures.
The long-term effects of MDMA are still under evaluation; however,
research by the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda,
Maryland, in 1998 directly measured the effects of the drug on the
human brain. The study revealed that the drug causes damage to the
neurons (nerve cells) that utilize serotonin to communicate with other
neurons in the brain, and that recreational MDMA users risk permanent
brain damage that may manifest itself in depression, anxiety, memory
loss, learning difficulties, and other neuropsychiatric disorders.
MDMA can produce stimulant effects such as an enhanced sense of
pleasure, self-confidence and increased energy. Its hallucinogenic
effects include feelings of peacefulness, acceptance, and empathy.
Users claim they experience feelings of closeness with others and a
desire to touch them. As such, because of the feelings attained by the
MDMA user, there exists a misconception that these drugs are relatively
safe. However, various researchers have shown that use of club drugs
can cause serious health problems and, in some cases, even death. Used
in combination with alcohol, some of these club drugs can be even more
dangerous. Furthermore, MDMA's long-term psychological effects can
include confusion, depression, sleep problems, anxiety and paranoia.
The ecstasy drug market in the United States is supplied and
controlled by Western European-based drug traffickers. In recent years,
Israeli Organized Crime syndicates, some composed of Russian emigres
associated with Russian Organized Crime syndicates, have forged
relationships with the Western European traffickers and gained control
over a significant share of the European market. Moreover, the Israeli
syndicates remain the primary source to the U.S. distribution groups.
The increasing involvement of organized crime syndicates signifies the
``professionalization'' of the MDMA market. These organizations have
proven to be capable of producing and smuggling significant quantities
of MDMA from source countries in Europe to the United States. DEA
reporting indicates their distribution networks are expanding from
coast to coast, enabling a relatively few organizations to dominate
MDMA markets nationwide.
MDMA is clandestinely manufactured in Western Europe, primarily in
the Netherlands and Belgium. It is estimated that 90% of MDMA
distributed worldwide is produced in these countries. MDMA production
is a relatively sophisticated chemical process making it difficult for
inexperienced individuals to produce MDMA successfully. However, there
are several manufacturing processes for MDMA and a multitude of
``recipes'' that are posted on the Internet. Most of the MDMA
laboratories are capable of producing 20-30 kilograms on a daily basis,
although law enforcement authorities have seized some labs with the
capability of producing 100 kilograms per day.
Normally, the MDMA is manufactured by Dutch chemists and
transported and distributed by various factions of Israeli Organized
Crime groups. These groups recruit and utilize Americans, Israeli and
western European nationals as couriers. These couriers can smuggle
anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000tablets (2.5-5 kilograms) on their person
and up to 50.000 tablets (10 kilograms) in specially designed luggage.
In addition to the use of couriers, these organizations use the parcel
mail. DHL, UPS. and U.S. Postal Service, Due to the size of the MDMA
tablet, concealment is much easier than other traditional drugs
smuggled in kilogram-size packages (cocaine, heroin and marijuana).
What brings these Drug Trafficking Organizations together is the
enormous profit realized in these ventures along with the fact the MDMA
is not produced in the United States. Although estimates vary, the cost
of producing an MDMA tablet run between $.50-$1.00. The wholesale, or
first level price for MDMA tablets have ranged from $1.00-$2.00 per
tablet, contingent on the volume purchased. This potential four-fold
profit provides huge incentives for the laboratory owner or chemist.
Furthermore, manufacturing laboratories can realize these profits
without coming into contact with anyone except the first level
transportation or distribution representatives. Once the MDMA reaches
the United States, a domestic cell distributor will charge $6-$8 per
tablet. The retailer then turns around and distributes it for $25-$40
per pill. Clearly, there is a tremendous profit realized in each
function in MDMA trafficking from the producer or clandestine
laboratory operator to the transporter to the wholesaler to the
retailer, then on to the consumer.
Overview of other ``Club'' drugs: An emerging epidemic
The use of synthetic drugs has become a popular method of enhancing
the club and rave experience. These rave functions, which are parties
known for loud techno-music and dancing at underground locations,
regularly host several thousand teenagers and young adults who use
MDMA, LSD, GHB, alone or in various combinations. Users of drugs such
as MDMA report that the effects of the drug heighten the user's
perceptions, especially the visual stimulation. Quite often, users of
MDMA at clubs will dance with light sticks to increase their visual
stimulation. Legal substances such as Vicks's VapoRub are often used to
enhance the effects of the drug.
``Club'' drugs have become such an integral part of the rave
circuit that there no loner appears to be an attempt to conceal their
use. Rather, drugs are sold and used openly at these parties.
Traditional and non-traditional sources continue to report the flagrant
and open drug use at ``raves.'' Intelligence indicates that it has also
become commonplace for security at these parties to ignore drug use and
sales on the premises. Tragically, many teens do not perceive these
drugs as harmful or dangerous. These drugs are marketed to teens as
``feel good'' drugs. The following is a brief summary of other selected
club drugs.
Gamma HydroxyButyrate (GHB) is easily accessible at rave parties
and is currently popular among teenagers and young adults alike.
Commonly referred to as a date rape-drug, GHB was originally used as a
substitute anabolic steroid for strength training. GHB has been used in
the commission of sexual assaults because it renders the victim
incapable of resisting, and may cause memory problems. GHB costs
approximately $10-$20 per dose and is frequently mixed with alcohol. As
of January 2000. DEA documented 60 GHB-related deaths nationwide.
Additionally, the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office reported two
GHB-related deaths in the last twelve months. The drug is used
predominantly by adolescents and young adults, often when they attend
nightclubs and raves. GHB is often manufactured in homes with recipes
and ingredients found and purchased on the Internet. As a result of the
Hillory J. Farias and Samantha Reid Date-Rape Prohibition Act of 2000,
GHB was designate a Schedule I drug under the CSA.
Gamma Butyrolactone (GBL), a List I chemical, is a precursor
chemical for the manufacturer of GHB. Several Internet sites offer kits
that contain GBL, sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide and
directions for the manufacture of GHB. This process is relatively
simple and does not require complex laboratory equipment. Upon
ingestion, GBL is synthesized by he body to produce GHB. As a
consequence, some party goers drink small quantities of GBL straight.
GBL increases the effects of alcohol, and can cause respiratory
distress, seizures, coma and death. The Salt Lake City Police
Department Sex Crimes Unit reported twelve known date rape cases
statewide involving GBL and GHB in the last year.
d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), listed as a Schedule I drug
under the CSA, first emerged as a popular drug of the psychedelic
generation in the 1960's. Its popularity appeared to decline in the
late 1970's, an effect attributed to a broader awareness of its
hazardous effects. Over the past decade, there has been a resurgence of
LSD abuse, especially among young adults. Adverse effects of LSD
include panic, confusion, suspicion and anxiety. Liquid LSD has been
seized in Visine bottles at rave functions. LSD is also sold at raves
on very small perforated paper squares that are either blank or have a
cartoon-figure design. Most users of LSD voluntarily decrease or stop
using it over time, since it does not produce the same compulsive,
drug-induced behavior of cocaine and heroin.
As of August 1999, Ketamine, also known as ``Special K.'' was
placed in Schedule III of the Controlled Substance Act. Used primarily
by veterinarians as an anesthetic, Ketamine produces hallucinogenic
effects similar to PCP with the visual effects of LSD. Ketamine is
diverted in liquid form, dried and distributed as a powder. Price
average $20 per dosage unit. Ketamine is snorted in the same manner as
cocaine at 5-10 minute intervals until the desired effect is obtained.
Legislative efforts
Ecstasy, as well as all other club drugs, have been scheduled under
the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), Title II of the Comprehensive Drug
Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. Recently, due to the
exponential growth and abuse of Ecstasy and its devastating and
potentially lethal effects. Senate bill S. 2612, was introduced by
Senator Bob Graham and co-sponsored by Senator Charles Grasley. This
bill calls for the United States Sentencing Commission to amend the
federal sentencing guidelines to provide for increased penalties
associated with the manufacture, distribution and use of Ecstasy. Those
penalties would be comparable to the base offense levels for offenses
involving any methamphetamine mixture. The bill would also assure that
the guidelines provide that offenses involving a significant quantity
of Schedule I and II depressants, including GHB and its analogues, are
subject to greater terms of imprisonment than currently in place.
Furthermore, the bill calls for greater emphasis to be placed on the
education of young adults, the education and training of state and
local law enforcement officials and adequate funding for search by the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
In addition to S. 2612, a companion bill has been introduced in the
House by Congresswoman Judy Biggert. H.R. 4553 is almost identical to
S. 2612, except it encompasses all ``club drugs'', to include
paramethoxyamphetamine, commonly refereed to as ``PMA''. In recent
weeks, it is believed that ``PMA,'' an Ecstasy analogue controlled by
DEA since 1973, may be responsible for the death of three young people
in suburban Chicago. The three victims, an 18-year old female and two
males, 17 and 20 years of age, are said to have frequented the same
nightclub. These deaths are being investigated by local authorities. At
this time it appears that the drug users thought they were taking MDMA,
but ingested PMA instead.
Another bill relating to club drug abuse, the Hillory J. Farias and
Samantha Reid Date-Rape Prevention Drug Act of 1999, (Public Law 106-
172), was signed by the President on February 19, 2000. This
legislation directed DEA to place GHB (Gamma hydroxybutyric acid) in
Schedule I (the DEA has since done so) and placed the precursor
chemical GBL on chemical List I.
Furthermore, Public Law 106-172 contains a statutory obligation
that requires DEA to establish a special unit to asses the abuse of and
trafficking in GHB, flunitrazepem, ketamine and other controlled
substances (club or designer drugs) whose use has been associated with
sexual assaults. In addition, the Attorney General was directed to
develop a protocol for the collection of evidence and the taking of
victim statements in connection with violation of the CSA--which
results or contributes to sexual assault, crimes of violence or other
crimes involving the abuse of GHB and the other designer drugs. In
addition, DEA and the FBI are obligated to develop model training
materials for law enforcement personnel involved in such
investigations, and make such protocols and training materials
available to Federal, state, and local personnel responsible for such
investigations.
Enforcement initiatives
Operation ``Flashback''
In an effort to target organizations and individuals that
distribute and manufacture ``club drugs,'' DEA established Operation
``Flashback'' in July 1997. On July 2, 1998, MDMA was approved for
inclusion under this Special Enforcement Program. Since February 1998,
active investigations have increased from 6 to 140, indicative of the
increased availability, and demand for, and law enforcement emphasis
on, club drugs. Operation ``Flashback'' seeks to achieve the following
five primary objectives:
Develop prosecutable cases against individuals and
organizations that manufacture and distribute so-called club drugs.
Develop intelligence links between domestic wholesale
distributors and the foreign source of supply.
Identify, arrest, and prosecute violators at a high level
of distribution, including the clandestine lab operators.
Establish and coordinate an overall strategy for all
domestic and foreign investigative efforts.
Identify the command and control infrastructures of
organizations that are distributing so-called club drugs.
Furthermore, this special Enforcement Program provides a mechanism
to enforcement components in the field to fund undercover buys,
confidential source payments, installation of pen registers and
activation of Title III wiretaps. In addition, it acts as a central
depository for any and all information related to club drugs. This
database contains information on targets, organizations, arrests,
seizures, modes of smuggling, types of drugs and the logos/brand names
they bear.
Presently, DEA has several ongoing investigations into these
trafficking organizations. One particular investigation of note was
conducted by DEA's Special Operations Division. The Special Operations
Division is a joint national coordinating and support entity comprised
of agents, analysts and prosecutors from DOJ, the USCS, the FBI and
DEA. This investigation, entitled Operation Rave, focused on an MDMA
distribution cell that operated throughout the northeast and Florida.
The leader of this organization, an Israeli national, was responsible
for the distribution of approximately 150,000 tablets of MDMA per week.
This and related spin-off investigations resulted in the arrest of 105
defendants, the seizure of 620,000 tablets of MDMA and approximately
$935,000 in U.S. currency. The significance of this investigation was
the fact that it identified, for the first time, the involvement of
Israeli and Russian crime groups in MDMA trafficking.
In addition, DEA, in conjunction with the United States Customs
Service (USCS) recently seized two packages containing a total of
110,000 MDMA tablets which originated in Madrid, Spain and were
destined for Provo, Utah. Following a controlled delivery, two arrest
were made leading to the identification of multiple individuals in Utah
and Spain. To date, this investigation has revealed an organization
financed by Israeli nationals who directed the manufacture of MDMA in
Amsterdam and its transshipment throughout Europe. During the course of
this investigation and based upon information furnished to German
authorities, 23,000 additional ecstasy tablets destined for Utah were
seized in Germany.
Demand reduction initiatives
The increasing power and diversity of drug trafficking
organizations operating throughout the United States and abroad demands
an equally authoritative and creative response. These drug trafficking
organizations seek to entrench criminal enterprise in modern society;
they attempt to lure the youth of this country into the dark world of
drug abuse and crime on a daily basis. As such, DEA is committed to
developing and employing multi-faceted strategies to combat both drug
trafficking and drug abuse. With this in mind, DEA's Demand Reduction
program was created in 1986 in response to the widespread belief that
both law enforcement and drug prevention were necessary components of a
comprehensive attack against the drug problem in the United States.
Given the age of the targeted user population of MDMA, DEA has created
a very aggressive and comprehensive plan to bring this issue to the
attention of the American public. It should be noted that DEA's
Operations Division has organized a club drug conference scheduled for
the latter part of July 2000 in the Washington, D.C. area. Participants
will include law enforcement personnel from around the world, leading
researchers, clinicians, prevention specialists, educators, and medical
professionals to discuss the alarming resurgence in use of MDMA and
other club drugs.
In addition, the Salt Lake City District Office conducts Demand
Reduction classes approximately four times per month. These
presentations are directed primarily at the clandestine manufacture of
methamphetamine and the dangers and methods of detection associated
with these laboratories.
Conclusion
Increasing methamphetamine production and abuse poses a unique
challenge for drug enforcement, both in Utah and throughout the nation.
Clandestine laboratories represent a substantial health and safety
threat to communities. The flammable, explosive, toxic, and
carcinogenic chemicals used in the manufacturing process pose an
immediate and long-term threat to law enforcement, fire department, and
emergency services personnel, as well as the general public. Fires and
explosions are a constant threat in this type of environment. Moreover,
the threat to the environment is substantial, due to the illegal and
unsafe disposal methods of clandestine methamphetamine operators.
MDMA abuse, although a relatively new phenomenon, has certainly
taken parts of this country by storm. The magnitude of the current MDMA
problem cannot be understated. The media coverage alone is indicative
of the impact this drug has had on the United States. One only has to
review the dramatic increase in seizures over the past twenty-four
months to recognize the insidious upsurge of this drug. With the 2002
Winter Olympics quickly approaching, Federal, state and local officials
in Utah must prepare for the tremendous influx of people into this area
and the potential for drug abuse.
In conclusion, DEA will continue to utilize a multi-faceted
approach employing both prevention and enforcement strategies in
targeting MDMA and methamphetamine trafficking and abuse. In this
regard, DEA is working in conjunction with law enforcement officials
throughout Europe and Israel in an effort to identify, target,
dismantle and prosecute those organizations responsible for the
proliferation of MDMA throughout the U.S. and Europe. furthermore, DEA
endorsed and implemented elements of the national Methamphetamine
Strategy that focuses on international drug trafficking groups,
independent domestic methamphetamine operations, and rogue chemical
companies that are responsible for the smuggling, production, and
distribution of methamphetamine in the United States. Providing
assistance and training to state and local law enforcement efforts,
such as those in Utah, is vital to DEA's methamphetamine strategy.
I thank you for providing me the opportunity address the Committee
and I look forward to taking any questions you may have on this
important issue.
Chairman Hatch. We'll turn the time to you, Mr. Warner,
appreciate having you here.
STATEMENT OF PAUL WARNER
Mr. Warner. Thank you, Senator.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the
opportunity to appear before the Committee. I have the honor of
being the U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah, and I greatly
appreciate the opportunity to testify before the Committee on
the critical problems of drugs and related crime in Utah.
Before I begin my specific remarks on the drug crime
problem in Utah, permit me to say, Senator Hatch, that I
believe that few people serving in Washington are as well
attuned to this issue as you are, and that few have done as
much as you have done to address it. That support is needed and
appreciated by law enforcement here in Utah, and I believe
around the country.
One focus of today's hearing is the explosion of so-called
``club drugs,'' Ecstasy, GHB, and others. About 10 years ago I
had the opportunity to prosecute what may have been the first
Ecstasy case in Utah. It involved a young man who was
manufacturing Ecstasy and selling it to support his cocaine
habit. At the time the case was a rarity, and even today, we
are fortunate that these club drugs have not yet emerged as
strongly as they have in other areas of the country.
Still, the problem is real, and poised to get worse. For
instance, my office is prosecuting an Ecstasy importation
scheme involving a significant quantity of the drug, which
would have supplied thousands of users. These drugs were being
imported from Europe into the United States, through Provo,
under a complex scheme using private carriers such as Federal
Express, DHL, and UPS as apparently unwitting couriers. It
appears the drugs were destined for the streets of California.
Even though in the case of Ecstasy apparently was not
intended to be distributed here in Utah, in my view, it is only
a matter of time before we see increased use of these drugs by
Utah's kids. In fact, I understand that the Utah Highway Patrol
recently made a significant seizure of Ecstasy intended for
distribution in Utah during an automobile stop in Southern
Utah. This matter is now being reviewed for federal charges.
The target age group for Ecstasy is young people between
the ages of 16 and 25. Our children here face most of the same
pressures as youth across the country, so it is no surprise
that these drugs would show up here. Indeed, because Utah still
retains much of its small-town innocence from an earlier, less
troubled era, our youth can be particularly susceptible to
threats from invidious ``club drugs'' that are represented as
``safe'' or ``clean.'' My office, in conjunction with our law
enforcement partners around the State, will aggressively
prosecute cases involving these drugs, in an effort to prevent
the threat from taking hold here, as have other drugs such as
methamphetamine.
I have been a prosecutor for almost a quarter of a century,
and I have been a federal prosecutor for the past 12 years.
Before the president nominated me to be the U.S. Attorney here
in Utah, I had served in the Utah U.S. Attorney's office as
First Assistant, as chief of the Criminal Division, and as
Violent Crimes Coordinator for the office. Based on my
experience, I can tell you without exaggeration that the meth
problem in Utah today is the most serious criminal threat we
face in the public safety and the safety of our well-being of
our children.
There are two key components to the meth problem in Utah.
While I believe that these components certainly exist in other
areas of the country that are experiencing a serious meth
proliferation problem, they also rest on factors somewhat
unique to Utah. The first component is the home grown problem.
The proliferation of clandestine meth labs. Indeed, Utah has
the dubious distinction of having the highest per capita number
of illegal methamphetamine manufacturing operations of any
State in the Union, and ranks among the highest in the Nation
in the absolute number of labs.
This part of the problem involves U.S. citizens operating
small labs and producing comparatively small amounts of very
pure meth. Approximately 266 such labs were taken down in Utah
in 1999, and approximately 178 have been taken down so far this
year. The prevalence of these clandestine labs, sometimes
called ``tweaker'' labs, after the common term for meth
addicts, is a function of two facts; the highly addictive
nature of methamphetamine, and the ability of addicts to
manufacture the drug themselves, a factor not present with
respect to drugs such as cocaine and heroin, for example.
As the Committee knows, meth can be made using chemicals,
equipment, and over-the-counter drugs, all of which are fairly
easy to get. With your leadership, Senator, as well as efforts
in the Utah legislature, some key ingredients such as
pseudoephedrine are now harder to get in large quantities than
they once were. However, determined lab operators are still
able to get what they need. For instance, a common method used
by tweakers to obtain pseudoephedrine is to go to every store
in the neighborhood and buy up to the legal limit, 12 grams
under Utah law. The recipe for meth is well-known among users,
and I believe that as the purity of imported meth has
decreased, the incentive for users to make their own has
increased.
The danger these labs pose to the community, and especially
to children in the homes where labs are set up, cannot be
overstated. First, while manufacturing meth is relatively
simple, most of the tweakers operating these labs are not
exactly rocket scientists. The process involves combining and
heating very volatile chemicals, and produces highly toxic
fumes and residues. Second, the very nature of the meth
addiction unfortunately ensures that the children in the
household will be ignored and abused. Our DEA agents can tell
you heart rending stories about addicted children found in
appalling conditions in many of the labs they respond to. In
fact, there have even been reports of children in preschool and
kindergarten playing make-believe games of cooking meth.
The second competent of the meth problem in Utah is what we
call ``Mexican meth.'' It results in part from our geographic
location as a convenient transshipment point. The result is a
significant number of what we call ``pipeline cases.'' This
component of Utah's problem, and our responses to it, bear
directly on controlling methamphetamine proliferation in Utah
and throughout the United States. Meth is being produced in
massive quantities in large labs in Mexico, as well as in
Southern California and other western States. Utah's proximity
to the national boarder, and the convergence of three primary
travel corridors--I-70, I-80, and I-15--within the State
combine to make Utah uniquely situated to serve as a major
transshipment point for this Mexican meth.
Unfortunately, we are finding that much of the drug is
staying in Utah and other intermountain States as well. For
example, after an 18-month investigation by the FBI and other
law enforcement agencies, just last week we broke up two major
and interconnected drug trafficking organizations operating in
Salt Lake City and Ogden. The take-down of the Olmedo and
Sanchez drug trafficking organization, or DTO's, resulted in
the indictment and arrest of over 25 people and the seizure of
at least 10 pounds of methamphetamine that had been imported
into Utah, as well as other drugs. These drugs were being
distributed here in Utah, as well as in Idaho and possibly
Wyoming.
It is also an unfortunate fact that much of this particular
component of Utah's meth problem is a direct result of illegal
entry by criminal aliens into the United States, who then come
to Utah. Again, as a case in point, most of the individuals
involved in the Olmedo DTO, as well as many of those used by
the Sanchez DTO as runners and suppliers, were criminal aliens.
Additionally, let there be no mistake, these DTO's have no
effect on children involved, as well. The most pernicious
effect is in passing on the culture of drugs and lawlessness to
another generation. And again, without wishing to prejudice
either the investigation or the prosecution of the recently
dismantled DTO's, an example can be found in those cases. Two
persons in the Sanchez DTO have been charged under the Federal
law that provides additional penalties for anyone who employs
or uses a minor in a drug trafficking crime. The children
involved in these cases deserve a chance to have a different
and better life than that of drug dealers.
Let me take just a moment to describe some of what my
office has been doing to address both the meth and the criminal
alien problems, which are related. As you know, Senator Hatch,
when I took office as U.S. attorney, I established two
prosecutive priorities. These priorities are meth and
aggravated re-entry immigration cases. With your support and
the support of the Main Justice, these initiatives are bearing
fruit.
First, I was able to obtain two new drug prosecutors, which
allowed me to establish within the office's Criminal Division a
new drug section. Utilizing targeted resources provided by
Congress and allocated by the Executive Office for U.S.
Attorneys, this section is now staffed with four attorneys,
including two who are dedicated to OCDETF cases. Even while
still staffing up, the results of this section have been
evident. For instance, fiscal year 1999, we indicted
approximately 196 defendants in about 105 drug cases. This
represents a 65 percent increase in the defendants and 38
percent increase in cases over fiscal year 1998. Yet the
numbers alone do not tell the whole story. During the last 12
months we have successfully dismantled three major drug
trafficking organizations, including the Sundowners Motorcycle
Club drug trafficking organization, and the recent bust of the
Olmedo and Sanchez DTO's, which I also stated.
As a reflection of the growing problem with methamphetamine
in Utah and the commitment by federal law enforcement to
attacking the problem, allow me to provide a comparison of
defendants indicted in OCDETF cases within the last 2 years. In
fiscal year 1998, a total of 32 defendants were indicted in the
District of Utah through OCDETF investigations, many of whom
were indicted for methamphetamine offenses. By comparison,
fiscal year 1999 OCDETF investigations resulted in the
indictment of 91 defendants, and nearly all of those defendants
were indicted for a meth offense. So far in the fiscal year
2000, we have obtained indictments against 53 defendants in
OCDETF cases, including the 31 defendants indicted as a part of
the Olmedo and Sanchez DTO's.
The point of relating these numbers is not only to inform
the Committee of what we are doing to tackle the meth problem
in Utah, but also emphasize the severity of the problem. Even
with the substantial and ever increasing number of defendants
and cases we are handling, sometimes it seems we're only
scratching the surface of the problem. There seems to be an
endless supply of new cases.
The same can be said of the second prong of our initiative,
which involves aggressively prosecuting criminal alien cases. I
understand that this can be a sensitive subject, and that the
link between these cases and the meth problem may not be
readily apparent to some. It must be emphasized that the
criminal alien initiative is not targeted at our law-abiding
Hispanic population. It is that population we in large measure
seek to protect. Indeed, the code name for the investigation
into the Olmedo and Sanchez DTO's was ``Los Chacales,'' which
in Spanish means, ``the Jackals,'' and is a derogatory term
within the law-abiding Hispanic community for drug dealers. It
is my view that because of the prevalence of Mexican men, and
the convenience of Utah as transshipment and distribution
point, the criminal alien and drug trafficking cases are
intimately intertwined, and that we cannot get a handle on the
meth problem without also attacking the criminal alien problem
as well.
Thanks to your commitment, Senator Hatch, and the
commitment of the Attorney General, we have added
personnelresources in the U.S. attorney's office as well as at the INS
to aggressively pursue these cases. Again, we're showing results. In
calendar year 1996, our office indicted 80 criminal aliens. In 1997 194
such cases. In 1998, 313. In 1999 over 250. So far this calendar year
about 120 have been brought so far. The vast majority of the criminal
alien cases we are doing involve defendants with drug trafficking
convictions, as well as lengthy criminal histories. In addition to the
immigration offenses, many of these are methamphetamine related cases.
Our program has been successful so far.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, let me briefly note a third aspect
of our drug crime initiative, the targeting of the illegal use
and possession of firearms by criminals. The link between the
illegal use and possession of firearms and drug crime is well
known, and here in Utah, we have initiated Project CUFF--
Criminal Use of Firearms by Felons--to aggressively prosecute
these cases. I am pleased to say that both the name of the
initiative and the resources to pursue it are a result of your
efforts in the Senate. And let me be clear, we are not
prosecuting law-abiding citizens exercising their
constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Rather, we are
targeting those felons who use guns to commit crimes, thereby
endangering whole community and denigrating the rights of
everyone else. I have assigned a top AUSA to Project CUFF, and
I am adding another one next month. The initiative has resulted
in nearly 80 cases accepted for Federal prosecution since
January.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, our drug problem in Utah is
severe, and poses serious threats to our youth. And as some
aspects of the problem are unique to our district, the meth
problem--and the bigger broader drug problem--certainly is not.
Yet, we are taking steps to tackle the problem. It is a problem
we are tackling on several fronts, including the home-grown,
clandestine lab, the so-called Mexican meth, and staying ahead
of the curve on the threat posed by the new generation of club
drugs. Your leadership, and the support of the Department of
Justice, has given us many tools and resources to do this. I
can assure you that whatever new resources you send us, whether
in the form of funding or prosecutors and staff, or in the form
of improved laws such as your meth bill, Federal law
enforcement in partnership with our State and local colleagues
will put them to good use to turn the corner of proliferation
of methamphetamine and other drugs in our communities.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and would be pleased to answer
questions at the appropriate time.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you, Mr. Warner.
Turn to Chief Greiner.
STATEMENT OF JON GREINER
Mr. Greiner. Thank you, Senator Hatch. My name is Jon
Greiner, Chief of Police of Ogden, UT and----
Chairman Hatch. Pull that mic just a little closer.
Mr. Greiner. I appreciate the opportunity to talk to the
committee about the emerging drug threats on Utah's youth. Also
appreciate the opportunity to address this meeting today. I
offer this introductory statement. The statement given the
celebration of this country's 226th birthday, that seems
troubling to me as a military veteran and one who has spent the
last 27 years in law enforcement.
This is the statement: The single greatest threat to Utah
and this country's youth today is the drug problems associated
with methamphetamines. The formula to produce that illegal
substance is; red, white and blue, one, two, three. That's
right; red, white, blue, one, two, three. Sounds more like a
football quarterback call, doesn't it?
Doesn't it seem a little bit troubling that the sick
demented under culture of society would use this expression to
show how easy it is to produce this substance? The issue of
attacking our core values.
It surprises me that Utah ranks in the top five per capita
for methamphetamine abuse and manufacture, given our culture.
However, you only have to meet a meth user to understand how
completely addictive this drug--this illegal drug is. During my
career I have seen the user, I have been to the labs from
houses to storage lockers. They can even put one in the trunk
of a car now, as you can see by some of the equipment you have
up front. The worst part is the precursors to make the meth
which can be acquired at many local grocery, hardware or farm
supply stores. The second problem is the clean up necessary
after the products are blended or cooked together. The last
issue is that most citizens don't relate to this problem, yet,
because of the culture in Utah. So things are bound to get
worse in terms of labs and addicts before they can get better.
Utah citizens have to recognize this villain. These addicts are
committing crimes. They also, some of them, are getting into
gangs.
In northern Utah we have a strike force of narcotics
officers that work with DEA that works with the Attorney
General that work with the two Utah counties of Weber and
Morgan. In their weekly report to each chief of that local
area, more than 30 percent of the cases and arrests involve
methamphetamine. The other troubling piece of this report is
that a disproportionate number of the people involved in this
activity belong to a minority class of people in the State of
Utah, and a significant number of that minority class involved
with the meth are undocumented citizens who belong or associate
with local gang members.
On June 27, 2 weeks ago, the Weber/Morgan Task Force, in
conjunction and assistance to the FBI, arrested 16 people in
our geographical area and served warrants where meth was
recovered, much of which Paul outlined just previously. The
suspects were mostly Hispanic descent, many were illegal, and
the area of drug dealing covered several western states and had
connections into Mexico. The total arrests from the FBI
operation will probably approach 40 people.
The other emerging drugs of concern are the GHB and GBL
drugs. GHB being Gama-Hydroybutric Acid and GBL being Gamma-
Butyrolactome, both of which are drugs of choice for date
rapes.
In 1996 the San Francisco Bay area poison control center
saw their average of four to six GHB increase to eight to ten.
In July of 1996 both Los Angeles and San Francisco had reports
of about 30 per month. Northern Utah, as is all of Utah, is
starting to see some of these same kinds of things happening.
It is not uncommon to hear rape victims report that they had
gone to a party and drank something. The next thing they
remember is the morning after and they have been sexually
assaulted.
We have had the rave party reports and a few reports of the
use of the new GHB or GBL drugs, more commonly referred to as
liquid Ecstasy. GHB's similarity to Ecstasy isuncanny. Although
it affects users like Ecstasy, the chemical composition is not. Ecstasy
is a relative of the amphetamines alluded to earlier. GHB is found
naturally in every cell in the human body. It is considered a nutrient
that enhances the sense of touch, yet GHB has a sedative effect causing
users to go to sleep or fall into a helpless, immobile state.
We need to become better prepared at dealing with these
issues as they emerge. On the enforcement side of this same
issue, the Weber/Morgan strike force has had some good seizures
of the date rape drug called Rohypnol before it got out to the
mainstream of user, at least in our area the last 2 years.
Many times you hear from law enforcement our needs and
there has been an excellent relationship between our
congressional representatives and law enforcement. We talked 5
years ago about problems with undocumented citizens, and you
called a special conference in Salt Lake City to help start
addressing that. It appears that there will be some immigration
and naturalization officers working in Northern Utah sometime
this year. The result of this, Northern Utah has been benefited
from some meth grant programs that are helping us identify
users, labs, and precursor suppliers quicker. We are working on
getting information into the hands of parents so that they can
see what meth and the new designer drugs are all about. I offer
to one of your aides one of the booklets we pass out to our
DARE graduates, at every DARE graduation, as an example of
that. We are working on ways to make identification of
undocumented citizens more available to local law enforcement
through fingerprint systems. The help is coming from our
federal representatives for which we in law enforcement are
very grateful. Please pay attention to the diminishing amounts
of these grants. However, the Federal Byrne Grant reductions
will cause the scaling back of drug and gang units statewide,
which I'm sure Camille Anthony can address from her position.
The war is on to protect our youth. Aristotle once said,
``The fate of empires depends on the education of youth.'' The
key to reduced demand for illegal drugs is an educated, well
informed citizenry that is primarily our youth and then
everyone else in the community are aware of the real dangers of
substance abuse. With this awareness, each of us should be able
to make our own informed decision and educate others on the
perils of becoming involved in drugs. Beyond that--beyond that
the battle lines are already drawn and we need to be as
technically and tactically proficient as we can be to meet the
enemy head on and diminish or destroy them.
Remember, it's as simple as red, white, blue, one, two,
three.
I thank you for your time today on this critical topic
concerning our future, and I would entertain any questions that
you may have at the appropriate time.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you. You did this magazine up here?
Mr. Greiner. There's a national publication we work with, a
national vendor to have that available. Our primary goal is to
have that available to our youth and their parents at the 5th
grade level of DARE so that they understand what it's all----
Chairman Hatch. I hadn't seen this before. This is the
first one I've seen. I'm just skimming through it but it really
covers every peril. How do you get it?
Mr. Greiner. I'll put you on the mailing list. Actually we
sell the ad space and the advertisers in there pay for the
magazine so they're free to the jurisdiction.
Chairman Hatch. So anybody--when you say ``jurisdiction,''
you mean Weber County?
Mr. Greiner. Yes, sir.
Chairman Hatch. This is really excellent, thank you.
Mr. Wasden, we'll turn to you.
Mr. Wasden. Thank you, Senator.
Chairman Hatch. Try to top that.
STATEMENT OF ROY WASDEN
Mr. Wasden. I can't do it. I appreciate being able to be
here. Thank you for your leadership. We've had tremendous
success and through your leadership we've been spurred on in a
number of efforts in Salt Lake and continuing in the last year,
we have worked together to build a crime reduction strategy on
the statewide level, with that have carried forward in county
crime reduction strategy and universal crime reduction
strategies.
The drug problem is the number one component of crime. The
estimates run at least 70 percent of all crime relates back to
drugs in one form or another. Based on that recognition, the
resources to deal with the crime related problems must exist.
While we've made tremendous progress with the resources and
recognition through the U.S. attorney's office and prosecution,
there still is a tremendous need that is not being filled and
that needs the continued attention of filling spaces and
completing the open positions that have not been filled in
local and federal offices, specifically the immigration
services.
I don't want to spend a great deal of time and repeat what
you've been told, other than to tell you that it is accurate;
that there is not enough information about the synthetic drugs,
that in fact the traditional drug scene, cocaine, heroin, and
now unfortunately methamphetamine, is being considered more of
a traditional drug problem, those continue. The synthetic drugs
are not well informed to our children. As we go through the
DARE program with our children in schools, as we inform
children and have DARE programs of parents, clearly there's a
lack of information from every portion of the community in what
these threats are and how to deal with the threat. Those
programs must continue. We will never solve the problem
attacking the supply site.
Unfortunately my time in Salt Lake is very short, because
of this reason in closing my office I've not been able to write
my remarks for the hearings today. It will be with tremendous
anticipation that I move to a new job in California, and I
appreciate the opportunity of having worked with and addressed
the problems, Senator, in this format. You have been a resource
to law enforcement in Utah and I hope that I find that as I
move to my new position.
Chairman Hatch. We really appreciate the service you've
given here, we are delighted to have you here with us today.
Mr. Morgan, you are going to be clean up here.
STATEMENT OF KENT MORGAN
Mr. Morgan. Thank you, Senator. I'm used to that.
Chairman Hatch. If you can pull that mic up a little bit
closer, I want everybody to hear you.
Mr. Morgan. I'm, of course, referring to at home, not in
the office.
Senator, my job is to supervise the State's prosecution of
all felony controlled substance violations that occur in Salt
Lake County. Many of the cases that Mr. Warner has referred to
we'll be talking about, at least briefly.
I would like to mention to the Senate that the District
Attorney's office files over 8,600 felony charges each year.
That amounts to just over 6,300 cases. Of those total charges,
more than half involve charges that allege one or more
violations of the Utah Controlled Substance Act.
Chairman Hatch. Would you agree with the 70 percent figure,
pretty close to it?
Mr. Morgan. As being the----
Chairman Hatch. Related to drugs.
Mr. Morgan. As other crimes, I certainly would. If we have
a crime, a violent crime for example, a robbery, the motive for
doing a robbery is because the person needs drugs, the easiest
way to do that is to rob a drug store. The federal, State and
local law enforcement agencies, prosecution officers and State
crime laboratory personnel have recently become focused on the
illicit and clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine in Salt
Lake County.
A disturbing trend shows that the manufacture, sale and use
of this controlled substance have reached alarming proportions.
The total number of cases filed since 1994 has steadily
increased from 1,609 felony cases to over 3,300 cases last
year. We find that the controlled substance case load appears
to double probably every 5 years.
There are four major crimes filed in a controlled substance
case. These crimes are: Distribution or Arranging the
Distribution of a Controlled Substance; the Possession of a
Controlled Substance With the Intent to Distribute a Controlled
Substance; the Possession or Use of a Controlled Substance,
also known as simple possession; and the fourth one is,
Manufacture or Production of a Controlled Substance.
Distribution and Possession with Intent cases comprise
about half of the controlled substance case load, with felony
and possession constituting about one third of the case load.
The remaining case load is composed of a variety of kinds of
cases, those are clandestine laboratory, forgery, prescription
or pharmaceutical frauds, things of that nature.
Most disturbing are the statistics showing that prosecution
of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories are increasing at
an appalling rate and that methamphetamine use is replacing
cocaine as a drug of choice by drug abusers in Salt Lake
County.
In 1994 through 1997, the Salt Lake District Attorney's
office prosecuted between 17 and 23 clandestine laboratory
cases each year. In 1998, this number increased to 91, and
doubled to 161 in 1999, and that's out of the 200 some odd in
this case, you can see quite a few of those are here in Salt
Lake County. This trend continues to the first half of this
year. Other sorts of violations just don't show the same
increase in the rate of commission near that experienced with
methamphetamine related crimes. The prosecution of
methamphetamine labs is a complex process requiring
considerable time and resources. There are no local resources
to fund any additional county prosecutors. The District
Attorney's office has had to resort to funding from the Salt
Lake City Police Department for a one half time attorney
position, and has been placed in the position of recruiting
assistance from the Utah Attorney General's Office in order to
be able to prosecute these offenses with any degree of the
attention that is merited for these kinds of cases.
A clandestine lab endangers not only the person and
confederates conducting the illegal manufacture of the
methamphetamine, but endangers innocent individuals in adjacent
and surrounding buildings who are exposed to the carcinogens,
dangerous chemical fumes and the risk of explosion. This danger
continues long after the lab is discovered and is dismantled.
It is not unusual to find the infant children and toddlers of
the illegal meth lab cooks crawling through the glassware and
chemicals such as red phosphorus and lye that have been used to
manufacture the methamphetamine. These children are taken to
the hospital to be decontaminated and given an examination. One
case that comes vividly to mind left the children in a state
with clumps of hair falling out of their heads and sores
covering their little bodies. Property values plummet when
homes in the middle of nice neighborhoods are condemned with no
money available from the criminal or any other resource to do
the necessary clean up. Trash from methamphetamine manufacture
has been dumped in the dumpsters of elementary schools and in
cemeteries.
The harmful effects of methamphetamine abuse have long been
established by the medical and legal community. It is
distressing to observe that those who have been convinced to
abandon the recreational abuse of cocaine, are now turning to
the cheaper and more plentiful supply of locally produced
methamphetamine. While 40 percent of controlled substance
felony violations involve the illegal distribution or use of
cocaine, felony crimes involving the legal manufacture,
distribution or use of methamphetamine now exceeds 32percent of
the controlled substance case load in the District Attorney's office.
Heroin is involved in 7 percent of felony controlled substance
violations, while marijuana and other kinds of drugs make up the
remaining 21 percent of the controlled substance case load. A
methamphetamine charge 10 or 15 years ago was a rare case indeed.
A more recent occurrence in drug prosecution has involved
the frightening use of so-called ``club drugs'' known as
Ecstasy and allegations of the use of GHB, the ``date rape''
drug, because law enforcement is presently configured to
intercept adults selling contraband controlled substances to
adults in rather open and obvious markets, and it is not in a
position to pose as an ``addict'' or teenager seeking thrills
in a ``rave.'' The ability to prosecute what is now becoming
wide-spread abuse has been slow in coming.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office has
prosecuted only five MDMA, or Ecstasy cases, three of which
were filed just last month. This does not mean that only a few
violations are occurring in Salt Lake County. For example, this
past year a local investigation, Mr. Warner referred to a local
investigation out of our office that resulted in the seizure of
250,000 Ecstasy pills that were shipped from Spain to Provo,
UT. It was learned that these pills were legally manufactured
in Holland, and were destined for illegal distribution in the
United States. This investigation is continuing.
The greatest difficulty in combating drug violations is to
apply resources in an effective manner. The availability of
Federal funds for direct prosecution efforts would be most
useful. Federal prosecutions often depend on the ability of the
State to obtain an underlying conviction. As I understand the
bill, funds would be made available to combat trafficking in
methamphetamine to hire not only law enforcement personnel, but
to allow for hire new prosecutors, lab technicians and
chemists. I applaud those efforts, and remain available to
answer any questions you may have.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you so much.
Chief, I wonder if I could get you to just step aside for a
minute. Sherryl Bigelow, a mother of a methamphetamine addicted
teenage daughter, is scheduled to testify on the second panel,
but she has to leave at 2:30 p.m., so I think--I think I'll
take her testimony at this time because her testimony is
something I think that will be beneficial to all parents and
children in the audience and throughout the State. So I'd like
to give her that chance now. I'd like you to come right back up
so I can ask some questions of you.
Mrs. Bigelow, we'll take your testimony at this time, if
you pull the mike close to you.
STATEMENT OF SHERRYL BIGELOW, MOTHER OF A METHAMPHETAMINE
ADDICTED TEENAGE DAUGHTER
Mrs. Bigelow. Thank you for accommodating my schedule.
Chairman Hatch. Pull that even a little bit closer. I know
it's hard.
Mrs. Bigelow. As I've sat here and listened to these
gentlemen give statistics and facts, I see the lab up there,
it's just been very difficult because this is about my
daughter. And while I told my story many times, it's always
difficult.
One of the saddest things of all to me is I'm not alone.
There are thousands and thousands of other mothers who have
sons and daughters that they love who have been taken away from
them because of methamphetamines.
My daughter is 19 now, and briefly I will tell you how she
got started. This is what I'm aware of. When she went into
seventh grade she had straight A's, she was a great student,
had a lot of enthusiasm for sports and friends and animals. She
came from a very typical home. My husband and I are still
married after 24 years. Yesterday our oldest daughter entered
the MTC, began serving a mission for her church. We're active
in our church. I have four children, two cats and a dog. Very
typical--typical family.
Come eighth grade we started seeing a lot of red flags. Our
daughter's clothing changed, her friends changed, she had a
hard time going to school, didn't want to go to school, she had
mood swings and we just assumed it was hormones and adjusting
to middle school, and I immediately got her into some
counselling. And our pediatrician, who is wonderful, directed
us to some very good counselors.
They diagnosed my daughter as having manic depression
disease and being anorexic. We went into counselling for 3
years. During the 3 years she had a couple of suicide gestures,
both times was taken to the hospital, neither time was she
tested for drug use. At no time during the 3 years of our
intense counselling did a counselor say, this could be drugs,
this could be meth. Couple of times I suspected.
When she'd go into the pediatrician for kidney and liver
tests for the anorexia, I asked if she would drug test her. And
they couldn't drug test her without telling my daughter. My
daughter's also very bright and she knew whenever she went into
the doctor, she would just not use for three days before she
got to the doctor, in case the drug test happened. So all of
the drug tests that were done came up clean. When she applied
for a job she didn't use for a few days before the job drug
testing, and again it came up clean.
So I assumed that it was the manic depression disease and
being anorexic, and tried other things such as lettingher live
with an aunt and uncle in Seattle for a summer. Nothing helped. I
didn't know what else to do. We were at the end of our rope.
Our darling daughter became angry, she became violent, she
had no desire to go to school, she was failing classes. I
assume when she was there, when I did get her there, she left
as soon as I dropped her off or I found out later that she
would use in the restrooms at the high school.
At the end of her junior year I just started checking into
places that deal with troubled teens or rehab, but as far as I
knew my daughter was not drug addicted. We were just looking at
the troubled teen issue.
One place I felt very comfortable with, my husband went
with me because it was so expensive and our insurance wouldn't
cover anything and we could--just didn't know what else to do.
So we went and I had my husband with me and we asked several
questions, and finally they brought in a couple of girls that
were in the program. And there were 50 girls at the time and
they pulled in two girls who I'd never seen or met before, and
as we told our story they were convinced that she was using
drugs, my daughter was. But I still had no proof that she was.
I didn't know what else to do, and we left the room and we
were excused and said thank you for coming, Mr. and Mrs.
Bigelow, and one of the girls put the names together and knew
my daughter, and told us how involved our daughter was in
crystal. And to tell you how naive I was, I couldn't even
figure out what they meant by crystal. I'm thinking the little
things that shimmer in the light. I'm going, oh, she doesn't
have crystal in her room. Didn't make any sense to me until
they put the word ``meth'' with it, and everything--everything
was clear. Weight loss, not being able to sleep at night, the
suicide gestures, the mood swings, the not going to school, the
violent temper. Everything was so clear to me.
Needless to say we had her in this rehab for 11 months. She
has been out just a little over a year now. She did very well
for the first few months and then started using again. She's
19.
While she was in the rehab we found out she had diabetes
and also heart damage. She's not living at home, a couple of
reasons; one is that she knows as long as she's using she can't
be at home. She has two younger brothers and I don't want the
influence of her use and the friends that she hangs out with, I
don't think are healthy for my other children. I don't want
them at my home. Plus it's really hard to live with a meth user
when they're having a mood swing and are violent and angry and
hateful.
I don't know where she is. When she calls me it's from a
pay phone or a friend's cell phone. I hear from her about once
a week. If it goes longer than that I start calling police
stations and hospitals to see if she's OK.
The most frustrating thing we've been through is having no
where to go financially with this. No help from insurance. And
now that she's 19, I can't put her in another rehab. She's on
her own. I hope that when the time comes that she's arrested
that we can work out some kind of a deal to get her to drug
court or something, because the only time I've seen her really
humble is when she's out of her element, and I think if she
were in a jail, I think that would be a really appropriate
place for her to be humbled and want to change her life around.
It has been so difficult for our family, for her brothers,
for her family unit. She isolates herself from us. She didn't
go with us to the MTC with her sister. And my daughter told me
once, it feels like she doesn't have a sister. She has two
brothers and her parents.
My daughter is two people. She's the person who has the
values of our family, who is kind hearted and loving; and then
there's our daughter who's the meth user, and they are
completely opposite as night and day. I miss my sober daughter
and I fear for my drug addicted daughter.
I will be happy to answer any questions before I leave.
Chairman Hatch. Your testimony is very important because a
lot of people don't realize--a lot of people in Utah don't
realize--the tremendous difficulties that we have in this State
from meth use. And these are descent kids that get sucked up
into it, and next thing you know they're lost. Like you say, it
completely changes their personality, it completely ruins their
lives. I can't tell you how much we appreciate your willingness
to come and tell us about this, because hopefully parents all
over the State will start to realize that this is a real menace
to our State, and not just here but all over, and I applaud
your courage and welcome your desire to help other families
recognize the signs of drug abuse and addiction, so that's
important.
You've listed a number of these signs, telltale signs
parents should be looking for. I'd just like you to just take a
minute again and list some of the signs that suddenly you
realized amounted to methamphetamine, and then I'm going to ask
these law enforcement people a little bit about it so everybody
in Utah can understand this is not some little insignificant
problem.
Mrs. Bigelow. The first sign that we saw was change in her
clothing, from being kind of the cute stylish look, she was
wearing baggy clothes, really baggy T-shirts and pants. The
second sign was the music that she listened to became hard
rock, rapping gang kind of music, is what I call it. Then we
saw the grades fail. Apparently she was smoking and using
alcohol and marijuana for about a year before the grades fell.
Chairman Hatch. Before she started on meth you say?
Mrs. Bigelow. Well, it was probably even 2\1/2\ years
before she started on meth. She escalated to that.
Chairman Hatch. People don't realize, they take marijuana
and think it's really not that bad a drug, but the fact of the
matter is, it is a gateway to other drugs.
Mrs. Bigelow. And so is tobacco and alcohol with kids who
grow up in a family where that is not used, and so we looked at
tobacco and alcohol as gateway drugs also for her in her
situation.
After the grades started failing the friends changed, and
then she would want to be gone for sleep overs. She'd leave on
Friday or Saturday night for a sleep over, and we would say,
you know, it's your turn to have friends over at our house. But
she never wanted to be at our house, that was a problem. We
found out later, we get a lot of honesty when you're in rehab,
that when we would drop her off at a friends or she'd say she'd
be at a friends, she'd call us at 10 or 11 p.m., caller ID
would show that's where she is, but she would immediately leave
and be somewhere else for the entire night. When we would pick
her up in the morningshe would be where we dropped her off at.
So we had no idea that's what was going on. But not wanting to be at
home.
She refused to go on vacations with the family. We'd have a
vacation planned and she would refuse to go. That should be a
sign. They can't be away from their drugs that long, plus
they're not comfortable around the family, they have to hide
things somewhere.
Then getting her to school was a real challenge. She would
want to sleep and it was tough getting her out of bed. It's
another thing that was interesting to me that teachers didn't
pick up on it a little more or have a suspicion and call and
say, hey, we think there's a problem. But her school attendance
was crummy, her grades went from A's to B's to C's to D's then
just completely failing.
She was nonfunctioning. Suicide gestures, we had her in and
no one drug tested her in the emergency room, and both times I
assumed she was high. Suicide gestures should be a red flag.
Arguing with the family, not getting along with people she
used to get along with. Violent outbursts came later.
One friend of mine the other day said, I see all these red
flags but I keep waiting for one more before I know for sure. I
keep waiting for one more. I wish that I would have known when
she was in eighth grade or seventh grade instead of when she
was 17 going on 18. I think we would have stood a better chance
of getting her off if I had more time.
Chairman Hatch. This has been very helpful, and one of the
problems you're having is--you've had is getting the proper
type of treatment if you don't have the resources to be able to
pay for it. That's one reason we passed the methamphetamine
bill, my bill last year got through the Senate, we still
haven't got it through the House. There's millions of dollars
in there for rehabilitation and treatment programs, and in fact
the justice bill was held up on one issue, the gun issue.
Recognize that we had more money for treatment in that bill
than we do for law enforcement, although we have an adequate
amount for both. And it's all got caught up in politics rather
than doing what's right.
But to make a long story short, you've been very helpful to
us here today and to parents all over this State, and I know it
takes courage for you to do this and we know it's terrible to
have to relive it, but you're helping a lot of people here
today, I just want to thank you personally. I think we promised
you'd be able to go by 2:30 p.m., and we better let you go.
Mrs. Bigelow. OK. Thank you.
Chairman Hatch. Chief, if we could get you back. Thank you
very much.
Now, Mr. Marshall, you know, the administration has pointed
out that we've had a 13 percent decrease since 1997 in drug
abuse among teenagers, but that kind of hides the problem. For
instance, use among teenagers since 1992 has increased 129
percent for marijuana, 80 percent for cocaine, 100 percent for
both crack and heroin.
Additionally, the perception of youth drug use is confined
to our Nation's urban areas is proven to be mistaken. According
to a recent report funded by the DEA on illegal drug use among
teens, it's notably higher in rural America than in urban and
suburban areas. If we look at the map we had up there, it looks
like the meth problem is primarily from the Mississippi River
west, at least as far as methamphetamine lab shut downs go, but
it's moving rapidly towards the east. Years ago it was
basically just in the west, and it's just a matter of time
before it engulfs the whole country.
Now, the report of the DEA found that eighth graders living
in rural areas as compared to eighth graders is urban areas, 4
percent have tried amphetamines, including methamphetamine; 30
percent are more likely to use cocaine; 30 percent are more
likely to smoke marijuana; and 83 percent more likely to use
crack cocaine.
Now, this is particularly troubling to me and my
constituents from the mostly rural State of Utah, and we're
having lots of problems out here now. What do you think
accounts for this drastic increase in rural drug abuse and what
is your strategy for helping to bring this down or bring these
numbers down, Mr. Marshall?
Mr. Marshall. I think really a couple factors account for
it. Number 1 is the ease of communications and information;
perhaps the internet, perhaps just general communications in
our country. People are better informed all over the country
about what's going on; therefore, I think that people in rural
areas who were not many years ago when I was a child, for
instance, just not exposed to that sort of stuff.
I think that the modern world has made our society more
mobile and that sort of stuff, but I think more importantly,
Senator, we're seeing in the drug world that the drug
trafficking organizations themselves are becoming more
aggressive at marketing their products, and I'll give you some
examples of that.
The Colombian groups, for instance, when they got into the
heroin market, they began selling heroin, a kilo of heroin with
every 500 kilos of cocaine as a condition of selling the
cocaine to their established customers, and so those customers
would then take the heroin, which at the time of a new product
for the Colombian drug dealers, and they would have to create
new markets for it.
We've seen the Mexican drug trafficking organization,
Mexican based drug trafficking organization, we've seen them
actually try to create new market for methamphetamine, and
that's what has accounted for the spread of methamphetamine.
But most key is that a number of years ago in the smaller areas
and in Salt Lake City, for instance, probably if a person
wanted to introduce drugs into this community or Tyler, TX near
where I grew up, there would have to be someone in that
community that could reach out and know a section in Los
Angeles or Houston or New York or Miami, you know, in order to
bring drugs into these communities.
What we see in today's world is that the drug trafficking
organizations themselves are seeing opportunities to market
their poison and they're actually moving their own organization
representatives into many of these smaller and mid size cities,
and they're consciously attempting to create new markets in
these places. They feel like in a smaller place there might be
less of a law enforcement threat, they feel like there might be
less awareness, might be less vigilance against the problem,
and I think they're consciously marketing this.
Now, as far as DEA strategy. We're trying to increase our
presence in smaller places. For instance, we've increased our
presence in Salt Lake, we've recently opened an office in St.
George, we would like to open an office in Ogden, we want to go
in such places in the country asLufkin, TX and Tyler, TX and
places like that with the presence, and we are submitting, once again,
in budget year 2002 a Domestic Enforcement Initiative that would
increase the number of agencies that we have on our payroll and will
allow us to do that.
Now, other things that we're doing, obviously we've talked
a lot both over at the DEA office and here to a lesser degree,
about law enforcement cooperation. And I think that DEA and
federal government need to serve as catalyst to protect law
enforcement cooperation, to promote intelligent sharing, to
promote not a federal solution to these problems, but a
national solution where we can all work better together.
Chairman Hatch. We're happy to have you as the new leader
of the DEA. You have the right idea, just exactly--you have so
much experience, like I say, you're the first one who's come up
through the ranks to become head of the DEA, and that's pretty
impressive.
Mr. Warner, you and I have worked on a couple of problems
here. Tell the folks here in the audience how easy it is to get
off of methamphetamine.
I've put that in a sarcastic way, haven't I?
Mr. Warner. I was going to say I wish that it were easy to
get off methamphetamine.
Our experience is not dissimilar to what Mrs. Bigelow
described with her daughter's relapse. We have seen time and
time again defendants in our criminal justice systems who are
basically meth addicted and they're in our system and they're
coming back to our system because they have been in both the
criminal justice system as well as rehab, sometimes
incarceration, sometimes in a private facility, but--and I
don't have statistics----
Chairman Hatch. How many years does it take to be able to
rehabilitate some teenager that's been on meth, or anybody else
for that matter?
Mr. Warner. Well, in my experience just around 3 years
because----
Chairman Hatch. That's if you use an intensive Federal
rehabilitation program?
Mr. Warner. That's right. In terms of us seeing people that
actually can successfully lick the problem, and obviously
individuals differ, but we're talking long-term intensive.
Chairman Hatch. And a lot of money.
Mr. Warner. And a lot of money.
Chairman Hatch. Do they completely lick the habit in 3
years?
Mr. Warner. I don't think----
Chairman Hatch. The desire for these type of drugs?
Mr. Warner. Obviously I'm a prosecutor, not a medical
doctor. But my experience has been that's something they'll
deal with the rest of their lives. Psychological addiction,
even if they meet and beat the other, these are people we see
in our system that are fighting this addiction for the
remainder of their lives.
Chairman Hatch. Doctors tell me you never get rid of the
desire, you're just able to handle it better after you go
through a true rehabilitation. Is that your experience, the
rest of you? You're all nodding your heads yes.
Let me ask you, Chief and Roy and Kent, as I mentioned in
my opening statement, most Utahns know methamphetamine is a
horrible destructive drug. I'm not sure that's a correct
statement, some Utahns, not all. Among methamphetamine users
there are innocent children and family members who do not use
methamphetamine. You've mentioned getting parents who have set
up a lab such as this in their home and they have little
children addicted to methamphetamine, and that's happening all
the time here in Utah. Am I wrong on that? You're all saying
I'm not, I'm right.
Can you please explain to the folks here, everybody who is
interested in this, what kind of damage you've seen to the
children, spouses and neighbors of people who produce
methamphetamine in their homes.
Chief and then Roy then Kent.
Mr. Greiner. We're having a significant number of children
that become instituted in foster care programs that are
becoming what we, not affectionately, refer to as drug babies.
Even my secretary who really loves children has found that more
and more children that she picks up and helps in the foster
care program are a result of these kinds of environments.
They're children of people who are involved in the drug
culture. They bring the product into their homes. It's so easy
for them to make it any more, particularly the methamphetamine.
But by accident they're getting themselves exposed, or if not
procuring the life cycle of birth.
It's a real problem and we're getting to the point where
we're being just like big cities in rural Utah. We're getting
those drug addicts as children who have, through no consequence
of their own, been exposed. And that's just increasing every
year.
Chairman Hatch. Anybody else care to entertain that?
Mr. Morgan. Why don't I. One of the consequences that
you'll see is the labs set up----
Chairman Hatch. You need to pull that up.
Mr. Morgan. Thank you, Senator. When you see a lab put
together, a meth lab, what they'll do is rent a home in a nice
neighborhood; it's conceived from the police, everybody knows
criminals aren't in our neighborhoods, and over a period of
time cook whatever meth they need. They sell the
methamphetamine and then usually about 3:00 in the morning on
Friday we'll ruin their party and serve a search warrant.
That's not the end of the game. What happens at that point is
the drug enforcement agencies, the law enforcement agencies
will take out, along with the State crime lab, any of the
contaminated materials and chemicals that are used to directly
make the methamphetamine. What's left behind is all the
chemicals that were used that are now seeping into the walls.
Chairman Hatch. They're highly toxic.
Mr. Morgan. They're toxic carcinogens. They're now no
longer explosive, but they stay in the walls and cause cancer
and all kinds of problems.
Chairman Hatch. Explosive. These things being set up, that
is explosive?
Mr. Morgan. While it's cooking, it's a bomb.
Chairman Hatch. Bomb waiting to go off.
Mr. Morgan. Right. These common chemicals like lye, red
phosphorus, iodine, things of that nature, themselves in small
amounts are very harmless. When you concentrate them and the
leftover chemicals after the cooking process is going to be
permeating off this room. We take the meth cooks to jail, DEA
goes back to what they're doing, and the rest of us go back to
what we're doing. Then the landlord shows up, and the landlord
now has a multi--tens of thousanddollar bill he's going to have
to do to clean the place up to even rent it, much less sell it to
somebody else.
In the meantime, he can't do anything because he doesn't
have $30,000 in his pocket, and that home just sits there. It
sits there for years at a time waiting until somebody will come
in and take the loss and clean the place up so they can sell it
to somebody else.
It's right in the middle of the neighborhoods where we live
and all the other property values around this house go down as
well. That's just the economic consequences. And that's in
addition to the human suffering.
Mr. Wasden. Senator, Kent describes a real problem. Then
there's the unscrupulous landlord who may well not clean it up
and rent the property. The meth department and Salt Lake County
are taking a strong role in becoming very involved as we close
labs in determining and setting standards about how those
properties need to be closed and made safe for the community.
And that's an emerging problem.
A couple numbers I want to give you. In February 1999 the
meth and drug initiative, we've taken 155 children out of homes
of--we now do a hair test on those children to see what is in
their system. A long term hair test allows a longer period to
review. Thirty-seven percent test positive for methamphetamine
and will go through the withdrawal and have that on board as a
dependent drug thing they'll have to deal with.
Chairman Hatch. This is shocking when you think about it,
but 2 years ago Utah was the third largest methamphetamine shut
down State in the union. Where are we ranked today in the year
2000, or even 1999, do you know?
Mr. Wasden. In the number of lab shut downs, I think number
one.
Mr. Warner. Per capita we're probably at the top or near
the top in terms of raw numbers. I heard around number nine in
terms of just the raw numbers.
Chairman Hatch. We're at the top or near the top for
methamphetamine lab shut downs. If that doesn't tell us
something, we don't know what will.
Did you have a comment on that, Donnie?
Mr. Marshall. I was just going to possibly get the chart
back up, but I believe it is eight or nine or something like
that. I know that number one is California and----
Chairman Hatch. Compared to millions of people. If you take
a per capita we're right in there.
Mr. Marshall. I haven't done that kind of comparison. We'll
do a little research on that and get you an answer for the
record. And even looking at raw numbers, see Utah is one, two,
three, four, five, I only see about five or six States that
have higher than Utah.
Chairman Hatch. It's shocking because this is a great
State, we have great people in this State, very family
oriented. But here we have one of the major methamphetamine
shut downs of the States in the Union.
We're running out of time and I want to get the second
panel on, just want to ask just a little bit more here about
club drugs from all of you, and then I'll submit questions in
writing so we can make a record. If you could answer those in
writing I'd sure appreciate it.
But as we've heard about recent use, the highly potential
toxic so-called club drugs they're designing, such as Ecstasy
and GHB, that teenage use is soaring, it's out of control.
Now, we have also been told by Utah law enforcement the
problem is going on in Utah. Many teens do not perceive these
drugs as harmful, as you noticed on the television clip that
Mr. Marshall showed. They don't think of them as harmful or
dangerous. They're using them at all night dance parties called
raves, which occur every weekend across the country, including
here in Salt Lake City. And indeed between 1998 and 1999 use of
Ecstasy among twelfth graders increased by 56 percent and use
among tenth graders increased about 33 percent. That's just in
19--between 1998 and 1999.
And while GHB has received recently more negative attention
due to the several teen deaths attributed to its ingestion, it
also remains ubiquitous or pervasive at these parties.
Now, if each of you could just quickly respond to the
following questions: Are you in fact seeing an increase in
these club drugs, and if so what action is DEA and local law
enforcement--what action are you taking to target these new
drugs that are apparently being marketed to teens, and are law
enforcement agencies working together to address the drastic
rise in importation of Ecstasy, and last but not least, are
these drugs being manufactured here in Utah, these club drugs,
or are they primarily being imported from elsewhere or from out
of State? Now, if the drugs are being imported into Utah, where
are they coming from. That's a lot of questions, I thought I'd
ask them all. Start with you, Mr. Marshall.
Mr. Marshall. Let me address each of those. With regard to
increased use. Absolutely we are seeing increased usage, not
only in Utah but nationwide. I think that it is attributed to
the fact that there's a lesser perception of risk of these
drugs among teenagers, and I think that these drugs are being
portrayed in the media and in movies on the supernet as
harmless drugs.
What are we doing about it? We have very recently, and I
say very recently, going back about a year when we began to
notice this as a--just a mushrooming problem, we actually
headed up an investigation that targeted what we perceived at
the time to be the biggest Ecstasy importation ring in the
country. That was Operation Rave, and I referred to that in my
statement so I won't repeat the results of that. But what we
found was that in fact Ecstasy is being manufactured primarily
in Belgium and The Netherlands, and it's being brought into
this country by European, Russian and Israeli organized crime.
We have seen a few instances of Ecstasy being manufactured in
the United States.
Now with regard to the other----
Chairman Hatch. The Netherlands have become central because
they have a wide open drug use. In other words, it's legal to
use drugs.
Mr. Marshall. Tremendous problem. They refer to it as a
great experiment, how successful it is, but the surrounding
countries----
Chairman Hatch. I've had top law enforcement from France
and the other surrounding areas say it's a cesspool there and
it's affecting all the other nations. I don't mean to malign
the Netherlands, but it's a dog gone mess, and now you're
saying a lot of that mess is coming to our country because they
allow the making of these drugs in that area.
Mr. Marshall. No question about it.
Now, what should we do to combat Ecstasy and these other
drugs? Number 1, greater law enforcement and public awareness,
and we're starting a campaign with the DEA to do that. The
first step of that is a national club drug conference. Second,
we need to have more law enforcement cooperative efforts
against it. I think third we need to educate the public,
teenagers and law enforcement as well as ourselves.
I've got to tell you, many people in law enforcement are
not yet aware of this problem, and they see these raves and
they see the clubs and they simply don't realize what's going
on there and what they're seeing, and I think we can do a
better job and have started doing a better job focussing that
kind of attention onto it.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you. Anybody else care to comment?
Mr. Wasden. Quickly, Senator. We're seeing the increase
where there's raves, the drugs are--we have ongoing
investigation. We've made the club drugs part of our initiative
with the DEA and we just lack resources. We do not have the
resources to--it's a whole new problem. We've had to have
legislation passed in Utah recently that's gone into effect,
and so these things are an emerging problem that we will need
resources on and we need just a lot more help.
Mr. Warner. Senator, I want to emphasize, I agree with all
that's been said here. Unfortunately we in law enforcement and
prosecution will never successfully, as has been stated,
prosecute the drug problem out of business.
It is a community problem. It is a society problem, and
it's one that all facets of society has to come together on its
education aspect is so critically important, because by the
time we see the problem, you know, barn doors are open and the
horses are gone and we see the unfortunate results. But the
reality is many, particularly on these club drugs, it's really
going after our youth, one of the most volatile segments of our
society, and awareness and education have got to be an
important part of that.
Chairman Hatch. Very susceptible to that type of youth
activity.
Mr. Warner. Absolutely.
Chairman Hatch. I happen to like our mayor in Salt Lake
very well, but he's a little bit--he's disappointed in the DARE
program, which is--do you have any advice on that, because I've
always be a supporter of it, but you know, I don't--I'm not
positive how well it's working. Mr. Wasden, you mentioned----
Mr. Wasden. The DARE program has undergone criticism and
some may have been appropriate. It's important to look at the
agenda of the research and look at all the research if you're
going to evaluate DARE, as well as recognize DARE is trying to
move into the future.
We have a long-term plan clearly focussed on young kids,
elementary, junior and high school, and even into college, with
information. And if that information isn't available, they'll
go to the club when they're old enough and be offered the drug
and not know about it and experiment, I mean, the information
has to be there and available, whether through DARE or another
program, we have to have the education.
Chairman Hatch. Well, I don't know what to do. I've been a
strong supporter of DARE and I don't want to ignore our mayor,
because he understands this area and is very concerned about
it. So it's my impression that it's a program that's been run
for a few years, but it really is still just starting to
generate what needs to be done.
Is it making headway?
Mr. Morgan. Let's keep in mind the people using club drugs
aren't 18-year-old drug addicts on playgrounds near the corner.
It is the 14-year-olds that are the people who are taking the
drugs. And there is something very positive about the role of a
policeman that a school can count on, depend on, and I think
the criticism directed at DARE with the policeman being the
teacher of the effects of drugs is ill founded and just ill
advised, criticized on that basis.
Chairman Hatch. I'm going to submit questions with regard
to how gangs develop as a result of drug abuse and what happens
when you have criminal aliens in the country that literally are
bringing drugs with them causing underlying problems of our
society, but I'll put those in writing. But I really want to
express my appreciation to all of you being willing to appear
today, and I hope that everybody in Utah pays strict attention
to what you're telling us because we've got a real problem
here, and we need to nip it in the bud before it goes much
farther.
Thank you all for being here, I really appreciate it. Let
me just also recognize as being here in the audience Lamont
Tyler, the Utah House of Representative. Mr. Tyler, where are
you?
We've got David Joe from the Salt Lake County District
Attorney. Dave, where are you? He's been here.
We've got Patrick Flemming, from the Utah Division of
Substance Abuse. Mary Lou Everson. Vern Larsen from Safe and
Drug Free Schools from the Utah State Office of Education.
Janor Numus of the Utah Alcohol Foundation. And Jamie Roberts,
director of the Rape Recovery Center in Salt Lake City. So
we're really honored to have all of you here.
Chairman Hatch. We're now pleased to introduce a second
panel of witnesses. This panel will discuss the effects of the
drug problems along the Wasatch front, and our first witness
will be Dr. Shari Welch, an emergency room physician at LDS
Hospital. I just came from the emergency room so I'll be
interested in that. She's treated a number of GHB overdose and
has seen firsthand the terrifying side effects of that drug
that too few young people understand.
Next I'd like to mention we're pleased to have with us
Colleen Taylor, the president of Utah's PTA, working closely
with parents and teachers around the State. Ms. Taylor has a
good understanding of the various perils facing our Utah youth
today, including drugs, and we're really honored to have you
here.
We also welcome Steve Allred who is the Utah County Human
Services Specialist in drugs and alcohol. We commend his work
in treating these conditions and we look forward to your
sharing your expertise in this area as well.
And finally we have a young person here today who's going
to testify anonymously about his personal involvement in local
clubs and raves, and his testimony is important because it will
help all of us gain insight into the kinds of illegal drugs
found in our area night clubs and parties, and I really
appreciate his willingness to testify or to talk to us today.
So I'd like to welcome each of you here.
We'll start with you, Dr. Welch, first. Now if you could
summarize your testimony, I know that we're supposed to finish
at 3 p.m., we're not going to make it. But I'd like you to, if
you could, summarize and then we'll go from there.
PANEL CONSISTING OF DR. SHARI WELCH, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN,
LDS HOSPITAL; COLLEEN TAYLOR, PRESIDENT, UTAH PTA; STEVE
ALLRED, SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT PROGRAM
MANAGER, UTAH COUNTY DIVISION, HUMAN SERVICES; AND ANONYMOUS
YOUNG PERSON
STATEMENT OF DR. SHARI WELCH
Dr. Welch. Thank you, Senator. What I'd like to do, with an
eye on the clock of course, is present to you how some of these
patients look and why we are so worried in the emergency room
about these club scene drugs.
For us here locally, at least according to physicians in
the University of Utah and at our hospital, LDS, it's really
GHB. I know nationwide Ecstasy is making its way through, but
GHB is really the problem we're dealing with, and actually Mr.
Marshall kind of showed you some of that.
I'd like to tell you about a case actually last week in the
emergency room, because I think she's the prototype for what
we're seeing with these drugs. It was a 19-year-old woman who
had been planning on going dancing with her girlfriends, and
this is someone who has no experience with drugs, she's lead a
very sheltered life-style, she's active in her church, in
sports and so forth, and then planned to go dancing at the
clubs.
She began sipping a Coke and her girlfriends started
laughing, and when she asked what was the joke, what was so
funny, they told her that they'd put something in her drink.
And this was very atypical for this group of girls. She
couldn't taste it, she couldn't smell it, couldn't see it, and
so she finished the beverage not thinking anything would
happen.
The next thing that she recalled, she woke up in the
emergency room at LDS on a respirator with parents worried at
her bedside requiring life support to stay alive. This was 3
hours later, and here's what had happened in between--and you
have to appreciate that these are not things that we're used to
seeing, drug scenes on the street. Usually by the time I have
contact with someone using amphetamine or cocaine, by the time
there are health problems they are well along in terms of their
addiction and their life-style, they've committed to it.
This GHB is something totally different. These are kids not
doing drugs, they have no experience, they're making a wrong
choice either directly or inadvertently and they're falling
prey to it on the first go round.
In any case, she came with the paramedics who were very
worried, she was not breathing well. And the paradox of this
drug is that you'll have periods where you are in a deep coma
and not breathing, and then the thing, you know, fighting and
combative, very difficult to manage these kids. They were very
upset because they couldn't get her respirator and they were
forced to inflict pain to keep her breathing.
One thing we do in the ER is a sternal rub. We rub our
knuckles against the breast bone to stimulate pain and keep
someone breathing who's not otherwise breathing, and this is
what it took. The paramedics were very upset. I said the fact
that she's alive to worry about those bruises is good enough.
We quickly put a respirator in, which is a very unusual
event for someone under 20 years of age outside of the usual
that I see car accidents and whatnot. I am seldom having to put
a young person on a respirator, but we did that. I thought you
can kind of feel the whole room relax once that problem is
addressed. And I left the room to go talk to my staff and try
to find parents. They called and said her heart rate is 30.
Again, not a common problem for a very young person like this.
I had to administer a life saving drug called atropine and put
a pacemaker on her.
I do not do this for people under 50 years of age. Very
unusual. I'm telling you how dangerous this drug is. I left the
room a third time and they called and said her body
temperature's falling.
This drug attacks every vital function, you can't maintain
heart rate, breathing or body temperature. We've seen seizures
with it, and if truth be told, it looks like a brain
hemorrhage. In fact the first case that we saw at LDS Hospital
with this myriad of--by the way, in California, in New York we
think we're dealing with brain hemorrhage. The first night we
saw one back 2 years ago we called a neurosurgeon, called the
operating room and thought we were going with an acute
neurosurgical problem, brain hemorrhage. And it was this drug.
They also tend to urinate on themselves, we have to put a
catheter, they can't control bladder function. They begin to
vomit violently. We have to put a tube through the nose to
drain the stomach. This starts off often for young people as a
good time, turns out to be anything but, and they require
absolute life support for just a short period of time, others
continue.
The dramatic thing about this drug, I will tell you, I was
impressed last week when I saw--it was the same as the first
time I saw it 2 years ago. All of a sudden they wake, they're
totally awake as if the anesthetic has been turned off and they
have no memory of anything that's transpired. So it's very,
very dramatic, but this problem is different from what we've
seen before.
These are not seasoned drug users. The kids are
misinformed, and I often--also have to tell you this, in the
midst of resuscitation her boyfriend came running in and said,
why are you doing that, you don't need to do that, youdoctors
always do too much, she's not flat line. And I turned to him and said,
if we waited until she was flat line she would be dead, and we had to
usher him out of the room.
But there's actually on the internet and on the street
misinformation saying that these drugs are safe, take them,
have a good time, they were once in health foods, go for it,
have a good time. And the kids are just responding more to that
than the realities of the drug.
And I can say this drug is fast. Fifteen minutes to
affecting respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, basic body
functions. And I've had near misses, I'm very worried before
the summer's out I'm going to have to go to what we call in the
ER ``the cry room'' and break the worst possible news to family
members. So far I'm going to the cry room and I'm saying your
son or daughter's overdosed and they're on a respirator and we
think everything is going to be OK. I'm worried I'll be going
to the cry room before summer's over and have to tell some
parents that their child, because of a mistake they've made, is
now dead from this drug.
Chairman Hatch. That's pretty dramatic. Was there anything
else done to her, because often times these are date rape drugs
and they're used by viscous people to commit rape.
Dr. Welch. Actually luckily for her there was not. But that
same night we had a 14-year-old that we also suspected was GHB,
not as severe medical problems. But when we found her on the
floor at a party, which a group of teenagers left as soon as
the life squad arrived, her clothes had been almost completely
removed. We were very worried for her and she was only 14 years
old. It's definitely being used in another sinister scenario.
Chairman Hatch. Well, your testimony is very important to
us.
STATEMENT OF COLLEEN TAYLOR
Ms. Taylor, I appreciate you being here.
Ms. Taylor. I was truly appalled as I heard some of the
testimony and I spoke earlier with Mrs. Bigelow, she mentioned
something that kind of hit me difficult too. She said that some
of--as her daughter started into that whole episode, at the
very first when she was in eighth grade she was saying they're
having a dance, they're letting us in for half price if we wear
our CTR rings.
Unfortunately to our predominant culture, that would be
almost an OK to let your kids go to that party. And my
understanding from her and so on, is that these rave clubs are
truly preying on our young people. I think it's important, I
hope today--actually a detective I spoke with just the other
day actually showed me as a parent, a beaded necklace, a baby
pacifier, things that would be--a tube of chapstick--stuff that
would be around a home that parents should know that this is
common paraphernalia for these kids who are using.
I haven't seen that yet and those are the kind of things we
really need to let parents be aware of, watching for those
signs. And I hope the media after your presentation and so on,
will really pick up and make a media blitz about this. I do
feel like we do not tell parents enough. They will act better
and do better for their children if they are given more
information, but we can't work separate from parents.
PTA stands for a lot of things, but it stands for
prevention. So the more information for parents, for
communities, is better not, you know, not on the other end as
they mentioned at the very end of what has happened. Tim
Condon, the Associate Director of NIDA, mentioned that
accurate, credible information is the most powerful weapon to
combat with the increasing use of these dangerous drugs.
Hopefully the PTA will be able to open up further dialogue
as we provide training and information to our parents, and as I
spoke at the very first, the PTA is here to encourage parents
to find out where their kids are going, who their friends are.
Open communication with their kids. Also to be very up front
about telling your kids not to ingest anything that would
have--the first sign was these girls laughing, and it's
difficult to believe that friends would, you know, play a joke
on a good friend. So not just strangers that they need to be
aware of, but friends too. Because of the negative information
we've had about these drugs, that they are feel good drugs,
they'll be OK.
Unfortunately some of our young people think it's OK to pop
a pill because parents pop pills all the time. Not necessarily
bad drugs, but we're a pill using society. It's not shooting up
or using, you know, some of the other paraphernalia that's been
used in the past.
One more thing that we really need to concentrate on is
really listen to our teens. Often we're quick to jump in and
say, let me tell you how you handle that. Start listening
better to our teens, find out what's going on in their lives,
why they're upset about things, before it gets too far.
Real important skills that I push with the DARE program
just a little bit, I've got six kids, the youngest is almost
14. The DARE program gave them good skills, good conflict
management skills, good peer pressure training that if we don't
have someone provide for our children from kindergarten up, I'm
not sure who else will. Parents help a lot too, they need to
reinforce those things taught by the DARE program, but that's a
critical program that I think does help a lot in the schools.
Those are those kind of life-styles that we truly as a
community need to focus more on.
Just a couple of other things, is we need to make sure that
our kids know we care about them. We need to know where they're
going, who they're hanging out with. We do want them to kiss us
good night so we can smell their breath, know who they've been
hanging out with, those kind of things. Don't be afraid to be a
parent. That's been part of the concern too, we've stepped
away, we wantindependent kids. But they need parameters, they
need that guidance from us.
Be alert to signs of trouble, and as a PTA, really step up
our efforts to really give more information to our parents. We
work with a lot of the different associations that you've
mentioned in giving training to our parents so they're truly
aware of what they should be looking for for their young people
to help protect them.
Appreciate you being here and all the efforts that you are
making.
Chairman Hatch. We appreciate you and your testimony.
Mr. Allred, we'll turn to you.
STATEMENT OF STEVE ALLRED
Mr. Allred. I'd also like to thank you, Senator Hatch, for
inviting me. I'd also like to make you the offer of using my
experience and my knowledge at any time in the future.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you.
Mr. Allred. As the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment
Program manager for Utah County Division of Human Services I
have recognized that the club drug problem is increasing in our
community. The availability of GHB and MDMA or Ecstasy,
methamphetamine and LSD has grown and our youth are finding it
very easy to obtain. These specific drugs are popular in the
rave scene due to the effects which keep one awake and alert
allowing an individual to party longer and consume other drugs
like alcohol and marijuana.
Youth in our community have done their homework on the
different drugs of abuse and are very sophisticated in knowing
about drug effects and the effects of combined drugs. They know
that when they take GHB they can experience a euphoric feeling
without having to consume alcohol which can be smelled on the
breath and tested for with a breathalyzer. They are very aware
that these drugs are hard to detect through our current
testing--hard to detect through our current testing methods.
Those involved in the drug culture have networked and have
amazing communication systems in place. When youth are referred
to our office for a substance abuse assessment they are very
informed in what they should and shouldn't admit to. They have
been informed by peers that the admission of certain use
patterns or chemicals will meet the criteria for a treatment
placement. Those who are referred to treatment are informed
about drug testing procedures and know that marijuana can be
detected in a urine sample for up to 30 days. Knowing this they
modify their use of drugs and take drug testing masking
products or fluid load to increase the likelihood of a negative
drug screen. Current drug testing procedures don't screen for
GHB or MDMA.
In a recent conversation with an attorney from the Utah
State Attorney General's office he stated that we are having to
constantly create new laws to keep up with the illegal
manufacturing of drugs. Chemists find it very profitable to
create drugs with a slightly altered molecular structure to
avoid controlled substance laws. Once a drug is designated as a
controlled substance, the chemist will alter the chemical
structure slightly and we will begin the controlled substance
process all over again. There are also several sources of
information as to the manufacturing of these chemicals on the
Internet and through other publications. A young girl in a
group I was facilitating in the last month stated that there
were books in her high school library that gave the
instructions to manufacture GHB and methamphetamine.
Date rape is another concern with these drugs. GHB,
Ketamine, and Rohypnol can have an amnesia effect, decrease
inhibitions, and an individual may have poor memory of
incidents occurring while under their influence. In this case a
date rape may not be reported due to a vagueness of memory or
no memory at all. These drugs are tasteless and odorless and
can be slipped to someone unknowingly. Realistically, alcohol
is also a date rape drug which lowers inhibitions and judgment.
People have been using alcohol to take advantage of others
throughout history. In combination with GHB, Ketamine, or
Rohypnol, the danger is magnified.
Another concern that hasn't gotten much publicity yet is
the use of Dextromethorphan, an ingredient in Robitussin and
Coricidin, an over-the-counter cough medicine. Young people
have reported that this common drug enhances the effect of
other drugs and reduces the ``hangover'' effect of drinking.
Youth are aware of Internet sites which give the reader
instructions on how to and how much an individual needs to get
the desired effect.
I believe that it is clear that we have an ever growing
substance abuse problem in our communities and that there are
constant changes and new discoveries each day. It is almost
impossible to keep up with these problems and we need to change
the approach to dealing with substance abuse in our country. We
have waged a war on drugs which is an interdiction approach to
reduce the supply of illegal drugs. I need to make it very
clear that I am not an advocate of legalizing drugs, but
believe there needs to be a strong shift in the way we view and
deal with this serious problem. Research outcomes during the
Nixon administration showed that drug treatment at the local
level is actually the most effective way to wage this war.
The war on drugs began with a focus on cocaine and
marijuana. We have not had a decrease in marijuana use in Utah
but have had a significant increase. While the war on drugs
focussed on marijuana, we had a decrease among youth in Utah--
from the Bahr surveys. From 1989 to 1997--excuse me--there was
a slight decrease originally from 1989 to 1997. Marijuana has
increased from 6 to 10 percent amongst our youth. Cocaine has
shown a significant decrease as law enforcement efforts reduce
the supply and increase the price. My observation as a
substance abuse professional is that cocaine use decreased but
the use of other drugs increased in their place. We as a
society need to--tend to sensationalize current issues and
limit our focus to ``big news'' issues and ignoring other
consistent problems. Meth use and the busting of meth labs is
big news and we are enacting stronger efforts in prevention,
treatment and lawenforcement to deal with this issue. Are we
neglecting to focus on other drugs again?
It is obvious that when we focus on supply rather than
demand we will always get the supply. No matter how many drug
dealers you put in jail there's someone willing to take their
place. I believe that when we make prevention and treatment a
priority, not only in thought but also in funding, we will
greatly increase our chances of winning the war on drugs.
According to local and Federal surveys, Utah has the lowest
rate of drug use prevalence in the country, Utah County being
the lowest in the State. The numbers indicate that 9.8 percent
of the youth in Utah County reported using an illegal substance
in the 30 days prior to taking the survey, or abuse among Utah
students in 1997, but when you break the percentage into actual
youth, it adds up to 3,494 students. It appears that we are
doing an effective job of prevention and treatment in our
communities based on issues from 3 years ago. With the added
problems of new drugs surfacing we are slowly slipping behind,
which indicates the need of an increase of funding for these
new issues. It is difficult to keep up with or even get ahead
of substance abuse problems, and with new technology it is
becoming increasingly more difficult. We are currently running
awareness programs in our schools and community to help educate
citizens on current issues, but need to reach a larger portion
of our population.
Our risk and protective factors for Utah County indicate
that we have a strong religious community, which contributes to
our low rate of substance abuse incidents. On the other hand,
our risk factors indicate the need for developing a stronger
attachment to the community, healthy family and parenting
programs, and stronger rewards for positive behaviors. We
facilitate these problems as best we can but we need greater
resources, including funding, to continue to aid our youth in
reducing substance abuse and other destructive behaviors.
Thank you.
STATEMENT OF ANONYMOUS PERSON
Chairman Hatch. Thank you.
I'm going to just ask some questions, hopefully our mic
system will work, ask some questions to our teenager who has
had some experience with these matters, and then we can cover
it this way and then I have some questions for your panelists.
Now, let me ask you this question: This is an anonymous
teenager, but someone who has experience in this area. In your
experience just how prevalent are drugs such as
methamphetamine, Ecstasy and GHB at our local clubs, is the
situation worse at rave events?
Anonymous Person. Well, Senator, my experience is that
these drugs are everywhere. They're very prevalent in the clubs
and they're easier to find in the rave events because there's
no alcohol so there's a shift in focus just to drugs.
Chairman Hatch. Would it be accurate to say drugs are
available to anyone any time at these venues?
Anonymous Person. Yes. Often times dealers walk around just
telling kids, I have E, I have X, just saying that. They're a
real comfortable environment, they either know the promoter or
the security guards or they are in fact the promoter or
security guards themselves.
Chairman Hatch. You're saying security guards at the clubs
and the rave parties that are looking for patrons who might be
carrying these drugs, but you're saying some may be complicit?
Anonymous Person. Exactly, synonymous. What better would it
be than just throw a party just to sell your drugs. That's what
these raves are basically for.
Chairman Hatch. But you've heard the head of the PTA here
today, some parties seem to give a discount for those who wear
CTR rings.
Anonymous Person. Yeah, I mean----
Chairman Hatch. Are you familiar with that?
Anonymous Person. No, I'm not. But I can see that that
would be a good marketing move, because in our culture, I mean,
in Utah there is a large LDS factor, and those people don't
believe in alcohol, and so if a kid goes to a party, there's
going to be no alcohol at, their parents are more inclined to
let them go.
Chairman Hatch. So choose the right----
Anonymous Person. Right, yeah.
Chairman Hatch [continuing]. Rings, they're actually
exploiting that situation.
Anonymous Person. Total exploitation.
Chairman Hatch. In general how old are the youth that
you're seeing using these drugs?
Anonymous Person. I would say probably starting around 16,
possibly even younger, but my experience between 16 and 18 and
on.
Chairman Hatch. Well, are these young people, are they from
all walks of life?
Anonymous Person. They would be from all walks of life, but
more and more increasing from affluent kids, surprisingly,
because they have money. Dealers will target children in upper,
middle class to rich children because they have money. Their
allowances are greater, they can afford to buy these kind of
drugs.
Chairman Hatch. In your experience how much does it cost to
buy some of these drugs?
Anonymous Person. For Ecstasy, between $20 to $25 in Salt
Lake City. The going rate throughout the country is basically
$20 per pill.
Chairman Hatch. How about GHB?
Anonymous Person. If you were to buy pills in greater
amounts, you know, five to ten pills, you will get a price
break. That's what happens. So GHB--I'm not sure how it's sold,
probably bottled, most likely at raves. Most people purchase
that before they're going, they'll just have that on hand in
like a large bottle in their house and just put a smaller
container for travelling.
Chairman Hatch. Have you ever had any experience with GHB?
Anonymous Person. Absolutely. I've tried all these drugs
personally myself. I would find GHB probably the most
dangerous, it's so hard to regulate. You have one cap, it's
poured into an Avian bottle, you pour a cap in or you drink it
by itself or put it into juice to cover up the taste, which is
extremely----
Chairman Hatch. You sound extremely intelligent.
Anonymous Person. I'm not--I'm a little bit older than you
had thought. I'm 25 years old so I've been around. I've worked
in the club scene for 5 years as a bouncer, promoter and
operations manager in other States, and have been here
recently, in California and in New York. So I've had a pretty
good reference point of what's going on, and I see Utah and we
have a really interesting opportunity here where it's kind of
just hitting now in the last half year to a year, the rave
scene has really excelled here, started to take off. And if we
were all to become informed and combat this intelligently, it
would definitely--we'd be able to get rid of it or control it
before it's out of control. Los Angeles is out of control.
Ecstasy is everywhere. People don't even drink, there are clubs
now that don't even sell beer.
Chairman Hatch. Is that right?
Anonymous Person. Yeah.
Chairman Hatch. How long ago did you start using these
drugs?
Anonymous Person. Probably 4 years ago, sir, due to my
involvement in the night club scene, just going out and you
start just becoming desensitized to the fact that, you know,
drugs are used.
Chairman Hatch. How does it effect you today, are you using
them still?
Anonymous Person. Sir, I'm not using them today, very happy
that I can attest. And I was deeply moved by the mother who was
speaking about amphetamine addiction, and I wrote several
rebuttals to different things I've heard and different ways
that have effected my life. And I really believe there's no
rehabilitation for amphetamine, it's habituation can be curbed,
but the addiction will never be cured. And so that's scary. We
need to reach these children before they're actually addicted,
and that's to the DARE program. I feel that we need--just
saying no is not enough. Why should I say no? I mean, we need
to respect one another by offering explanations and reasonings
for abstinence from drug use. Our kids are small, you know,
back in the 1950's possibly kids would just obey their parents.
But it's a difficult culture, it's a negative thing, but it's
never too late. We need to inform our children what these drugs
specifically do. They need to know if they take GHB this, this
and this will happen. They need to know bout Special K, that it
is not just--it's--Special K is just a word for Ketamine.
That's a cat tranquilizer that's used by vets on a cat, you
know.
Chairman Hatch. Tell me what caused you to change.
Anonymous Person. I just found my life deteriorating.
Methamphetamine is so addicting and the feeling of euphoria
brought about by that drug and GHB is--it's fun, basically, it
is just fun and it feels good at first. But as you delve into
the use and use more and more, the fun fades away and you just
keep going after this feeling, this euphoric feeling, this up,
talkative feeling.
And that's what these partiers are doing, going to clubs
and using these drugs and they're taking nine to ten pallets
sometimes, but you know, that's very, very dangerous with MDMA
and Ecstasy. Each tablet is 100 to 150 milligrams of MDMA. MDMA
is fatal at 1,000 milligrams. If you're taking nine to ten
you're risking your life and not even knowing it, because these
pills, like the gentleman said, they're packaged in such a way
to make them look like candy, they're colored pink, green,
whatever. They're pressed with Nike swishes.
Chairman Hatch. In your opinion do these young people know
the danger they face from these drugs? What are some of the--if
they do, what is some of the--what are some of the risky
behaviors that you've observed?
Anonymous Person. Basically the most risky in my opinion is
GHB and just the uses involved with that. Let me just breakdown
the scenario, how it all works. I think if we have a working
knowledge of these drugs then we can understand them and then
in turn through understanding, law enforcement can combat them.
So can parents. Parents need to understand.
GHB, you take and picture an Avian bottle, a clear
solution, saline solution of GHB. You pour out a cap full and
you mix it with a liquid or just shoot it, just like a shot,
throw it back. To start, then they use more. Take two grams as
initial dose, you drink that, then maybe in half hour, 45
minutes you think about taking more. But as a club goer, a
person used to drinking alcohol, they drink consistently, drink
more and more drinks, so a user of GHB will continue to want to
drink more and more, their habituation, you know.
Chairman Hatch. How do the parents know what a club is, I
mean, tell----
Anonymous Person. Pardon me?
Chairman Hatch. Where are these clubs, how do you know what
the club is?
Anonymous Person. A night club?
Chairman Hatch. Yeah.
Anonymous Person. Most of them are found in downtown Salt
Lake. The two biggest would be Briggs and Axis, those two are
both clubs. Those two clubs both have an 18 and up area where
underage children can come and party until, you know, the wee
hours of the evening. And the 18 is not something that parents
can really feel safe about. If your child is under 18 they'll
still get in. If you say you forget your ID and you look like
you're over 12, the bouncer will let you in. Very possible. It
happens every night. I see it at work.
Chairman Hatch. Where do the rave parties occur?
Anonymous Person. Rave parties will be held probably in
more remote local due to their legality. If you don't have a
permit your party can be busted, and the promoter makes more
money by the party lasting longer, several days. There was just
one last holiday weekend that went 2 days in Ogden Canyon, you
know.
Chairman Hatch. There was a rave party in Ogden Canyon for
2 days?
Anonymous Person. Yes, sir, because of the Fourth of July
holiday.
Chairman Hatch. You've been very helpful, I'm telling you--
--
Anonymous Person. Thank you. I just wanted to thank you for
this opportunity to share my knowledge about the night club
scene and that culture infatuated with drug use.
Chairman Hatch. Do these kids know that they're likely to
be using this stuff?
Anonymous Person. I think that the whole thing is just kind
of in culturation as kids, you know, they turn 18, they start
going to night clubs, maybe their friends go. They turn 21 and
they go to the bar area, start drinking. As soon as they start
drinking they realize people are doing other things, there's
something else out there besides alcohol. They might try the
drug. Drugs are fun, sir, initially. Amphetamine speeds up--it
speeds up everything, just makes it more fun, initially, and
that's where addiction comes.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you. I appreciate it, you've added a
lot to this hearing today.
Anonymous Person. You're very welcome.
Chairman Hatch. I've been told Patrick Flemming sent us
advice that the average treatment time needed is 18 months. The
cost is $8,000 for rehabilitation, and after care treatment is
extremely necessary in these areas with regard to
methamphetamine. And interesting to note that the number one
meth users are women ages 18 to 25, according to this resource.
Dr. Welch, is that consistent with what you believe?
Dr. Welch. Yes. Sometimes I think they'll start out for
other reasons, I've seen young girls do it to keep their weight
down, start using crystal meth and fall into it more and more
heavily.
Chairman Hatch. I understand in recent months you've put a
half a dozen people under the age of 20 on respirators to
prevent death by GHB overdose. Could you please explain why
people who take GHB can respond so differently to slight
differences in strength of doses, and in your answer please
tell us what the phrase ``narrow therapeutic range'' means and
why young people experimenting with GHB should understand that
phrase.
Anonymous Person. Narrow therapeutic range will use that
medicine we're talking about, a drug that the amount needed to
go from the desired effect to a toxic effect is very, very
small, and that's exactly the case with GHB. A half a teaspoon,
you're dancing, euphoric, having a good time. A whole teaspoon
and you're not breathing. That drug is comparable to like
coumadin, which is a blood thinner. If you have any elderly
family members on these drugs you know that they go to the
doctor regularly for drug testing and drug levels to make sure
we don't get them toxic. If this was a prescribed drug we would
be following it very, very closely because it's that dangerous.
Chairman Hatch. I see. Now also just so we understand,
these young kids you have differing physical anatomies, and
what may be safe for one young person may not be safe for
another. Am I getting that right?
Dr. Welch. That's exactly right.
Chairman Hatch. So you can't be sure?
Dr. Welch. It's not pure. Take a little bottle--I've
actually seen kids carrying small mouthwash and small shampoo
bottles with the liquid in it, they take a swig. One person's
swig is not the same as another's, and very different effects
based on body weight.
Chairman Hatch. What may be somewhat safe for one person
may be life threatening to another.
Dr. Welch. Right. And don't forget----
Chairman Hatch. You didn't tell----
Dr. Welch [continuing]. They're often mixing it with a
smorgasbord. We know nationwide 40 percent of the time alcohol
is co-ingested. Another 25 percent of the time other harder
drugs like amphetamine and cocaine are also ingested. All of
these things strengthen GHB. Every single one down the line
strengthens the potency of GHB, and so although you should wake
up from an overdose, even the worst overdose, we have to put a
respirator on. Statistics are being quoted roughly 5 hours you
should be awake. We have one young girl that intubated in the
ER at LDS and stayed on the respirator for 13 hours because she
co-ingested other things.
Chairman Hatch. Is it true there's no antedote for GHB?
Dr. Welch. That's the other big problem with it. As you may
know we have antidote for heroin overdose, I have something to
treat you. If you take a sedative overdose, I have an antidote
to treat you. GHB there is none.
Chairman Hatch. Let me turn now to Ms. Taylor. I know we've
run out of time, but this is a particularly important panel as
well, and to your knowledge has an increase in rave parties
accompanying club drugs, have they had an impact on student
performances in school?
Ms. Taylor. You know, that's difficult for us to figure out
for sure. As we start putting some of this information together
today the schools had already let out for the summer, but back
to those folks who work with drug prevention and so on, not
many parents know kids participate in some of these drugs.
Parents don't call up and say my kid was on GHB last night,
he's not coming to school.
But I think more awareness if parents could understand, you
know, some side effects and so on, he's got the flu or
something, he's been on GHB, I think that's part of that
awareness in that information that we have to get out to
parents so that they will know the differences and so on. We
don't, you know, so involved we can't----
Chairman Hatch. Mrs. Bigelow describes----
Ms. Taylor. Very well.
Chairman Hatch [continuing]. Methamphetamine pretty well.
Ms. Taylor. I thought she did too.
Chairman Hatch. Let me go to Mr. Allred, and you might
think about this as well, Ms. Taylor, and of course Dr. Welch.
Do you think increasing the awareness of club drugs might
entice more young people to use them or try them, or are the
dangers so great and the problem so vast that this is not an
issue?
Mr. Allred. I believe the danger is so great that that's
not an issue.
Chairman Hatch. It's good to inform people about these
things, get them so they realize?
Mr. Allred. I believe in education we need to inform the
kids of the consequences of these chemicals, what can happen to
them, so forth and so on. One of the things that really bothers
me as a prevention person are substance abuse people saying,
well, if you tell my kid about meth they'll go out and try it,
I believe kids going from just hearing about it there's already
something in place that's wrong, and we need to look at that at
an earlier stage.
Chairman Hatch. You mentioned in your written testimony
those drug networks have amazing communication systems in
place. Could you give us just a little more detail on the
nature of this network and networking on our school grounds, to
your knowledge?
Mr. Allred. Absolutely. That's where the kids meet,that's
where they're all together.
Chairman Hatch. Tell us what the teachers and parents
should be aware of.
Mr. Allred. Yes. If they're organizing a rave, like the
young man talked about, they network and all of the kids know
when and where it is. We don't. So that's an example of their
networking.
I sent a couple examples of web pages to your staff that
was giving instructions on how to take Coricidin. The young man
describing it started out by taking four milligrams at first.
If that doesn't get you where you want to go, then try four
more, and then increase it by doses of four until you get what
you want. And he said, I've taken up to 16 at a time and that's
a perfect high for me. And that's over the Internet.
So they're networking through several methods. I think
technology has its pluses and its minuses, and this is one of
the down sides of technology, is it's given the kids a tool to
network and pass on information that's not healthy for them.
Chairman Hatch. You know, as somebody who has authored the
Hatch Drug Prohibition Act I've worked with biochemical
companies, I've worked with pharmaceutical companies, I've
worked with the--really that legislation created the generic
drug industry, the modern generic drug industry in the country.
I've spent a lot of time on all of those issues. People don't
realize that even with truly improved pharmaceuticals there are
dangers. Imagine what it's like to be experiencing with these
type of drugs we've been discussing here today.
Chairman Hatch. Also you're talking dosages, if you're
getting a chemical that's homemade the dosage is inconsistent,
you don't know how strong the GHB you're taking is. Depends how
somebody made it, whether I made it using a good recipe or a
bad recipe.
Chairman Hatch. This is an actual lab, methamphetamine lab.
Look how filthy it is, and as we mentioned, it's an absolute
bomb ready to go off, it's toxic, it's environmentally
destructive, it's carcinogenic. Kids don't know that and yet in
15 minutes over the net you can learn how to do it.
Mr. Allred. The small children we were talking about are
testing positive for methamphetamine. That's just breathing it
in from the air. They're not actually taking the drug, they're
just exposed to it.
Chairman Hatch. Let me ask our anonymous witness just one
more question. He left? OK. I guess we won't get any more
advice from him.
That was pretty astounding when you stop to think. He
indicated he had taken meth and how it feels, but he said it's
never going to leave, the desire for it, is that your
experience?
Mr. Allred. Absolutely. We've determined that addiction is
a disease and it's a chronic disease. You have it until death.
We can arrest it through treatments and we're quite successful
at that now days if it's a good treatment program.
I didn't want to bring this up but I'm going to. The DARE
situation came up and with Mayor Anderson's comments in the
Deseret News talked about the Salt Lake City Police Department
had four DARE officers and the budget's $270,000 a year for
them. My entire youth treatment budget is less than that for
Utah County. I have an issue with that. I need funds.
Chairman Hatch. We've got to change that. We've got to get
more help to you, it's just that simple. The methamphetamine
bill that I've got through the Senate unanimously hasn't gone
through the House yet, has more money in it, so does the
Juvenile Justice Bill, it had a billion dollars in it for
rehabilitation, and you know, for treatments. So we--what we've
got to do is get some of these things through. And I have to
say that the original Juvenile Justice Bill, this has very
little to do about guns, it really would have made a
difference, but they've succeeded in making it a gun bill. Next
thing you know we can't get anything passed, can't get either
side together to get it done.
Mr. Allred. If I may add one more comment, Senator, I've
heard Mr. McCaufrey speak on several occasions, he's made the
very scary statement that they are going to make the funds
available to the communities that show the greatest need. Now,
I've talked about Utah has the lowest rate of incidents in the
country, Utah County the lowest in the State. If he follows
through with that plan he is going to punish us for doing a
good job and we're going to lose prevention dollars in Utah
because we can't prove the need.
Chairman Hatch. Of course we need to do it where the major
problems are, but I think we can't ignore problems anywhere.
Doctor, I want to thank you, all three of you, but I
particularly wanted to thank you for your cogent scientific
explanation here, they've been very important to us and you're
right on the spot working with these kids and working with
these problems.
I just hope that the media in this State, they don't have
to mention this hearing, I hope they'll get these ideas that
you folks have been telling us about out there so parents will
start to realize that, you know, the fast paced modern world
we've got open to influence and so much opportunity to do wrong
that they got to be watching out for their kids, just that
simple. And then of course there are a lot of kids who don't
have both parents which adds to the problem, and there are a
lot of parents who aren't doing what they should as parents.
So let me just end with this: I want to express my
appreciation to our witnesses for taking the time to be here
and share their insights with us today. I certainly learned a
lot and I hope everyone who was able to come today did as well.
I think clearly when we think about the things that could
adversely effect our young people's health as well as their
ability to learn and to make good choices, drug abuse and the
health and learning problems that go with it rank pretty darn
high on the list.
We have already seen the tragic ramifications of gang
activity, cocaine, crack, and other drugs. According to the
experts we've heard today, we can now add these so-called club
drugs to the growing list of threats to our children, to our
kids.
And we will leave the record open until July 21 for any
additional questions from members of the Judiciary Committee or
for additional statements from Utah's elected officials,
educational, medical, or law enforcement communities. And I
would like to invite all of you to submit short statements as
well, any who desire to. I alsohope to include a limited number
in the hearing record. Since such statements may contribute a
constructive suggestion for action, a personal experience, or
additional facts concerning the perils facing Utah's youth.
I believe that continuing dialogue on these issues is
essential if we are to develop strong alliances in the battle
for our children's futures. Establishing this dialogue is one
of the principal reasons for holding this committee hearing
today. And when it comes to drug abuse, all of us, in every
level of government, education, public health, law enforcement,
and in the community at large, have key roles to play.
Yet, this is not a problem that can be or will be solved
overnight. It's certainly not a problem the Federal Government
can solve by itself or with the one-size-fits-all approach. I
don't think the Federal Government should even try to do that.
I believe that the people who know best and care most about our
young people are right here in Utah, and with all due respect,
no bureaucrat at HHS or agent at the DEA is going to care as
much as we do about the future of our own sons and daughters,
although they do care.
I intend to do my part and look forward to working with my
fellow Utahns on effective ways not only to put the dealers and
pushers out of business, but also to help make sure that our
young people are aware of the dangers of using these drugs.
And again, I'd like to thank you, everyone who attended
this hearing, for being here. I welcome all of your insights
and suggestions for ways we can work together to win this
battle.
Now for the record, I'm submitting the testimony prepared
by Steve Branch of the Immigration and Nationalization Service,
a videotape on methamphetamine created by the Health and Sanity
Partnership. This videotape is entitled, Your Kid May Have a
Secret, is available from Alta View Hospital in Sandy.
Now, if people want to stay for a few minutes, I believe
some of the DEA agents have agreed to explain how the meth lab
here set up to my right operates, and so with that I would like
to thank you all for being here and attending today's hearing.
I think it's been a very good hearing, I hope you've all
learned a lot. I hope you will get this videotape, a lot of you
may want to get a hold of and watch this, this really is a very
good thing.
Thank you for being here, we appreciate it. With that we'll
recess until further notice.
[Whereupon, at 3:40 p.m., the committee adjourned.]
EMERGING DRUG THREATS AND PERILS FACING UTAH'S YOUTH
----------
FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2000
U.S. Senate,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Cedar City, UT.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:00 p.m., at
Southern Utah Univerty, 351 West Center, Cedar City, UT, Hon.
Orrin G. Hatch (chairman of the committee) presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ORRIN G. HATCH, A U.S. SENATOR FROM
THE STATE OF UTAH
Chairman Hatch. If we could have you all come to attention,
I'm going to move this up a little closer.
We'll begin our hearing today. This is an important
hearing, so I'm going to say good afternoon and welcome to this
hearing of the Senate full Judiciary Committee. I'm holding
these hearings both here and in Salt Lake to examine the
existing and emerging threats posed by illicit drugs to Utah's
young people. Our rural youth have not escaped the effects of
such perils, and that is why I especially wanted to hold this
meeting here in Cedar City.
And I'm pleased to see so many people here who are
committed, as am I, to focusing attention, as well as
educational and law enforcement resources on combatting this
problem.
The goal of today's hearing is to begin a public dialogue
on how we can work together to combat the too-little-known
dangers of a growing substance abuse problem in our community.
Some Utahns have heard of methamphetamine. We know that
meth is a horrible drug and that the labs where it is
manufactured are producing tremendous toxic chemicals that pose
risks to whole neighborhoods. Meth's association with criminal
gangs is also well known. The cycle of drug abuse and gang
violence is readily apparent to our fellow Utahns. To deal with
our gang problem, we must also deal with our drug problem.
Fewer, however, are aware meth is just one of the so
called, ``club drugs,'' that are beginning to attract a whole
new group of young people in Utah. These drugs known as club
drugs include methamphetamine, Ecstasy, GHB, and Rohipnol, and
are often used at parties or nightclubs.
The symptoms of this club drug use are showing up
everywhere. Utah's emergency rooms, police departments,
schools, and rape crisis centers have experienced increases in
reported cases and the tragic consequences of drug club use or
club drug use.
Utah's Rape Recovery Center, for example, has received
reports of 40 rapes so far this year that are specified--or,
excuse me, that are suspected to involve the club drug called
GHB. That figure represents 35 percent of rapes reported to the
center this year. Meanwhile, last year 7.3 percent of Utah high
school students reported having used methamphetamine at least
once, and, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency--the DEA--
law enforcement authorities seized 266 meth labs in Utah in
1999.
A special danger inherent in these drugs is the fact that
many users of club drugs would not consider taking cocaine,
LSD, heroin, or marijuana drugs that are perceived by them to
be more dangerous, although the opposite is the case. But
because of misinformation about the risks, these young people
knowingly ingest such substances as GHB, the so called date
rape drug, and are experiencing the problems associated with
illicit drugs abuse, including overdose addiction, amnesia,
sexual assault, and permanent brain damage.
The lack of public awareness about club drugs is luring a
whole new population of Utah's young people into the horrible
consequences of illicit drug use. For instance, we found that
in one case they were allowing kids with CTR rings on to get
into the club at half price. And these kids thought because
there was no liquor served on the premises that this was going
to be a nice family type of thing.
Now, methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive stimulant
that produces increased wakefulness, increasedphysical
activity, decreased appetite, increased respiration, hyperthermia, and
euphoria. It can cause convulsions and can result in death.
Ecstasy is a synthetic mind-altering drug with amphetamine-
like and hallucinogenic properties. Ecstasy has no accepted
medical use, and it causes health problems similar to those
caused by the use of amphetamines and cocaine. Psychological
difficulties including confusion, depression, sleep problems,
drug cravings, severe anxiety, and paranoia. These effects may
continue weeks later. Ecstasy users have also died from acute
dehydration.
GHB and Rohipnol are predominantly central nervous system
depressants. Because they are common colorless, tasteless, and
odorless, they can be easily added to beverages and ingested
unknowingly, causing sedation, often rendering the victims,
usually a young woman, helpless. They have become notorious for
their use in crimes, particularly rape, because these drugs
produce amnesia, making it very difficult to arrest and convict
any perpetrator.
The novelty, and that means in some cases petty rapists, in
these drugs is undoubtedly one reason for the recent surge in
their use. Because these drugs are relatively new, young people
may not perceive that taking them is unsafe; rather, they
believe that their reported adverse effects are rare or
exaggerated, and that such reactions could never affect them
personally.
As is so often the case, when a newer drug arrives on the
scene, young people hear much more about its so-called benefits
than about its potential harms. Young people are attracted to
the seemingly increased stamina and intoxicating highs these
drugs purport to offer. As Utahns, we all need to understand
that using these drugs can have serious, and potentially
deadly, consequences. So we need to work on solving these
problems.
Over the last several years we have worked hard to obtain
more resources for local law enforcement in Utah. The formation
of the Rocky Mountain HIDTA, that's called High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area, for example, has brought additional DEA
resources to Utah to stop trafficking and to close down these
labs. Just this week a new DEA office in Utah was opened.
Additionally, Congress enacted the Methamphetamine Control
Act, which I sponsored, to toughen meth penalties and place
greater restrictions on the chemicals from which meth is
created and made. This important law has allowed the DEA and
other law enforcement entities to stop large quantities of
precursor chemicals from being purchased in the United States
for the use in manufacturing methamphetamine in Utah and
elsewhere.
In our further effort to combat meth, we have also passed
the Methamphetamine Trafficking Penalty Enforcement Act and my
other bill, the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act of 1999.
The latter bill, which passed the Senate unanimously last
November, in addition to helping local law enforcement,
contains several significant prevention and treatment
provisions. We simply cannot just punish our way out of this
problem.
And, finally, we have enacted the Hillory J. Farias and
Samantha Reid Date-Rape Drug Prohibition Act of 2000. This law,
named for two victims of date rape, officially recognizes the
harm caused by GHB and designates it specifically as a
controlled substance.
We have also worked to bring more Federal prosecutors and
INS officers to Utah to facilitate action against those who are
corrupting and endangering our youth.
It is important that we all work together to respond to
this new peril confronting our young people. The Federal
Government can support State and local efforts, but it cannot
be a substitute to those loving and dedicated parents,
teachers, coaches, physicians, counselors, religious leaders,
and police officers who serve daily on the front lines in the
war against these life-threatening and life-ruining dangers
facing our children and our grandchildren.
We need to educate ourselves about these dangers, gangs,
teen pregnancy, teen suicide, drugs, and now club drugs, so
that we can better teach and guide our children and our young
people. We love them and that's why we should do this.
And, as your Senator and Chairman of the Judiciary
Committee, I want to hear first hand from Utahns who have
observed the impact from these drugs in our State. That's why I
scheduled these hearings in Utah.
And we have two panels of distinguished witnesses to
testify about the work they are doing to reduce the threat
posed by these drugs to our young people. So I want to welcome
our witnesses and extend our appreciation to them for being
here today. I look forward to their testimony.
Now, some of the leaders that we are very happy to have in
our audience are Representative Steve Bennion, the president of
the university here and an old time friend and wonderful
leader. And State Representative Bob Owen. Bob, where are you?
Right there. Great.
We've got Commissioner Lewis Bowen. Commissioner Bowen.
Lois. Why am I saying Lewis? Lois Bullock. Good to have you
here. Joe Greene, district director of the INS, we are really
honored to have you here. Gary Davis of the school board. Gary,
good to have you here. Glen Halterman, the mayor of Parowan
right here. There he is right there. Patricia Sheffield of the
Western County Children's Justice Center, we're happy to have
you here as well.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Greene follows:]
Prepared Statement of Joseph R. Greene, District Director, U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice
Mr. Chairman, it is an honor and a pleasure to address you today on
the subject of the INS support of narcotics enforcement efforts in
Utah. My name is Joseph R. Greene, and I am the District Director for
the Denver District Office of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service. The Denver District is responsible for the states of Colorado,
Utah and Wyoming.
As you know, Mr. Chairman, the Salt Lake City Office of the INS has
been deeply engaged in addressing the problem of criminal aliens in
Utah. Our office has also consistently supported narcotics enforcement
efforts in the state. For over a decade, INS has participated in the
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) in Salt Lake City.
In addition, INS is a member of the Salt Lake City Pioneer Park Drug
Task Force and the Pioneer Park bicycle patrol, whose efforts have led
to a significant reduction in street-level narcotics dealing in Pioneer
Park. We also participate with other local law enforcement agencies in
the Salt Lake City Community Oriented Policing (COPS) Methanphetamine
initiative.
You will recall in 1997 that you convened the Crime Summit in Salt
Lake City, which was attended by the Attorney General and the
Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Doris
Meissner. In 1998, Mark Reed, the Regional Director for the Central
Region with jurisdiction over Denver and Salt Lake City, testified
before the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims in Salt Lake
City regarding the ongoing efforts of the INS against criminal aliens
in Utah. I am proud to report today that our efforts have proven to be
more effective since the Regional Director's testimony.
identification and apprehension of criminal aliens
In fiscal year 1997, the Salt Lake City INS office apprehended a
total of 810 criminal aliens. In July, 1998, Mr. Reed reported that the
Salt Lake City office would likely exceed 1,200 criminal alien
apprehensions during that fiscal year. In fact, during fiscal year
1998, this office apprehended 1,213 criminal aliens. In fiscal year
1999, the total was 1,017. As of June, which ends the Third Quarter of
fiscal year 2000, a total of 954 criminal aliens have been apprehended.
At the current pace, the Salt Lake City office will likely exceed 1,200
apprehensions this fiscal year.
detention and removals of criminal aliens
Since 1998, the INS has significantly increased its detention
capabilities in the State of Utah. We have added detention space in
Summit and Washington County jails and have access to detention space
in the new Davis County facility. At present, we have 130 detention
beds available, representing an increase of more than double the
capability we reported in 1998.
We remain convinced, however, that detention should be as brief as
possible to allow resources to be better spent in other areas of the
removal process. We have increased our transportation capabilities so
that criminal aliens can be removed from Utah by a variety of means.
The Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation Service (JPATS) now flies
into Salt Lake City once a week to remove criminal aliens from local
detention. In addition, we remove criminal aliens using JPATS out of
Las Vegas, Nevada, or by overland transportation to Denver, Colorado or
El Centro, California. We are currently transporting criminal aliens on
an average of five times a week using one or more of these
transportation options. The average length of time a criminal alien
spends in INS detention in Utah is three days.
deterrence
Without meaningful deterrence, criminal aliens will be able to
reestablish themselves in our communities and continue their unlawful
activities. Since 1997, this office has worked closely with the United
States Attorney's Office to establish and maintain a comprehensive
prosecutions program directed against criminal aliens who have been
deported and have reentered the United States illegally. I have
attached to the written copy of this testimony a graph which shows the
marked increase in prosecutions as a result of our joint efforts. I am
sure that the United States Attorney will address this program in
greater detail in his testimony.
I would only comment on one aspect which these data illustrate. You
will notice that monthly prosecutions peaked in calendar year 1998.
During that year, the United States Attorney's Office indicted 313
criminal aliens under federal immigration laws. In the subsequent year,
the total number of indictments was 251. In the first half of calendar
year 2000, 126 criminal aliens were indicted, which puts us on a pace
to slightly exceed last year's total. There is some evidence in these
numbers that some criminal aliens are either not returning to the
United States after deportation, or at least are not returning to Utah.
While the goal has certainly not yet been achieved, we believe there
are grounds for cautious optimism that the deterrence program is
working in Utah.
quick response teams
As you know, Mr. Chairman, language in the 1999 Appropriation Law
authorized the creation of INS Quick Response Teams (QRTs) in eleven
states, including Utah. We now have Special Agents and Detention
Enforcement Officers in Ogden, Provo and St. George, in addition to our
law enforcement presence in Salt Lake City. Our presence in southern
Utah fills a significant demand from local law enforcement agencies in
that area for INS support. While we believe it is still too early to
evaluate the performance and effect of the St. George QRT, I am pleased
to report that since October, 1999, that office has arrested 791
smuggled aliens destined to the interior of the United States,
including a number of criminal aliens destined for Salt Lake City. In
addition, in the last nine months, our agents in the QRT locations have
responded to 714 requests for assistance from local law enforcement
agencies and have presented 44 cases for prosecution.
For the long term, we believe that the additional personnel we have
received in Utah will permit us to build upon the current success by
allowing us to support narcotics enforcement efforts more effectively.
We are currently planning with local law enforcement agencies to
support drug enforcement taskforces. Our role will be to target those
criminal aliens involved in this activity and to ensure their
apprehension, detention and deportation, as well as criminal
prosecution for reentry where appropriate.
conclusion
In conclusion, let me reaffirm the commitment of the Denver
District and the Salt Lake City Office to support narcotics enforcement
efforts in the State of Utah. I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for
asking me to testify today, and for the support of INS law enforcement
efforts you have shown us in the past, I will now be happy to answer
any questions.
Chairman Hatch. Well, let's move the panel in. I would like
to introduce our first panel of witnesses. This panel will
discuss what is being done to address the illegal drug problem
in this area and ideas for solutions. First I'd like to welcome
Paul Warner, who is our U.S. attorney for Utah. Mr. Warner and
his representatives have prosecuted drug cases, gang crimes and
criminal re-entry cases and is a significant reason why recent
statistics show decreases in crime rates in our State.
Next we'll hear from Don Mendrala. Don is the assistant
special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration
in Utah. These guys are really heroic figures; they really risk
their lives for us. And Mr. Mendrala leads the front line DEA
agents who are trying every day to reduce the trafficking and
use of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs into our State.
We're also very pleased to have our own Scott Burns, who is
here today, as one of the Iron County attorneys who has a
distinguished record of prosecuting those who violate drug laws
in Iron County. There is no better prosecutor in the State, and
we're very fortunate that you take time to be here with us.
Next we'll be pleased to hear from Captain Russell Peck,
who's a great guy, from the St. George Police Department.
Captain Peck works not only on drug crimes in the State, but
he's also worked on crimes that are drug related or caused by
drugs. We commend your efforts and are pleased to have you here
to share your perspective with us today.
So we're happy to welcome you all to our hearing, it is
entitled ``Emerging Drug Threats and Perils Facing Utah's
Youth.'' And we'll turn to you, Mr. Warner, and take your
testimony first.
PANEL CONSISTING OF PAUL M. WARNER, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE
DISTRICT OF UT; DON MENDRALA, ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN
CHARGE, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION, UTAH; SCOTT BURNS,
IRON COUNTY ATTORNEY; CAPTAIN RUSSELL PECK, ST. GEORGE POLICE
DEPARTMENT
STATEMENT OF PAUL M. WARNER
Mr. Warner. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and thank you
very much for the kind introduction. I have the honor of being
the U.S. attorney for the District of Utah, and I greatly
appreciate the opportunity of being here and testifying today.
And with your permission, Mr. Chairman, I would merely
surmise my major points today and, as I understand, the
committee has received my entire statement, and I would ask
that that be made part of the record.
Chairman Hatch. Without objection we'll make it part of the
record.
Mr. Warner. Thank you. Before I begin my more specific
remarks, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to on behalf of all law
enforcement in Utah to compliment you on your great efforts on
behalf of law enforcement, not only here in the State but
throughout the country, and for your leadership in the
Judiciary Committee in terms of providing resources to law
enforcement and the Department of Justice in enabling us to do
our jobs much better because of those efforts.
Chairman Hatch. Well, thank you.
Mr. Warner. The focus of today's hearing, of course, is the
drug problem here in Utah. Club drugs such as Ecstasy, GHB and
others, although not perhaps reaching the attention that
methamphetamine has recently in our State, are certainly
becoming an increasing problem. Approximately 10 years ago I
had the opportunity, if you want to call it that, of
prosecuting perhaps the first Ecstasy case in the State. It
involved a young man who was manufacturing Ecstasy and then
trading it to support his cocaine habit. At that time such a
case was a rarity, and unfortunately we can no longer say that
today. The problem is real and it seems to be getting worse.
We recently filed an importation case, an Ecstasy case,
involving hundreds of thousands of tablets of Ecstasy that was
being imported from Europe to the State of Utah using
commercial private carriers such as Federal Express, DHL and
UPS.
This is not the only case we dealt with. There was a
seizure here in Southern Utah by the highway patrol, it's
currently under review for Federal charges, which clearly
indicated that Ecstasy was headed for distribution here in our
own State.
Now, the target group for this terrible and powerful drug
is the youth of our State, ages 16 to 25. Unfortunately,
because of the nature of our people in Utah, we perhaps are
more susceptible to a drug like Ecstasy because we accept the
mistaken idea that it is a so-called safe drug or clean drug.
According to reality, it is neither.
We intend in my office to continue to aggressively work
with State and local officials, of course our DEA, to do all in
our power to combat these club drugs.
I'd like to talk about methamphetamine for just a minute
because that is truly an epidemic problem in the State of Utah
and throughout the west, beginning to be throughout the entire
United States. In my 25 years of experience as a prosecutor, in
my estimate, methamphetamine is the top threat to public safety
in our State today.
There are two components to the methamphetamine problem in
Utah, the first being the home-grown variety or the clandestine
labs. As you correctly commented in your opening remarks, Mr.
Chairman, there were 266 clandestine labs taken down last year
in 1999 in our State. Unfortunately, we are on a similar pace
this year, having taken down over 178 labs so far. These labs
present a great threat to our public safety, not only because
of the methamphetamine that they manufacture, but because often
we find, or as we find, that when the DEA agents and other law
enforcement agencies enter these labs they find minorchildren
in these labs that are literally crawling about the paper--excuse me,
the glass works and other chemicals, such as illustrated on your table
over on the other side of the room, and as such, many very heart-
rendering stories about the total status of these children who are
neglected and abused in these meth lab environments.
The other aspect of our meth problem in Utah is the second
component is what I call our Mexican meth. Mexican meth evolves
from large commercial labs in Mexico and Southern California.
It works its way here to Utah via network of criminal aliens
and others who bring that meth to Utah for shipment throughout
the United States because of our borders of I-15, I-70 and I-
80. This methamphetamine, unfortunately, doesn't always leave
the State. Much of it is left right here in Utah to be
distributed to our own citizens.
We have seen a dramatic increase in our office in meth
cases in the last 5 years. When I first came to the U.S.
attorney's office over 10 years ago, cocaine was clearly the
drug of choice. It was clearly the drug that we saw in most of
our drug cases. Now, I would estimate that over 90 percent of
our cases, drug cases, involve methamphetamine.
We have tried to use the resources that through your
efforts and the efforts of the Department of Justice have been
given to us, we've increased our drug section in terms of
numbers of prosecutors and, accordingly, the number of drug
prosecutions are on the rise. Unfortunately, there seems to be
no lack of cases to prosecute.
One of the aspects of dealing with the meth problem in our
State, Senator, is to deal with this criminal alien problem. I
want to emphasize that they're not the sole problem here or the
sole factor, and I also want to emphasize that we're not
talking about law-abiding citizens or members of the Hispanic
communities; we're talking about people who come to this
country, who make a sole living of a criminal livelihood.
Through your efforts, Senator, the Federal prosecutors, and a
number of INS agents dramatically in the last few years,
through those efforts we have prosecuted close to 1,000
criminal aliens that have been involved in drug trafficking in
our State, and that's 1,000 criminal aliens who are still in
Federal prisons because of the substantial sentences that they
received without any parole, and they are no longer on the
streets distributing their methamphetamine.
A second factor, another part of the problem that we've
been trying to address, is that of guns. As the committee is
well aware, there's been a great debate about gun control in
our country, but there could be no debate about the fact that
felons who use guns in crime have no business possessing those
guns and they should be aggressively prosecuted. And we've been
pursuing those people, particularly those who have been
involved in drug trafficking when we find a gun on them, and we
have opened a special project called CUFF, the Criminal Use of
Firearms by Felons. We have put some new resources into that
project, two new prosecutors. I'm happy to report that we filed
over 80 cases this year.
Chairman Hatch. Is that number 80?
Mr. Warner. Over 80.
Chairman Hatch. I've been pushing the administration for a
gun project that came out of a project in Virginia that really
became a very, very effective project where the Federal
prosecutors working in collaboration with the local prosecutors
were able to make a real dent.
One of my criticisms of this administration they all want
to make gun control laws, they're not enforcing over 20,000
laws that are on the books today. That's where I have my
difficulty there. You're citing that if we enforce those laws
we don't have those guns.
Mr. Warner. Exactly. And I would like to make a point,
Senator, at least one U.S. Senator hears what you're saying
loud and clear.
Chairman Hatch. And that is a increasing number, in spite
of these efforts.
Mr. Warner. Indeed there are. I'm happy to report that U.S.
attorneys around the country are beginning to aggressively
pursue the Federal gun laws that we have on the books, and
hopefully will make a difference, not only in the area of gun
violence, but also in the area of drugs and drug distribution.
Chairman Hatch. It will and will also protect the decent
law-abiding gun owners.
Mr. Warner. Absolutely. And I want to emphasize that we
have no interest in prosecuting law-abiding citizens who want
to exercise their right to keep and bear arms. This has nothing
to do with those folks. This has everything to do with felons
who are criminals and who are involved in violent crime and
drug trafficking.
Let me conclude today, Senator, by simply indicating that
we are appreciative of your leadership and all that you do to
provide us the resources to combat this scourge, this plague of
drugs, and particularly methamphetamine, and the club drugs
that are addicting the youth in our State. I pledge to you that
we will continue to use our resources and our best efforts to
combat this, and as we receive additional resources, they will
be put to use in this battle.
Thank you very much, and I'll be happy to answer any
questions from the committee.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Warner follows:]
Prepared Statement of Paul M. Warner
Good morning, Mr. Chairman [and Members of the Committee]. And
thank you, [Chairman Hatch] for that kind introduction. I have the
honor of being the United States Attorney for the District of Utah, and
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to testify before the Committee on
the critical problem of drugs and related crime in Utah.
With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I will summarize the major
points I would like the Committee to understand, and I request that my
entire statement be made a part of the record.
Before I begin my more specific remarks on the drug crime problems
in Utah, permit me to say, Senator Hatch, that I believe that few
people serving in Washington are as well attuned to this issue as you
are, and that few have done as much as you to address it. That support
is needed and appreciated by law enforcement here in Utah, and I
believe around the country.
One focus of today's hearing is the explosion of so-called ``club
drugs''--Ecstasy, GHB, and others. About ten years ago, I had the
opportunity to prosecute what may have been the first Ecstasy case in
Utah. It involved a young man who was manufacturing Ecstasy, and
selling it to support his cocaine habit. At the time, the case was a
rarity, and even today, we are fortunate that these club drugs have not
yet emerged as strongly as they have in other areas of the country.
Still, the problem is real, and poised to get worse. For instance,
my office is prosecuting an Ecstasy importation scheme involving a
significant quantity of the drug, which would have supplied thousands
of users. These drugs were being imported fromEurope into the United
States, through Provo, under a complex scheme using private carriers
such as Federal Express, DHL, and UPS as apparently unwitting couriers.
It appears the drugs were destined for the streets of California.
Even though in this case the Ecstasy apparently was not intended to
be distributed here in Utah, in my view, it is only a matter of time
before we see increased use of these drugs by Utah's kids. In fact, I
understand that the Utah Highway Patrol recently made a significant
seizure of Ecstasy intended for distribution in Utah during an
automobile stop in southern Utah. This matter is now being reviewed for
federal charges.
The target age group for Ecstasy is young people between the ages
of 16 and 25. Our children here face most of the same pressures as
youth across the country, so it is no surprise that these drugs would
show up here. Indeed, because Utah still retains much of its small-town
innocence from an earlier, less troubled era, our youth can be
particularly susceptible to threats from invidious ``club drugs'' that
are represented as ``safe,'' or ``clean''. My office, in conjunction
with our law enforcement partners around the State, will aggressively
prosecute cases involving these drugs, in an effort to prevent the
threat from taking hold here, as have other drugs such as
methamphetamine.
I have been a prosecutor for almost a quarter of a century, and I
have been a federal prosecutor for the past twelve years. Before the
President nominated me to be the U.S. Attorney here in Utah, I had
served in the Utah U.S. Attorney's office as First Assistant, as Chief
of the Criminal Division, and as Violent Crimes Coordinator for the
office. Based on my experience, I can tell you without exaggeration
that the meth problem in Utah today is the most serious criminal threat
we face to public safety and the safety and well-being of our children.
There are two key components to the meth problem in Utah. While I
believe that these components certainly exist in other areas of the
country that are experiencing a serious meth proliferation problem,
they also rest on factors somewhat unique to Utah. The first component
is the home grown problem--the proliferation of clandestine meth labs.
Indeed, Utah has the dubious distinction of having the highest per
capita number of illegal methamphetamine manufacturing operations of
any State in the Union, and ranks among the highest in the nation in
the absolute number of labs.
This part of the problem involves U.S. citizens operating small
labs and producing comparatively small amounts of very pure meth.
Approximately 241 such labs were taken down in Utah in 1999, and
approximately 178 have been taken down so far this year. The prevalence
of these clandestine labs--sometimes called ``tweaker'' labs, after the
common term for meth addicts--is a function of two facts--the highly
addictive nature of methamphetamine, and the ability of addicts to
manufacture the drug themselves, a factor not present with respect to
drugs such as cocaine and heroin, for example.
As the Committee knows, meth can be made using chemicals,
equipment, and over-the-counter drugs, all of which are fairly easy to
get. With your leadership, Senator, as well as efforts in the Utah
legislature, some key ingredients such as pseudoephedrine are now
harder to get in large quantities than they once were. However,
determined lab operators are still able to get what they need. For
instance, a common method used by tweakers to obtain pseudoephedrine is
to go to every store in the neighborhood and buy up to the legal
limit--12 grams under Utah law. The recipe for meth is well-known among
users, and I believe that as the purity of imported meth has decreased,
the incentive for users to make their own has increased.
The danger these labs pose to the community, and especially to
children in the homes where labs are set up, cannot be overstated.
First, while manufacturing meth is relatively simple--most of the
tweakers operating these labs are not exactly rocket scientists--the
process involves combining and heating very volatile chemicals, and
produces highly toxic fumes and residue. Second, the very nature of the
meth addiction unfortunately ensures that the children in the household
will be ignored and abused. Our DEA agents can tell you heartrending
stories about addicted children found in appalling conditions in many
of the labs they respond to. In fact, there have even been reports of
children in preschool and kindergarten playing make-believe games of
cooking meth.
The second component of the meth problem in Utah is what we call
``Mexican meth''. It results in part form our geographic location as a
convenient transshipment point. The result is a significant number of
what we call pipeline cases. This component of Utah's problem, and our
responses to it, bear directly on controlling
methamphetamineproliferation in Utah and throughout the United States.
Meth is being produced in massive quantities in large labs in Mexico,
as well as in southern California and other western states. Utah's
proximity to the national border, and the convergence of three primary
travel corridors--I-70, I-80, and I-15--within the state combine to
make Utah uniquely situated to serve as a major transshipment point of
this Mexican meth.
Unfortunately, we are finding that much of the drug is staying in
Utah and other Inter-Mountain states as well. For example, after an
eighteen month investigation by the FBI and other law enforcement
agencies, just last week we broke up two major and interconnected drug
trafficking organizations operating in Salt Lake City and Ogden. The
take-down of the Olmedo and Sanchez drug trafficking organizations, or
DTOs, resulted in the indictment and arrest of over 25 people and the
seizure of at least ten pounds of methamphetamine that had been
imported into Utah, as well as other drugs. These drugs were being
distributed here in Utah, as well as in Idaho and possibly Wyoming.
It is also an unfortunate fact that much of this particular
component of Utah's meth problem is a direct result of illegal entry by
criminal aliens into the United States, who then come to Utah. Again,
as a case in point, most of the individuals involved in the Olmedo DTO,
as well as many of those used by the Sanchez DTO as runners and
suppliers, were criminal aliens.
Additionally, let there be no mistake--these DTOs have an effect on
children involved, as well. The most pernicious effect is in passing on
the culture of drugs and lawlessness to another generation. And again,
without wishing to prejudice either the investigation or the
prosecution of the recently dismantled DTOs, an example can be found in
those cases. Two persons in the Sanchez DTO have been charged under the
federal law that provides additional penalties for anyone who employs
or uses a minor in a drug trafficking crime. The children involved in
these cases deserve a chance to have a different and better life than
that of drug dealers.
Let me take just a moment to describe some of what my office has
been doing to address both the meth and the criminal alien problems,
which are related. As you know, Senator Hatch, when I took office as
U.S. Attorney, I established two prosecutive priorities. These
priorities are meth and aggravated reentry immigration cases. With your
support and the support of Main Justice, these initiative are bearing
fruit.
First, I was able to obtain two new drug prosecutors, which allowed
me to establish within the office's Criminal Division a new drug
section. Utilizing targeted resources provided by Congress and
allocated by the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, this section is
now staffed with 4 attorneys, including two who are dedicated to OCDETF
cases. Even while still staffing up, the results of this section have
been evident. For instance, in FY 1999, we indicated approximately 196
defendants in about 105 drug cases. This represents a 64.7 percent
increase in defendants and a 38 percent increase in cases over FY 1998.
Yet these numbers alone do not tell the whole story. For in the last
twelve months, we have successfully dismantled three major drug
trafficking organizations, including the Sundowners Motorcycle Club
DTO, and the recent bust of the Olmedo and Sanchez DTOs, which I
already discussed.
As a reflection of the growing problem with methamphetamine in Utah
and the commitment by federal law enforcement to attacking the problem,
allow me to provide a comparison of defendants indicted in OCDETF cases
within the last two years. In FY 1998, a total of 32 defendants were
indicted in the District of Utah through OCDETF investigations, many of
whom were indicted for methamphetamine offenses. By comparison, in FY
1999, OCDETF investigations resulted in the indictment of 91
defendants, and nearly all of those defendants were indicted for a meth
offense. In the first ten months of FY 2000, we have obtained
indictments against 53 defendants in OCDETF cases, including the 31
defendants indicted as a part of the Olmedo and Sanchez DTOs.
The point of relating these numbers is not only to inform the
Committee of what we are doing to tackle the meth problem in Utah, but
also emphasize the severity of the problem. Even with the substantial
and ever increasing number of defendants and cases we are handling, we
are only scratching the surfafe of the problem--there is a seeming
endless supply of new cases.
The same can be said of the second prong of our initiative, which
involves aggressively prosecuting criminal alien cases. I understand
that this can be a sensitive subject, and that the link between these
cases and the meth problem may not be readily apparent to some. It must
be emphasized that the criminal alien initiative is not targeted at our
law-abiding Hispanic population. It is that population we in large
measure seek to protect. Indeed, the code name for the investigation
into the Olmedo and Sanchez DTOs was ``Los Chacales,'' which in Spanish
means ``the Jackals,'' and is a derogatory term within the law-abiding
Hispnaic community for drug dealers. It is my view that because of the
prevalence of Mexican meth, and the convenience of Utah as
transshipment and distribution point, the criminal alien and drug
trafficking cases are intimately intertwined, and that we cannot get a
handle on the meth problem without also attacking the criminal alien
problem as well.
Thanks to your commitment, Senator Hatch, and the commitment of the
Attorney General, we have added personnel resources in the U.S.
Attorney's office as well as at the INS to aggressively pursue these
cases. Again, we are showing results. In calendar year 1996, our office
indicted 80 criminal alien cases. In 1997, we indicted 194 such cases,
in 1998, 313, and in 1999, 251. So far in calendar year 2000, about 120
such cases have been brought. The vast majority of the criminal alien
cases we are doing involve defendants with drug trafficking
convictions, as well as lengthy criminal histories. In addition to the
immigration offenses, many of these are methamphetamine related cases.
Our program has been successful.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, let me briefly note a third aspect of our
drug crime initative--the targeting of the illegal use and possession
of firearms by criminals. The link between the illegal use and
possession of firearms and drug crime is well known, and here in Utah,
we have initiated Project CUFF--Criminal Use of Firearms by Felons--to
aggressively prosecute these cases. I am pleased to say that both the
name of the initiative and the resources to pursue it are a result of
your efforts in the Senate. And let me be clear--we are not prosecuting
law-abiding citizens exercising their constitutional right to keep and
bear arms. Rather, we are targeting those felons who use guns to commit
crimes, thereby endangering the whole community and denigrating the
rights of everyone else. I have assigned a top AUSA to Project CUFF,
and I am adding another one next month. The initiative has resulted in
nearly eighty cases accepted for federal prosecution since January.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, our drug problem in Utah is severe,
and poses significant threats to our youth. And while some aspects of
the problem are unique to my District, the meth problem--and the
broader drug problem--certainly is not. Yet, we are taking steps to
tackle the problem. It is a problem we are tackling on several fronts--
including the home-grown, clandestine lab, the so-called Mexican meth,
and staying ahead of the curve on the threat posed by the new
generation of club drugs. Your leadership, and the support of the
Department of Justice, has given us many tools and resources to do
this.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I would be pleased to answer any
questions from the Committee.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you, Mr. Warner. We're happy to have
you. You're a wonderful U.S. attorney and one of the
outstanding attorneys across the country.
We turn to you, Mr. Mendrala, as head of the DEA in this
state, and we're very honored to have you here to talk about
these things.
STATEMENT OF DON MENDRALA
Mr. Mendrala. Thank you. Senator, I've been here 4 years.
When I first moved in a neighbor came over and introduced
himself to me, I introduced myself back to him, and he said,
I'm glad to know you, but I'm sorry that we need someone like
you in this State.
I wish we didn't need the DEA in here. Sadly we do. And I'd
like to take this opportunity to thank you for the support you
have given us. Our office has increased tenfold over the past
few years.
The cost, the meth cost, that we hear about in Utah costs
this State $1 million. Without the funding that you helped us
secure through hiring DEA agents and the pot shots recently and
the new awareness, the DEA cleans up labs, this State would
literally be brought to its knees due to the fiscal note
attached to methamphetamine.
One of the most painful questions that I'm asked all the
time is why Utah. Why is Utah is so high in ranking when it
comes to methamphetamine. It's truly----
Chairman Hatch. High? What are we ranked?
Mr. Mendrala. Right now we're eighth.
Mr. Burns. Which is good news. We were third.
Chairman Hatch. Two years ago. And that's a step down.
That's outstanding.
Mr. Mendrala. As you stated we closed down 266 meth labs
last year. Our office responded to 246 of those.
Our agents are very tired. When we talk about meth, it
doesn't mean any of the other drugs here have stopped.
Just to add on a little of what Mr. Warner said, Mexican
trafficking is proliferating in this State. These traffickers
are probably drug dealers, they bring in methamphetamine.
They're bringing in marijuana, which we are seeing increasingly
as a gateway drug to these others. They're bringing in heroin,
and once heroin entrenches itself here, Senator, this is
something that they need every day when they wake up and go to
bed at night. This drug has to be supported by some type of
financial means, generally the crimes that are associated with
heroin across the spectrum.
We've got the domestic meth problem which has just been
highlighted in the media. We used to be very careful about what
we said about how the drug was produced, what chemicals were
used, the method of manufacture. We don't have to worry about
that anymore, Senator, because the INS has taken away all the
secrets. If there is law enforcement, if there's pending
legislation, if there's a problem in the cook method that we
don't know how to make it, they can get it on the chat room and
find out anything they need to know. There are no longer any
secrets when it comes to methamphetamine.
We see that same carry over into GHB and Ecstasy, how to
take the drugs, how to manufacture the drug, where to get it
and what to do if you overdose. This is very, very disturbing
to us.
We work with highway patrol on Operation Pipeline. As Mr.
Warner again stated, there was a stop made just outside of
Beaver with Ecstasy. These highway patrol stops historically
will be made on our highways, that they were going to points
beyond. That's no longer the case. At least half of the
pipeline stops now that are drugs are destined to stay in Utah.
Chairman Hatch. So what you're saying is up until recently
we were the crossroads with the transport system to drugs going
to other states but now at least half of them are staying here?
Mr. Mendrala. Yes. We were a trans shipment point and now
we're consumer stable. That's not the trend we want in this
State.
With the resources you have given us and will give us we
will put forward our best efforts to put them together
productively.
We appreciate you coming to us to our new facility. There
would be nothing that we would like to have greater than to
take all the resources that you have given us and let them be
used in another State. We don't want this in Utah, we don't
want the problem in Utah, and we don't have--we don't want to
keep having to ask for more resources to deal with this
problem. We want it to go away and we'll do everything we can
to make it do just that.
Chairman Hatch. Well, thank you. We thank you for doing a
great job here. It's becoming a more increasing problem in this
country, especially with methamphetamine. And now all these
drugs.
Mr. Mendrala. It's almost the other side of the double edge
sword with the methamphetamine, these club drugs are not
methamphetamine but accepted as such.
Chairman Hatch. OK. Mr. Burns, let's turn to you. You're
right here on the firing line.
STATEMENT OF SCOTT BURNS
Mr. Burns. Well, first of all, Mr. Chairman, I want to
thank you for the opportunity to provide some testimony today.
I've been the elected county attorney since 1986, and I'm happy
to report as of this morning one thing that is encouraging to
me, that is for those that use drugs are, in my opinion,
becoming dumber and dumber, which I think helps us.
I had UHP Trooper Larry Orton call me this morning and
said, Burns, what do you think about this? The requirements for
road blocks are extremely strict now, so up the canyon up by
Milt's the other night we set up a sign that said, ``Drug dog
ahead,'' and about 20 yards further we had another sign that
said, ``DEA agents in the area.'' And then we set up a garbage
can with a sign and a light that said, ``If you have any
illegal drugs, please deposit them in this garbage can,'' and
three or four cars actually stopped and put drugs in the can,
and then the trooper arrested them at the bottom of the canyon.
He said, ``Can we charge them with something?''
And I said, ``Felony stupid comes to mind right off the
bat.''
So that's encouraging to me. Those types of tactics are
working and telling me that people who are using drugs aren't
thinking too straight.
In 1990 and 1991 a U.S. attorney stated marijuana and
cocaine were what we dealt with, and those were insidious drugs
to individuals, but nothing to compare with methamphetamine.
And we had always set up a task force in 1997 with several
counties, several law enforcement agencies, and I'm glad to
report that with the seizure laws that you have so strongly
supported, and I submit to you and testify that those are
enforced sparingly and only when applicable, we have seized
well over a million dollars. We've purchased equipment, we've
trained law enforcement officers, we bought cameras, and we
tried to do--but funded their programs throughout Iron County,
which I think is a model throughout the county forfeiture
monies from the bad guys.
But what we haven't been able to do is deal with three
things--or two things that I see emerging, and that is with
respect to methamphetamine violence. I had never looked at the
effect of methamphetamine with respect to violent crime, and I
can tell you that we recently finished a death penalty case in
this county where a women was literally butchered and butchered
in front of three small children, and it is my opinion that at
the conclusion of that investigation, that trial, that death
penalty verdict that the cause of that senseless death and
really the ruination of three young people was methamphetamine.
I see Mr. Murphy from the local paper who sat through the
preliminary hearing, but he could also testify that we're now
prosecuting the case for a little baby that happened to be
introduced to a methamphetamine party. There's no doubt about
that methamphetamine was being used at the party, people deny
having any contact, but this innocent little child came out of
that party with her chest kicked in and with serious damage to
the brain. Violence due to methamphetamine.
The second issue that I would like to address is that I
believe rural America is being hardest hit. I know you have
legislation pending hopefully that will help us, and we
appreciate that, but I think a lot of the methamphetamine
traffickers, and I think Mr. Mendrala and Mr. Warner will
support me on this, that, you know, they have the idea that,
you know, Oppie and Goober are alive and well in rural Utah,
and if you set up a lab out there, we're not as likely to get
caught.
We're becoming more sophisticated, we're catching them now,
but we now end up with the clean-up cost. And I know the
governor more recently talked about running out of funds for
that, and maybe the rural communities have to deal with that.
We're going to need help because it's not a rural problem, it's
a Utah problem and it's a national problem.
The third thing I want to say and to echo what has been
said, is that we appreciate the enhancement of the DEA in
Southern Utah. You have no idea how the regional office has
helped us. And I work closely with Don and Paul and the agents
that are down here, and that type of expertise is invaluable.
I want to thank you for your legislation and for the Byrne
grant monies, and I know that you know funds our task force
every year. We spend it, I promise you, sparingly.
And the last thing I wanted to do, and I promise I know
politicians so I know it sounds like I'm lying and sucking up,
but on May 19 we had a banquet and I had no idea that these
hearings were going to be held. We had a plaque for you. I know
your schedule wouldn't permit you to be here for our narcotics
task force. And she's a politician, too, but she will vouch for
me that that was our intent, and I will provide our Chairman of
the Iron County Commission to present you that plaque, Lois
Bullock.
Chairman Hatch. Well, thank you. She might not want to do
it after I called her Lewis. [Laughter.]
Well, thank you so much.
Ms. Bullock. I'm not a Lewis.
Chairman Hatch. Isn't that nice.
Mr. Burns. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be
here.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you, Scott. You don't suck up to
anybody. I've known you for a long time. I worry about you. We
appreciate you and we appreciate the work that you're doing.
Captain Peck, I'm going to turn to you guys.
STATEMENT OF CAPTAIN RUSSELL PECK
Mr. Peck. Thank you.
U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, hearing members and fellow
citizens, I appreciate this opportunity to appear before you
today to discuss the issue of the drug problem in Washington
County and in the State of Utah. My name is Russell Peck and
I'm a captain with the St. George Police Department. I'm also
the commander of the Washington County Drug Task Force. I have
been the commander since the task force was first organized 3
years ago under the direction of Bob Flowers, chief of the St.
George Police Department, Eric Ludlow, Washington County
Attorney, and Glenwood Humphries, former sheriff of Washington
County. The current sheriff of Washington County is Kirk Smith,
who along with Bob Flowers and Eric Ludlow, constitute the
governing board of the Drug Task Force.
In my 15 years of law enforcement experience, I have seen
methamphetamine use increase dramatically in our area.
Methamphetamine is our number one problem and focus of illegal
drug use in Washington County and the State of Utah.
Methamphetamine affects us all, both old and young alike. From
children, victims whose parents care more about meth than their
kids, to those youth who abuse drugs. This effects our whole
society in such a negative way. Marijuana is the next biggest
problem and is often used in conjunction with methamphetamine.
It is also the primary gateway drug.
The clandestine meth labs and the dangers associated with
those labs and the clean-up of toxic chemicals has also been a
major problem in our area. But through the support of
government grants and awards, such as Byrne grants from the
Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice and HIDTA (High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas) awards, a great amount of
progress has occurred in our local drug war. This assistance
has made a huge impact in our area towards the quality of life
for our citizens. The extreme dedication of those officers on
the front line, who at times have worked 24 straight hours in
the investigation, scouting, and tactically securing the
suspects of a meth lab, and then processing the lab, must never
be forgotten, but supported and applauded for the sacrifices
they make. These police officers on the front line deserve the
respect and the best support our country and government can
give.
Our task force consists of only four detectives, one
sergeant, and myself as the commander. We also have one
prosecutor from the Washington County Attorney's Office, Brian
Filter, who has done a tremendous job assigned to prosecute all
task force cases. We also have an intelligence analyst from the
Utah National Guard assigned to our task force.
And, Senator Hatch, I would like to recognize our drug task
force and just ask them to stand momentarily, if they would.
Chairman Hatch. I thought that's where those guys worked. I
was looking at that group. Don't tangle with them.
Mr. Peck. I have listed some items that have had a huge
impact in our county and the State of Utah, and they are as
follows:
Again, funding for task forces provided by Commission on
Criminal and Juvenile Justice and HIDTA (High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area). This provides much needed training,
equipment, overtime, buy money, operating expenses, facilities,
and financial support. Without this there would be no task
force.
The dedication of the police officers, the prosecutors, the
support personnel, finance officers, and all the others who
assist and care about fighting the drug war.
Assistance from the DEA in our area, especially support
from the special agent in charge, Mike DeMarte. Also, resident
agent in charge Don Mendrala and DEA supervisors on Pat Dunn
and Geno Corley. Each has been very supportive.
The support and assistance from the Utah National Guard.
They provide an intelligence analyst working full time for the
drug task force.
The establishment of trained officers to tactically take
down meth labs in our area, as well as process and dismantle
them. Prior to the establishment of the task force, the closest
people were from Salt Lake City. We also utilize the St. George
Special Emergency Response Team on all high risk drug search
warrants and clandestine drug lab warrants. Also being able to
obtain the necessary equipment to safely and effectively take
down and dismantle meth labs.
And the cost for the hazardous waste contractors to dispose
of the meth labs taken care of by the DEA.
The aggressive enforcement and prosecution of all involved
with illegal drugs from simple possession to manufacturing and
distribution of controlled substances. Many crimes on the
periphery, such as theft, burglary, and crimes of violence are
committed by drug users. Focusing on the drug problem
eliminates many other crimes.
Aggressive Utah legislation on possession of precursor
chemicals such as pseudoephedrine, iodine crystals, and red
phosphorous has been a tremendous help.
Education about methamphetamine for retail establishments,
specialized civic groups, youth groups, and citizens. This has
been accomplished through classes taught by task force members,
booths at health fairs, television, radio, and newspapers.
Community involvement. Hitting the problem at all angles
from police officers to teachers in the education system. This
is a social problem and not just an enforcement problem.
I have briefly touched on the drug problem in our area and
items that have been a great benefit in our local battle. We
are not losing this war. Our goal is to make it extremely
dangerous for drug dealers and users to operate in our county,
to reduce the availability of drugs, drive the price up of
illegal drugs and simply make it not worth the consequences for
those that would infect our society. We have made a lot of
progress in the last 3 years and hope for even more.
Senator Hatch, we deeply appreciate and feel your support
and commitment to the drug war. We appreciate your leadership
and thank you for this opportunity to talk about our area.
I also have a short slide presentation I would like to show
you, Senator Hatch.
Chairman Hatch. Sure.
Mr. Peck. I don't know if everyone can hear me. I'll go
through this.
This is a poster, basically was taken--or the photograph
was taken at one of our drug houses. These are just some
newspaper articles about some of our work.
This is an interesting one where a man was arrested for not
only child pornography, but also methamphetamine
andparaphernalia and marijuana.
This is, of course, methamphetamine. This is what it looks
like.
One of the precursors pseudoephedrine, it is easily bought
at the stores. And Utah just in the last few years enacted
legislation to make it illegal to possess more than 12 grams of
this. This has been a great help again.
Another precursor chemical iodine crystals, again the Utah
legislature has enacted laws that make it illegal to possess
more than two ounces, and that has been a great help.
The other one, red phosphorous, same thing, Utah
legislature now has made it illegal to possess any of this.
This has been a great help.
This is some of the glassware that we see with these
clandestine labs. Some of the chemicals, these are some of the
ingredients used to make methamphetamine that we see down in
our area.
Common ingredient Heat, we see some on the table there.
These are some pictures of some meth labs down in our area.
You can see some of the protective equipment that we
utilize that we've been able to purchase through HIDTA and also
Byrne grants that have been a great help to us.
Some of our guys on the front lines of our drug task force
that went through the training.
There on the left is a suspect that was in possession of a
meth lab. This individual actually came up from Las Vegas, much
like County Attorney Scott Burns talked about, where they come
into rural Utah. They think that we don't know anything about
it and try to set up shop here.
This is our meth lab trailer that we use to take down the
meth labs.
This is our Special Emergency Response Team. Through some
of our grants and through the DEA we've been able to get these
men trained in the site and how to take down a meth lab
tactically. It's been a great help.
This is some of our guys that are getting ready to go on a
briefing, or ready to go on a raid, they're at a briefing right
now.
If you can see the gentleman in the back, right there in
the white coat, he is one of our City Councilmen. We've had
great support from our city leaders.
There we have our chief of police Bob Flowers and also
Mayor McArthur has also been at the site and seen some of these
things first hand.
This is the kind of places that we see the meth labs set up
temporarily in rural Utah, from a trailer in the city to two
nice homes in a nice residential area.
These are some drug suspects that have specifically
admitted having been on methamphetamine for quite a while. And
as you can see it involves the youth.
And I thought this was an interesting picture. It actually
covers the whole age group. We have a gentleman here that's
probably in his 50's, a man here in his 20's, and this young
gal was 13 or 14 years of age.
Another picture of our suspect that came from Vegas, set up
shop. Went through one of our local IFA dealers to buy some
crystal iodine, and we were able to, through an investigation,
get a search warrant and take this lab down.
More of our drug suspects.
As you can see, too, we talked a little bit about the
firearms and the weapons that are used in the drug world. We
see a lot of this as well. The police scanners, the weapons. Go
right along with methamphetamine.
This particular gun right here was stolen with another
group of guns, not this gun but another gun in that same group
was used in a homicide over drugs over in the Monticello area.
Again, they have counterintelligence, police magazines,
scanners, frequency guides.
I thought this was kind of ironic, there's marijuana and
Tupak Shakur with marijuana leaves there and a scale to weigh
out their drugs, and they mockingly say, ``Stop Crime.''
This is a group of young adults that were at the scene of a
search warrant where a lot of--actually marijuana was found.
We're finding again a lot of the drug dealers want to
protect what they have. This particular dog was a pit bull, a
very vicious dog that attacked the officers and had to be shot.
This is a drug suspect that was at the scene of a meth lab,
he had actually been cooking for quite a while. We
decontaminated his clothing and shortly after that picture was
taken he decided to become violent, and we snapped some
pictures while the officers had to basically wrestle him to the
ground to contain him.
Again, methamphetamine is our primary problem, but we also
have marijuana which is a gateway drug. And we have, of course,
growers down in our area. This young man is 18 years of age who
was at the site of this marijuana area.
This is sad to see the children that are involved in these
kind of things.
Several of our marijuana drills. And that's the end of the
presentation. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Captain Peck follows:]
Prepared Statement of Captain Russell Peck
United States Senator Orrin Hatch, hearing members, and fellow
citizens: I appreciate this opportunity to appear before you today to
discuss the issue of the drug problem in Washington County in the State
of Utah. My name is Russell Peck and I'm a Captain with the St. George
Police Department. I am also the commander of the Washington County
Drug Task Force. I have been the commander since the task force was
first organized, three years ago under the direction of Bob Flowers--
Chief of the St. George Police Department, Eric Ludlow--Washington
County Attorney, And Glenwood Humphries--former Sheriff of Washington
County. The current Sheriff of Washington County is Kirk Smith, who
along with Bob Flowers and Eric Ludlow, constitute the governing board
of the Drug Task Force.
In my 15 years of law enforcement experience, I have seen
methamphetamine use increase dramatically in our area. Methamphetamine
is our number one problem and focus of illegal drug use in Washington
County and the State of Utah. Methamphetamine effects us all both young
and old alike. From children victims whose parents care more about meth
than their kids to those youth who abuse drugs. This effects our whole
society in such a negative way. Marijuana is the next biggest problem
and is often used in conjunction with methamphetamine. It is also the
primary gateway drug.
The clandestine meth labs, the dangers associated with those labs,
and the clean up of the toxic chemicals, has also been a major problem
in our area. But through the support of government grants and awards
such as Byrne grants from the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile
Justice and HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas) awards, a
great amount of progress has occurred in our local drug war. This
assistance has made a huge impact in our area towards the quality of
life for our citizens. The extreme dedication of those officers on the
front line, who at times have worked 24 straight hours in the
investigation, scouting, and tactically securing the suspects of a meth
lab, and then processing the lab, must never be forgotten, but
supported and applauded for the sacrifices they make. These police
officers on the front line deserve the respect and the best support our
country and government can give.
Our task force consists of only four detectives, one sergeant, and
myself as the commander. We also have one prosecutor from the
Washington County Attorney's office, Brian Filter, who has done a
tremendous job, assigned to prosecute all task force cases. We also
have an intelligence analyst from the Utah National Guard assigned to
our task force.
I have listed some items that have had a huge impact in our county
and the State of Utah. They are as follows:
Funding for task forces provided by CCJJ (Commission on
Criminal and Juvenile Justice) and HIDTA (High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area). This provides much needed training, equipment,
overtime, buy money, operating expenses, facilities, and financial
support. Without this, their would be no task force.
Dedication of the police officers, prosecutors, support
personnel, finance officers, and all others who assist and care about
fighting the drug war.
Assistance from the DEA in our area, especially support
from Special Agent in Charge, Mike DeMarte. Also, Resident Agent in
charge Don Mendrala and DEA supervisors Pat Dunn and Geno Corley. Each
has been very supportive.
The support and assistance from the Utah National Guard.
They provide an intelligence analyst working full-time for the drug
task force.
The establishment of trained officers to tactically take
down meth labs in our area, as well as process and dismantle them.
Prior to the establishment of the task force, the closest team was from
Salt Lake City. We utilize the SERT (Special Emergency Response Team)
team from the St. George Police Department on all high-risk drug search
warrants and clandestine drug lab warrants.
Obtaining the necessary equipment to safely and
effectively take down and dismantle meth labs.
The cost for the hazardous waste contractors to dispose of
the meth lab taken care of by the DEA.
The aggressive enforcement and prosecution of all involved
with illegal drugs from simple possession to manufacture and
distribution of controlled substances. Many crimes on the periphery
such as theft, burglary, and crimes of violence are committed by drug
users. Focusing on the drug problem eliminates many other crimes.
Aggressive Utah legislation on possession of precursor
chemicals such as pseudoephedrine, iodine crystals, and red
phosphorous.
Education about methamphetamine for retail establishments,
specialized civic groups, youth groups, and citizens. This has been
accomplished through classes taught by task force members, booths at
health fairs, television, radio, and newspapers.
Community Involvement. Hitting the problem at all angles
from police officers to teachers in the education system. This is a
social problem and not just an enforcement problem.
I have briefly touched on the drug problem in our area and items
that have been a great benefit in our local battle. We are not losing
this war. Our goal is to make it extremely dangerous for drug dealers
and users to operate in our county, to reduce the availability of
drugs, drive the price up of illegal drugs and simply make it not worth
the consequences for those that would infect our society. We have made
a lot of progress in the last three years and hope for even more.
Senator hatch, we deeply appreciate and feel your support and
commitment in the drug war. We appreciate your leadership and thank you
for this opportunity to talk about our area.
Chairman Hatch. Well, thank you. That was very interesting.
It gives people a first hand look at some of the things you're
doing.
A lot of people don't realize that Utah is a
methamphetamine State. And if you look west of the Mississippi
you see an awful lot of methamphetamine shutdowns and very few
east of the Mississippi. And even in the new areas, in the far
eastern part of the country, but it's moving rapidly there.
Three years ago we were the third largest methamphetamine
lab shutdown state, which was shocking to me. Now we make
better records, we may have better law enforcement, and that's
one reason why we were so high. Still it's shocking to find
that they're having that kind of influence in Utah.
And, as Mr. Mendrala said, you know, before they didn't
stay, but now a good 50 percent of these drugs stay here.
Well, let me just say this: The administration has decided
that they have seen that drug use since 1997 has decreased by
13 percent and appears to be leveling off for the first time
since it began to increase in 1992; however, it should be
pointed out that use among young age groups is remarkably
higher now than in 1992.
For me the problem is, and I hope that you will all agree,
that even if teen use is leveling off, it is leveling off at an
unacceptably high rate. For example, a study of drug use among
eighth graders since 1992 has increased by 129 percent for
marijuana, by 80 percent for cocaine use, and by 100 percent
for crack and heroin; the use of crack and heroin. This is
among our teenagers.
Initially the perception was that youth drug use was
described only in our urban areas and that, of course, has
proven to have been mistaken, too. According to a recent report
funded by the DEA, illegal drug use among teens is noticeably
higher in rural America than in urban and suburban areas.
Now, that's astounding to me. The report found that eighth
graders living in rural areas compared to eighth graders living
in urban areas, are 104 percent more likely to use
amphetamines, including methamphetamine, 50 percent more likely
to use cocaine, 30 percent more likely to smoke marijuana, and
83 percent more likely to use crack cocaine.
Now, this is particularly troubling to me representing a
State that is considered a rural state.
Now, let me ask you again, Mr. Warner, what do you think
accounts for this drastic increase and what really, in addition
to what you have already said, are the strategies for bringing
this down?
Mr. Warner. To be very candid with you, Senator----
Chairman Hatch. You see, I'm really wondering what we can
do to protect our teenagers.
Mr. Warner. I think there's a couple things that need to be
recognized. One's been alluded to here already, but I want to
emphasize that one point. And this isn't a law enforcement
problem, per se, this is a problem for all of us. And law
enforcement isn't going to solve this problem alone. As good as
the efforts are, and they have been wonderful in this State, in
my opinion, and the cooperation between State, local, and
several law enforcement officials and prosecutors has been
outstanding in Utah and has been a model for the rest of the
Nation. But, unfortunately, it is a problem that we can't
prosecute out of existence.
And so education and public awareness is a huge factor, in
my opinion. We need to join forces with a variety of groups,
church groups, schools, PTA, you name it, to help educate our
youth, help them understand such things as we refer to
marijuana as the gateway drug. I think our youth need to
understand that. I think they need to understand that the
dangerous effects of Ecstasy, as an example, that it's not a
safe drug. There is no such thing as a safe drug, as one leads
to another. And I think through that kind of a joint effort
we're going to be making headway.
But, unfortunately, from the law enforcement perspective I
don't see us being able to turn the corner alone, because by
the time we see these people and by thetime we see the cases,
the damage is done.
Chairman Hatch. Anybody else care to comment? I'll agree
with that.
Let me ask you a question specifically while we're with
you, Paul, I know that you made a high priority of prosecuting
criminals who illegally enter into our country after having
been deported with a criminal record. Your office has handled
hundreds of these so-called aggravated re-entry cases. Your
efforts are very important to the Utah crime reports because
the population of illegal aliens with criminal records is
responsible for the significant percentage of the crime rate
along the Wasatch Front.
But I would like to know the link, if there is one, between
these criminals who are re-entering the country and the
emerging drug threat that we're talking about today, and I
don't want to limit it to the Wasatch Front, I want to consider
the rural areas as well.
Mr. Warner. Well, there's no question there's a link,
Senator, between criminal aliens and our drug problem. They are
part of the distribution network, if you will. Much of the
methamphetamine that I refer to the so-called Mexican meth is
being brought to the United States and subsequently to Utah by
these criminal aliens. They are part of the distribution
network as well. So they're being used to bring it up from
Mexico and they're being used to distribute it within Utah.
We just indicted two major drug trafficking organizations
last week involving over 25 individuals that were indicted. The
majority of those individuals were criminal aliens that were
involved in Salt Lake City and Ogden in the trafficking of
methamphetamine and other drugs.
This is a huge problem for us in Utah. The link is clear.
Unfortunately, INS has brought in quick response teams for St.
George, Provo and Ogden that will enable us to get out beyond
just the Wasatch Front, if you will, in terms of our
enforcement efforts on criminal aliens throughout the State.
Chairman Hatch. Don, let me ask you this question: Utah has
one of the largest per capita numbers of methamphetamine labs
in the country. Now, that's an alarming statistic, but even
worse there seems to be a large amount of methamphetamine being
imported into the State of Utah from outside the State and the
country, and Paul has alluded to that.
What percentage of Utah's meth problem has come out of the
State and what are its major sources? And keep in mind any of
the other ones that care to comment.
Mr. Mendrala. The major source for us is Mexico, Mexican
traffickers. It's interesting.
Chairman Hatch. Put that microphone a little closer.
Mr. Mendrala. With the Mexican meth that comes up here, one
pipeline stop, for instance, could count for 20 pounds, maybe
more. We've had as high as 30, 40 pounds. That single seizure
will account for more methamphetamine than all the 266 labs
that were shut down.
Chairman Hatch. What are you referring to, the worth value
on the street?
Mr. Mendrala. Right now at least $10,000 per pound, if it's
sold at wholesale.
Chairman Hatch. If you sell it at retail----
Mr. Mendrala. Retail is in the millions.
Chairman Hatch. In the millions?
Mr. Mendrala. The percentage that we're seeing now Mexican
meth versus the domestic meth is at least 50 percent of the
seizures we're making, again because it's somewhat skewed, the
Mexican traffickers are able to bring in so much more meth than
these domestic labs are capable of producing. So although our
resources a lot of times are devoted to the clandestine labs,
which is a real local and community issue, for several reasons,
toxic waste, and so forth, the real bulk of the drug is coming
from Mexico.
Chairman Hatch. Well, methamphetamine lab and seizures
continue to rise dramatically here across the west as a whole.
Increasing amounts of the drugs coming to the United States
from Mexico, as you mentioned, and what was once a problem
largely confined to the southwestern part of the country, is
now rolling across the whole country and right into the east
coast.
Mr. Mendrala. Absolutely.
Chairman Hatch. In Utah alone DEA lab seizures have risen
from 29 in 1995 to over 200 last year, and that number does not
even account for seizures at State and local offices. Now, this
is occurring despite the fact that I and many other legislators
at all levels of government have worked hard to draft laws to
provide additional tools specifically directed to the
methamphetamine problem. I'd like to know have these tools
proved beneficial to you, if not, how can we to do a better job
to get more tools to solve these problems? And I would like all
four of you to respond to that question, if you would.
Mr. Mendrala. They've been very helpful, especially in
regard to the precursor chemicals. It's a simple formula, if
you don't have the chemicals, you can't make the meth. So if
we're able to shut down the supply of chemicals, limit the
supply of chemicals that people can have lawfully, the
methamphetamine problem is diminished.
Chairman Hatch. I know that the DEA has been working very
hard to stop these clandestine chemical manufacturers that are
making with organized crime, for instance. Do you have anything
to comment, Mr. Warner?
Mr. Warner. Just to echo on what Don said, I think it's
important to keep in mind that meth is different from other
drugs that we have dealt with in the past because it's
manufactured by the users often. Cocaine, heroin, it's not
manufactured by the people that are using. But people because
methamphetamine is a drug that is manufactured in these
clandestine labs that this attack on the precursor chemicals is
very, very important. And through your efforts, Senator, and
through the efforts of the Utah Legislature to limit the
amounts of availability on these precursors, labs--excuse me,
the precursor chemicals make a big difference. It's helped a
lot.
And I think that the other thing that's important is our
ability to punish adequately the difference between those who
manufacture this chemical or this drug and those who simply use
it, again, because it is a manufactured drug.
And so I know that your meth bill that you provide a
special penalty for those who manufacture and I think that was
very important. Because I think there is a distinction in
culpability between those who would actually produce the drug
for others and those who are merely using. When I say merely,
I'm not justifying, but I'm saying by way of comparison.
Chairman Hatch. Scott, any comments?
Mr. Burns. Just to echo what Paul was saying. As youmay
recall, Utah was embarrassingly one of the last States in the country
to control pseudoephedrine. We were the place. We were the Home Depot
for the meth consumption of the United States of America. And they went
up and down our freeways.
Here in Iron County we finally started arresting them and
attempted manufacturers of methamphetamine. That didn't go over
well with Paul Van Dam, then the attorney general, the then
U.S. attorney. But I would echo everything that they said and
that is you cut off the chemicals, if they don't have the
flour, they can't make the cake. I think we're doing a lot
better in those efforts.
Mr. Peck. I would agree, Senator Hatch. I think that some
of the recent Utah legislation on the precursor chemicals has
made a tremendous difference and helped us out a lot.
And you asked the question a little bit about the tools
that we've had available through the funding of HIDTA and the
Byrne grants, that's been a tremendous help for us. Especially
now in St. George, and I know for Cedar City as well, we're--we
kind of have to stand on our own two feet. We can't rely on the
bigger agencies from Salt Lake City or anywhere else. Las Vegas
is a couple hours away, but they're in a totally different
jurisdiction.
So we have to be prepared, basically, to handle our own
down here in the corner of the State. And those different
programs have just been a tremendous help for us down here.
Chairman Hatch. Well, thank you.
Scott, tell me, a lot of young people think that they can
just take methamphetamine and get right off of it if they want
to, enjoy it for a little, or with Ecstasy or these other club
drugs. What's your experience with that?
Mr. Burns. Well, in part I would defer that. I understand
that Bradley Davis is here. I want to commend him, he's a
person that I even prosecuted on a couple of occasions, and I
think he can better address that than I can.
But, Senator, the people that I have talked to tell me
literally that once addicted to this drug, and often times it
takes one time, one Saturday night, one friend saying try this,
one time, they will give up their children, they will leave
their wives and husbands, they will miss house payments, they
will not eat, they will miss car payments. They will give up
everything in their life for that next fix. And it is--again, I
think the studies bear out you talk about heroin, but my
experience has been in talking to those people have been
addicted to it, it is the most difficult drug to kick.
Chairman Hatch. In Iron County here have you prosecuted a
lot of meth cases here? Have you had a lot of problems in
methamphetamine here in this area?
Mr. Burns. You know, for rural Utah in comparison to the
Wasatch Front, they might giggle, for us it is a huge problem.
And tantamount to that we're finding that our burglaries and
robberies, and a lot of crime are directly related to
methamphetamine. You lose your job, you don't have money, you
steal. So it's a tremendous problem for us.
Chairman Hatch. Another pressing issue on this topic
concerns the clean-up of the methamphetamine labs. You've all
alluded to the fact how dangerous they are, with the record
number of lab seizures in the State the DEA and the State are
running out of resources to handle the clean-ups. In light of
this I was amazed to learn the Clinton administration rejected
our request in this year's budget for $21 million for lab
clean-up. And despite this rejection of funds, there has been
new money allocated to Utah for clean-up and recently I've been
informed that the money will be distributed soon.
But, nonetheless, we're going to end up with the same
predicament in the future unless the administration takes the
problem seriously.
Now, Mr. Mendrala, has the DEA been able to discuss this
issue with members of the administration or anyone else in the
administration? Does the DEA have a backup plan where the
administration fails again to fund any of those plans?
Mr. Mendrala. Senator, originally that money lasted a lot
longer than it did, but with the number of labs the money
literally dried up overnight.
We've been engaged in dialogue we're hoping for more money,
because when that money is gone, I don't know what we're going
to do.
Chairman Hatch. It's dangerous to clean up labs.
Mr. Mendrala. It's very dangerous.
Chairman Hatch. The guy yesterday said it's a sitting time
bomb, these labs can explode. They're environmentally very
toxic, poisonous. They can affect children. They degrade a
house or a rented house where it costs thousands and thousands
of dollars to renovate it after one of these things.
Anything else you care to say about that?
Mr. Mendrala. No. That pretty well sums it up. It's the
greatest law enforcement concern we have. If the money goes
away, we won't have any means.
Chairman Hatch. Mr. Warner and I worked on a case where a
really nice young person and from a very decent family got
convicted, went to Federal prison, promised he would get off of
it, was in prison long enough to get off of it, came back out,
and really good kids, decent, wonderful, supportive family, all
of a sudden went right back to it.
In this case the parents I know, since they have a child or
son, I didn't know what to do and I chatted with them. As we
got into this we found out that probably the best thing for
that person was--he was convicted again. He was sentenced to a
Federal rehabilitation facility. And the indication was--and
correct me if I'm wrong, Paul, but the indication was it would
take up to 3 years of intensive Federal rehabilitation and then
they would be able to do to get the person sitting right. The
desire will always be there.
You young people need to hear these things as you see one
time can cause them to be addicted to this drug.
Let me just ask you, Scott, and Mr. Peck, in rural areas
what is the extent that we are seeing methamphetamine use in
teens and young adults?
Mr. Peck. Senator, if I might answer that. Scott.
Mr. Burns. Go ahead.
Mr. Peck. Methamphetamine we see it run through the age
gamut what we see through the young adults and marijuana. We do
see a little bit of methamphetamine use by teenagers but more
marijuana, which is the gateway drug that we send down the meth
road, I would say. Most of our meth users are in their 20's and
30's. But it usually starts out when they're a teenager with
marijuana.
Chairman Hatch. Would you agree with that, Scott?
Mr. Burns. Yes.
Chairman Hatch. I appreciate you giving us this information
because it's time for your communities to realize how important
it is. Most people don't hear about it. Most people don't--you
know, you don't always put in the newspapers what's really
going on. It's shocking. And it's happening right here in Utah,
a State with good families and decent moral values, and a State
where you think this isn't a problem.
We haven't talked much about the problems where these kids
they're going to places and they're selling these club drugs.
They're putting our kids in danger. And young people are being
raped, not knowing who raped them, because they're out cold and
they have a form of amnesia, and after that they don't
remember. This is a matter of great concern.
I want to thank all of you for being here today and thanks
for taking this time.
Mr. Burns. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Peck. Thank you.
Chairman Hatch. Let me call our second panel in. I'll try
to get back to you.
I am pleased to introduce our second panel of witnesses.
This panel will discuss the scope and effects of the drug
problem currently facing our youth in Utah. And our first
witness is an old friend, Tibby Milne, who works with Utah
Crime Prevention to keep our kids off of drugs. We appreciate
your work and your willingness to share your thoughts with us
today.
Our second panel member is Sandy Harmon, who is the program
director for substance abuse treatment for the Southwest Center
in St. George. Ms. Harmon, we welcome your thoughts and we're
fortunate to have you here today as well.
Next we'll hear from Barbara Corry from Cedar City the PTA
regional director of Region 16. And we commend your efforts as
well in the community to keep our youth away from harmful drugs
and we look forward to your testimony.
Then we'll hear from two people who have had personal
experience with the dangers posed by illegal drugs.
Next we'll hear from Bradley Davis, who is a convicted
methamphetamine manufacturer and dealer who will tell us about
his experience, then Jana Houston will tell her story about the
devastation that methamphetamine caused to her and her family
when her husband became involved with meth.
I just want to say we appreciate the willingness of these
witnesses, these two witnesses in particular, to share their
personal stories here with us today. So I would like to welcome
each of you to the hearing. And we'll start with you, Ms.
Milne.
PANEL CONSISTING OF TIBBY MILNE, UTAH COUNCIL FOR CRIME
PREVENTION; SANDY HARMON, PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE
TREATMENT, SOUTHWEST CENTER, ST. GEORGE UT; BARBARA CORRY, PTA
REGIONAL DIRECTOR, REGION 16, CEDAR CITY UT; BRADLEY DAVIS,
CONVICTED METHAMPHETAMINE MANUFACTURER AND DEALER; AND JANA
HOUSTON, FAMILY DEVASTATED BY METHAMPHETAMINE
STATEMENT OF TIBBY MILNE
Ms. Milne. Before I begin my testimony today----
Chairman Hatch. You better pick that mic up.
Ms. Milne. Before I begin, and I first I have to figure how
to turn this on. OK.
Chairman Hatch. Use that one.
Ms. Milne. OK. Before I begin my testimony today, there are
a couple things I'd like to do and one is commend to you, Mr.
Chairman, Senator Hatch. I have worked with you for many, many
years and have watched as you have demonstrated unwavering
commitment to the children and youth from families in this
State and across the Nation. And I know that's why you're here
today, and I just want to commend you for that.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you very much.
Ms. Milne. Our focus is on prevention because these drugs
are waging a major war against our children and youth.
On March 16, I was called by Don Mendrala to go to the
dismantling of a methamphetamine lab that came about as a
result of a tip that had been received on our hotline. We
started a program with the Salt Lake Police Department so we
could get people to call in and report these labs, and we, in
turn, would report that information, and our goal was to reduce
the problem in our community. But nothing prepared me for what
I saw or what I experienced. There were two children in the
home and they were living in a very contaminated environment,
it was filthy.
And I want to read this because according to the court
documents, when the agents arrived, they found a boiling
reaction vessel and condenser column near a child's training
toilet. They found three guns, one loaded, and accessible to
the children, I believe that was at the foot of the beds, the
children's beds. They found a red phosphorous stained towel
that was sitting on a tray that was to go on the high chair.
And they found meth chemicals in the children's closet, and
also a bowl of moist meth was found on the coffee table.
Now, the day before this incident happened one of the
children had been run over by a vehicle out in the play area
out in front of the house. He had been left unattended and he
was 1 year of age. He suffered two broken arms and legs,
cracked ribs, plus severe head lacerations, and I understand
required over a hundred stitches.
In addition, the parents have refused to identify who the
person was who was driving that vehicle. DFS workers went in,
they removed the children from this home, but both of these
children tested positive for meth and marijuana.
And I followed the status of these children and have
learned that the one that was injured has recovered but is in
therapy, and that the 5-year-old is in a foster home, but still
unable to even identify his colors. He's very slow
developmentally.
And then I think we need to state here that 60 percent of
the meth labs have children involved, and they're generally
young children under the age of 10. That really helped me begin
to realize it's more than we see over here, it's children's
lives. And these kids are going to cost this State many, many
dollars in resources because of what happened.
And then we go into our young mothers who are child bearing
that are having these little babies and using meth. And the
concern I have is for the youth that are using methamphetamine.
They think of it as a diet drug. They think of it as an energy
booster, this is a way to stay up late and get more
accomplished and have a good time. They don't realize the
addiction that can occur and what this is going to mean to
them.
I am worried about the use of the club drugs. I have taught
two victims that have experienced this. These are girls that
would not have taken drugs in any other situation. They thought
what they were doing was safe and they were drinking drinks
that had the drugs put in them.
I just returned last night from a national DARE conference
in Nashville, TN. They are focusing on club drugs in a big way
because of the impact on our youth.
So what we're committed to doing as a council is really to
work together with parents, law enforcement, schools, and
communities and we're trying to get persistent consistent
messages out to our children and youth that we don't use drugs
and here is why. And we're also trying to get these out to our
parents. We work with the Partnership for Drug Free America.
We're trying very hard and our media has been very supportive
to print the ads, also put them on the electronic media to get
messages to children and their parents.
I brought a great poster for you. This is one of our youth
posters, but this is ``Body by Crystal Meth.'' We're trying to
get the message out to kids that this isn't how you get buff,
as the guys like to call it, and this isn't how young women can
lose weight.
The Partnership for Drug Free America just released their
PATS study in the spring of 1999 and they said that parents and
the youth are listening and that there appears to be an impact,
as was mentioned earlier, in reducing drugs. But they also
indicate in this study that despite the more active role that
many parents are overwhelmed by the scope of the drug problem.
They don't know what to do. They're losing their confidence and
their ability to safeguard children from drugs.
We know that kids are 50 percent less likely to use it if
parents give them the right messages about drug use. So we're
going into several areas, and I just want to share a couple of
them with you. A Let's Talk Utah campaign encouraging parents
and kids to talk together, our DARE officers are going to be in
the classrooms giving the lessons that need to be given to
young people. We're excited about that. Because in this
community we have seen a reduction in the use of drugs by those
who have had all three levels of DARE.
Now, I just want to close with something that I thought was
powerful. In Nashville we released a new study that's done on
DARE kids in Texas, and it showed some of the following by the
kids that are getting these messages. These students have a
more positive perception of police, greater sense of safety in
the community and at home, greater family involvement and
communication, increased mutual care and respect within the
family. They are more involved in school activities. They have
greater respect for authoritative figures. They are confident
of peer intervention with drug and alcohol abuse and they show
lower truancy rates.
We're embarking on getting DARE officers to teach parents
at the workplace, community centers, and churches, anyplace we
can. We believe that working together, just as you have
demonstrated, all of my life as I've been in crime prevention
that we can protect children, our most precious resource. We
welcome the opportunity.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Milne follows:]
Prepared Statement of Tibby Milne
Ladies and Gentleman of the Committee:
On March 16, 2000, I was called by Don Mandrela, Resident Agent in
Charge of DEA, to witness the dismantling of a Methamphetamine Lab
immediately following a raid on a suspected meth lab at an apartment
complex.
On February 3rd of this year, in a joint effort with the Salt Lake
City Police Department, we launched a new anti-meth educational
campaign titled ``What's Cooking in Your Neighborhood?'' Our goal was
to assist law enforcement with the possible locations of clandestine
labs by providing an anonymous tip line for individuals to call and
report suspicious meth drug activity in their neighborhoods. In
addition to this tip line, we provided information to the public about
what to look for in the way of materials and equipment, smells, etc.
Our first lab was about to be dismantled as a result of information
received on the tip line.
Nothing prepared me for what I witnessed. All of the usual lab
equipment and chemicals were there. However, there were also two
children in this home, and they were living in a contaminated and
filthy environment. According to court documents, when the agents
arrived they found a boiling reaction vessel and condenser column near
a child's training toilet. They found three guns, one of them loaded
and accessible to thechildren. A red phosphorus stained towel was found
in the eating tray for the high chair. Meth chemicals were found in the
children's closet, and a bowl of moist meth was found on the coffee
table.
The day before, the year old child had been run over by a vehicle.
He was apparently left unattended. He suffered two broken arms and
legs, cracked ribs, plus severe head lacerations requiring many
stitches. The parents refused to provide the name of the driver. DFS
workers who were on the scene at the time of the raid, removed the
second child from the home. Both children tested positive for
methamphetamine and marijuana.
I have followed the status of these two children since March 16th
and have learned that the little one that was injured has recovered,
but is still in therapy. The five-year old is in a foster home, but
having much difficulty in his development.
These children will more than likely need resources and support
from the state for many years to come. I have learned that 60 percent
of Meth labs are located where there are little children living. What
does all of this mean? We have only begun to realize the impact that
meth will have on the precious resources of this state for many years
to come let alone the damage to these innocent children.
We are seeing more and more youth becoming addicted to meth. In
Utah, as in other states with meth production, we know our youth are
choosing meth as a drug of choice, particularly our young women. They
think of it as a `diet' drug or energy booster. Many are taking it
innocently, only quickly to find themselves addicted. According to the
Utah Division of Substance Abuse, the highest users of meth are young
women in the 18-34 age group. These are also women of childbearing age
and the mothers of little children.
In addition, Utah is beginning to experience a rapid increased use
of ``club'' drugs (GHB, Ectasy, Rohypnol, and others) by our youth and
young adults. These drugs are often consumed at `raves' (all night
dance parties attended by teens) and dance clubs frequented by teens
and or young adults. They are sometimes diluted in a drink or ingested
in some other fashion. These drugs, because of their newness on the
scene, are dangerous due to the perception by our youth that they are
`safe' drugs. Many of our youth who would not normally take drugs, are
using the date drugs.
Parents are often unaware that their children are attending events
where these drugs are consumed. At the National D.A.R.E. Conference,
being held in Nashville this week, club drugs are being addressed as a
major concern facing our youth.
The Utah Council for Crime Prevention is seriously committed to
educating the community on the dangers of drugs facing our youth, and
are conducting several programs that will empower parents, law
enforcement, schools and community together in partnership to provide
consistent and persistent anti-drug messages to our youth. We are about
solutions. Through our partnership with the Partnership for Drug-Free
America, we are increasing our efforts to provide anti-drug messages on
radio, television, and in print media focusing on children, youth, and
their parents.
As we have already discussed, our ``What's Cooking in Your
Neighborhood?'' campaign focuses on providing a means for people to
report meth labs quickly and anonymously. Our goal is to reduce the
amount of meth that is available. We are providing educational posters
``Body by crystal meth'' and other electronic and printed materials to
educate our youth on the dangers of meth. We are joining with others to
educate parents about this Utah epidemic. The Utah PTA surveyed
attendees at their Annual Convention in May and found that the number
one item that parents identified was the need for more information on
drugs.
The Partnership for Drug Free America (PDFA) released their
Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) in the spring of 1999. The
study indicates that more parents, are talking with kids about drugs
more often, and appear to be having an impact.'' Many parents however
still struggle with what to say; one in three parents doubt they're
getting through.''
``Parents are, in no small measure, one of the reasons why
adolescent drug use is finally stabilizing and, in some measure is,
declining,'' said Richard D. Bonnette, the president and CEO of the
Partnership. ``With teenagers, many things go in one ear and out the
other. But what parents are saying about drugs appears to be
sticking.''
The study indicates that ``despite their more active role, many
parents are overwhelmed by the scope of the drug problem. This,
according to the research appears to be extracting a price on parents'
confidence in their own ability to safeguard children from drugs.''
We are designing an educational campaign entitled ``Let's Talk
Utah''--encouraging parental and child communication. These messages
will be displayed on billboards, posters in schools and areas parents
and youth congregate, and through PSA's that will receive playtime on
the electronic and print media.
Utah D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Officers will
continue to present quality substance abuse and anti-violence lessons
in Utah schools. In Cedar City, we saw a marked reduction in the use of
drugs by kids that had received D.A.R.E. lessons at the elementary,
Middle or Jr. High, and Sr. High School levels.
According to research conducted by Dr. Robert Landry of Research
Education Services in Texas, students who participated in the D.A.R.E.
Program provided some of the following core outcomes related to
D.A.R.E. students.
They have a more positive perception of police;
They have a greater sense of safety in community and at home;
There is greater family involvement and communication;
There is increased mutual care and respect within the family;
There is more involvement in school activities;
There is greater respect for authority figures;
They are confident of peer intervention in drug and alcohol use;
and
They show lower truancy rates.
In addition to their regular teaching assignment, we will call upon
D.A.R.E. officers to facilitate parenting classes at school, churches,
community centers, and the workplace. The new D.A.R.E. Parent
Curriculum emphasizes communication skills, shares updated information
on drugs and violence in today's world, teaches coping skills, and ways
to protect kids from violence. Our goal is to arm parents with
knowledge so they will be competent and confident in their
responsibility to help their kids to resist drugs.
The war on drugs can be fought and won if together we work to
protect our most precious resource, our children.
sources
Dr. Robert Landry, D.A.R.E. in Texas (Seminar presentation),
National D.A.R.E. Officers Convention, July 5, 2000.
Partnership for a Drug Free America, 1999 Partnership Attitude
Tracking Study, released 4-11-00.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you for that. We're happy to have
that testimony.
Ms. Harmon, we'll turn to your testimony next.
STATEMENT OF SANDY HARMON
Ms. Harmon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Hatch. Pull that a little closer.
Ms. Harmon. I would like to on behalf of the Southwest
Center, I'd like to welcome you to Southern Utah. We're
thrilled to have this opportunity to testify before your
committee today.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you.
Ms. Harmon. Fortunately as you heard earlier, Washington,
Iron, Beaver, Kane, and Garfield Counties have not been--had a
large impact yet by the GHB, Ecstasy, and club drugs; however,
we continue to deal with the methamphetamine problem.
Traditionally rural America has their drug of choice has been
alcohol; however, since 1991 the number of people who have
entered treatment because of alcohol abuse has steadily
declined, while methamphetamine use has steadily increased. And
this does not mean that we on the treatment side and prevention
side are finding fault with the law enforcement officials; we
believe that they're doing an excellent job. And we heard about
how many drug labs that they continue to shut down in our area.
However, we believe that we all need to work together with
prevention, education, treatment, and law enforcement to solve
this problem.
Our agency offers treatment and prevention services
throughout the five-county area. Prevention programs are
designed to increase protective factors, conditions which
decrease the likelihood of drug use, and decrease risk factor
conditions which increase the likelihood of drug use.
And we go into schools and educate the adolescents on what
will happen to them if they use drugs, but we also try to have
programs where that will increase their likelihood not to use,
including self esteem programs, what to do instead, how to say
no. And many of those programs do have good outcomes. The
people, the adolescents that are participating in those
programs, are less likely to use drugs.
But, unfortunately, many young Utah residents still decide
to use illicit drugs. A special concern is the trend for many
young women in our communities use methamphetamine as a diet
aid and produce energy as well as the high associated with use.
The Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring, ADAM study, showed that
Utah has the second and third highest number of positive urine
screens for methamphetamine in the Nation, and that includes
cities such as Las Vegas and San Diego.
I wanted to address one of the questions that you asked
earlier, and I know Officer Peck answered some of that. And I
have statistics that show that youth age under 18 who are being
admitted for treatment, 66 percent of the time they're being
admitted for marijuana use. But by the time they reach age 18
to 24 that's risen--methamphetamine--or excuse me, and
methamphetamine is only less than 1 percent underage 18. By the
time that they go to ages 18 to 24, they are using 24 percent
of the time methamphetamine is their drug of choice.
Women in our area have consistently since 1992 received
more and more admissions. Traditionally men have been more
likely to be admitted for substance abuse; however, that is
changing with methamphetamine, and now females are more likely
to be admitted for treatment for methamphetamine use than males
are.
I know that time is short. I just want to let you know that
treatment does work and we need to work in partnership with law
enforcement. Drug courts around the country are proving that
treatment coupled with law enforcement does work.
Addiction is a treatable disease, it's not a moral failing.
We know that you will be willing to support, continue to
support, those programs that allocate modified drug courts with
respect to treatment and subsidize, because usually by the time
someone is ready to go to treatment, they have exhausted all of
their resources and they don't have money to pay for treatment
and get treatment. If we don't charge something for treatment,
we're not going to be around to be able to give treatment.
There is some way that has to be funded.
And I appreciate again your time, and if you have any
questions I would glad to answer them later.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you very much. We appreciate your
testimony.
Ms. Corry, we'll hear from you.
STATEMENT OF BARBARA CORRY
Ms. Corry. First I would just like to thank Scott Burns
because I was coming down the canyon on the day when they had
the signs on the drug dogs and the signs about the drug dogs. I
didn't see those, but I did see a drug stop, and I really
wondered what it was. I'm glad that he--that my interest has
been peaked now.
But I would like to commend you, Senator Hatch, for
providing a forum for pertinent information regarding emerging
drug threats to our youth.
As I did research into GHB, Ecstasy and other rave club
drugs, I'm appalled by the availability of these drugs and the
lack of understanding by most parents of their paraphernalia
and possible fatal consequences.
Once teens try these drugs, they turn to them as their main
way of coping with stress and problems. These are feel good
drugs. They enhance all of the senses. Our young people can't
imagine that these drugs are bad when they make them feel so
good. At the rave clubs the pushers are selling these drugs as
similar to a caffeine pill that will just give them energy. But
what the pushers aren't saying that these drugs raise body
temperature, cause dehydration, grinding of teeth, seizures and
possibly death. These gateway drugs limit a young person's
ability to resist other drugs that are equally available at the
parties.
Parents need to know that some of the paraphernalia for
these drugs are beaded necklaces, lip gloss containers, baby
pacifiers, and dust masks.
NIDA associate director, Timothy P. Condon stated that,
``Accurate, credible information is the most powerful weapon we
have to combat the increasing use of these dangerous drugs.''
PTA's part as an advocate for children and youth is that
this dialogue will allow parents to check into where and with
whom our youth are spending their time. These insidious drugs
are very prevalent in our State and Nation. Parents must work
together in various ways to prevent the use of these drugs.
PTA encourages parents to tell your youth not to ingest
anything that is given to them by someone they don't know. Take
time to listen to your teens. Talk to your teens about learning
positive ways to handle peer pressure. Show your teens you care
about them. Set a good example. Be alert to signs of trouble.
Know your teen's friends.
PTA, Utah PTA, will step up efforts to inform parents and
act as a conduit between professionals and parents for
awareness and active prevention measures for their youth.
Thank you, Senator Hatch, for the efforts that you are
making to counteract both the availability and the ignorance
about these very destructive drugs.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Corry follows:]
Prepared Statement of Barbara Corry
I would first like to commend Senator Hatch for providing a forum
for pertinent information regarding these emerging drug threats to our
youth.
As I did research into GHB, Ecstasy and other Rave Club drugs, I
was appalled at the availability of these drugs and the lack of
understanding by most parents of their paraphernalia and possible fatal
consequences.
Once teens try these `gateway' drugs, they may continue their drug
use and turn to them as their main way of coping with stress and
problems. These drugs are a ``feel good'' drug. They enhance all of the
senses. So our young people can't imagine that these drugs are `bad'
when they make them feel so good. At the Rave Clubs, the pushers are
selling these drugs as similar to a caffeine pill--that will just give
them energy--what the pushers aren't saying is that these drugs raise
body temperature, cause dehydration, grinding of teeth, seizures and
possibly death. These `gateway' drugs limit a young person's ability to
resist other drugs that are equally plentiful at the clubs or home
parties.
Parents need to know that some of the paraphernalia for these drugs
are beaded necklaces, lip gloss containers, baby pacifiers, and dust
masks.
NIDA's Associate Director, Timothy P. Condon states that
``Accurate, credible information is the most powerful weapon we have to
combat the increasing use of these dangerous drugs.''
PTAs part as a advocate for children and youth is that this open
dialogue will allow parents to check into where and with who their
youth are spending their time. These insidious drugs are very prevalent
in our state and nation.
Parents must work together in various ways to prevent the use of
these drugs. PTA encourages parents to:
Tell your youth not to ingest anything that is given to
them by someone they don't know
Take time to listen to your teens
Talk to your teens about learning positive ways to handle
peer pressure
Show your teens you care about them
Set a good example
Be alert to signs of trouble
Know your teen's friends
PTA will step up efforts to inform parents and to act as a conduit
between professionals and parents for awareness and active prevention
efforts for their youth.
Chairman Hatch. Well, thank you, Ms. Corry. That's
excellent testimony.
Ms. Houston, we'll turn to you.
STATEMENT OF JANA HOUSTON
Ms. Houston. Thank you. The St. George Police Department
asked me to share with you my story about how meth has affected
my life.
Last June I was picking up my husband's clothing and I
noticed his socks were stuffed into his shoes. I pulled the
socks out and inside the toe of his shoe I found a glass pipe,
a lighter, and container of white crystals. I was absolutely
shocked, and I wasn't quite sure what to do. I left the house,
got in my car, I had drove around for a couple of hours. I
cried, I was angry, and I was hurt. But even though I was so
shocked, it also felt like the pieces of the puzzle that had
finally come together, because even though I had just found
drugs that morning, I had been feeling affects of
methamphetamine for a long time.
Jeff owned his own business, an Internet company, so he
often worked at night, or he worked long hours. But recently he
had been spending 3 or 4 days straight at the office without
coming home, and when he would come home he would crash and
sleep for 2 days straight, and I wouldn't be able to wake him
up, and that scared me when he acted like that.
He hardly ate anymore and he lost 20 pounds. The worst of
it, though, was he just ignored me and he had never been like
that. He would lose his temper and become so angry at the
smallest things. For instance, one morning when he got up and
he stumbled over his shoes he left beside the bed, and he just
threw into a rage. He grabbed the lamp, threw it across the
room, and it broke. He was yelling and went into the bathroom
and tore apart the shower doors and destroyed them. I was
terrified and so was my daughter Megan he was just out of
control. And when his anger turned to me, I was very afraid
what he might do. Once he threatened to push me out of a second
story window. I was afraid, but I was also terribly worried
about him. I was afraid he was suffering from depression, but
he refused to go to a doctor. He had sores on his arms, on his
neck, and on his face that had been there for at least 8
months, never getting any better.
I found the drugs and I drove around for hours, and I still
didn't know what to do. I just went home and Jeff was waiting
for me there. He knew I had found them, and he wanted to talk
to me about it. At first he tried to just lightly dismiss it
like it was no big deal. He also told me that he was relieved
that I had found out his secret so he could quit lying to me
and I could help him get off of the drug. And so then the
nightmare of trying to get him to quit began.
During the next few months I helped him through withdrawal
4 times, and each time it was just awful. He made promises to
me and he convinced me that he would be a new man, and every
time he went back to meth. I wanted him to go to treatment and
get help, but he refused; he thought he could quit on his own.
He couldn't.
With his life being such a chaotic mess he hardly went to
work anymore and his business failed. I started a part-time job
just at the first of the summer because we couldn't seem to
make ends meet anymore. Later I found out he was spending
between a $1,000 and $2,000 a month to buy meth.
In October I realized that by my keeping his drug use a
secret that I was part of the problem and I needed help dealing
with it as well. So I told his family and my family and I told
my bishop. He was very angry at me for letting people know that
he was using drugs. I begged him to get treatment still, and
his family and our church helped to offer to pay for the
treatment, and still he refused, still thinking that he could
get over it on his own.
So I left him. I took my daughter and I went to my parents
and I told him I wanted a divorce. He convinced me he had
stopped again and asked me for another chance, so I went back
to him. This was in December. I'm sorry.
Chairman Hatch. That's OK.
Ms. Houston. Things were much better for a while, a couple
weeks. I found out he was using again on Christmas Eve. He had
been spending an awful lot of time in his garage. He told me he
was working on his truck, but it didn't feel right. And I went
out one day when he was gone. I crawled up into the attic in
the garage, and up there I found a meth lab.
I immediately packed my bags and took Megan and we went to
my parents house. I called my brother, who was a police
officer, he came over and I told him and my parents what I had
found. We called the Drug Task Force and two officers came over
to the house.
I knew that Jeff would hate me for having him arrested, and
I knew that it was probably the end of my marriage, but I loved
him and I wanted him to stop, and I knew that this was the only
way.
I described to the police what I had found and I gave them
permission to search the house. Officer Randall asked me if my
daughter or I had been sick lately, and I told her we had both
had severe headaches the last couple months. He told me it was
probably caused by the chemicals used in making meth.
Jeff was arrested that afternoon and the Drug Task Force
cleaned up the lab. I wasn't allowed to go back home until the
Health Department said it was OK. When I did go back home, I
found yellow police tape around my house and the quarantine
sign on the garage. The whole neighborhoodhad watched. It was
front page in the newspaper. I was embarrassed. And even though I had
done nothing wrong, I was ashamed.
The whole point in having Jeff arrested was to get him into
rehabilitation. He needed a wake-up call to realize that he was
destroying his life and he was losing everything that was
important to him because of meth. When he was using, meth was
the only thing that mattered to him. It consumed every minute
of the day, when he could take another hit, how long his supply
would last, when he could get some more, how would he pay for
it, what if I found out. It was all he cared about. He was out
of control. I was afraid he would die from it.
Like when you throw a rock into water, the ripples go far
and the rippling effects of meth are just as far-reaching.
Jeff once told me that it was his choice to use meth and
that it was his body and it only affected him, but he has hurt
so many people. First of all myself and our daughter Megan. I
think of the terrible way he treated us. I cry when I think
about what my little girl has gone through. When I married him
it was for eternity, and now our family is broken.
Megan and I had to move out of our home because we were
left with nothing. We had to sell most of our things, and now
we live with my parents. Megan has lost her daddy for a while
and she has also to deal with a mom who works full time now.
Besides the financial hardship, I've had to go--I'm going
through the pains of divorce and the very real struggles of
being a single mom. Jeff's parents, my parents, our brothers
and sisters, they're all heartbroken and hurt. My brother
worked for Jeff, he believed he had a future with the Internet
company, he bought a house, his wife had just had a baby, and
then suddenly he had no job. The men who invested a great deal
of money into the business they lost everything. My neighbors
felt very hurt and betrayed and scared that their very lives
were in danger by the meth lab.
When I bump into friends they often ask me how could
someone as smart as Jeff could do something so stupid. I don't
know the answer to that. He seemed to have everything, his
family, a successful business, and good friends, and meth took
all of that away from him.
Jeff spent 132 days in jail. He entered a treatment program
in Salt Lake City last Friday. When he has completed the
program he still has to face sentencing and probably more jail
time. I hope that he can recover from meth. I love Jeff and I
want him to get better, but the odds are against him. As an
addict he will have to battle meth every day for the rest of
his life, and his family and the people who love him have to
deal with the consequences of being a victim of his meth use.
Chairman Hatch. I wish everybody in the country could have
heard your story because it's typical of so many people that
have had their lives ruined. And applaud you for being able to
pick up and go on.
Ms. Houston. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Houston follows:]
Prepared Statement Jana Houston
Last June, I was picking up my husband's clothes. His socks were
stuffed into his shoes. I pulled the socks out and found a lighter, a
glass pipe, and a container of white crystals. I was stunned. I left
the house, got in my car and just drove around for several hours. I
cried. I was angry. I was hurt. But as shocked as I was, it also was
like a puzzle that had finally fit together. Even though I had just
found the drugs that day, I had been feeling the effects of
methamphetamine for a long time. Jeff's behavior and his whole
personality had changed over the past few years.
Jeff owned his own business, an Internet company, so he often
worked at night. Putting in a 12-hour day was not unusual. But, he
began spending 3 or 4 days at the office with no sleep. Then he would
come home and crash and sleep for 2 days straight. It scared me when he
was like that. I couldn't wake him up. He said he just had so much to
do. He hardly ate anymore. He had lost 20 pounds. And he was just plain
mean sometimes. He had never been like that before.
He would get so angry over the smallest thing. For instance, one
morning when he got out of bed, he stumbled over his shoes that he had
left there, and he flew into a rage! Yelling, he grabbed the lamp on
the nightstand and flung it across the room, breaking it. Still making
an awful noise he went into the bathroom and completely destroyed the
shower doors. I was terrified and so was my daughter, Megan. He would
go crazy like this every week or two. I was scared of him. When his
anger was directed at me, I was afraid of what he would do. He seemed
so out of control. Once he threatened to throw me out the second-story
window. Besides being scared, I was terribly worried about him. I
thought he was suffering from depression, but he refused to see a
doctor. His mom finally convinced him to go to the doctor about the
sores he had all over his arms, neck and face. They had been there for
8 months, never getting any better.
After driving around for hours, I didn't know what else to do, so I
finally just went home. Jeff was waiting for me. He knew I had found
the drugs. He tried to explain it away--he was a master at
rationalizing. He said he was relieved that I finally knew his secret,
and he could quit lying to me, and I could help him get off of meth. He
convinced me that he wanted to quit, so then the nightmare of trying to
help him quit began.
Over the next few months, I helped him through withdrawal 4 times.
It was horrible. But he made promises and convinced me that he would be
a new man. And every time he went back to meth. I begged him to go to a
rehabilitation program, but he was sure he could kick it on his own. He
couldn't.
With his life being so chaotic, he hardly ever worked anymore. His
business failed. I had started a part time job at the first of summer
because we just couldn't seem to make ends meet anymore. I later found
out he was spending $1000 to $2000 a month on meth.
In October I realized that by my keeping his drug use a secret, I
was part of the problem. And I needed help dealing with it as well. So
I told my family, his family and my bishop. I wanted him to get help.
But he still refused treatment. So I took my daughter and left him--
telling him I wanted a divorce. Over the next month he convinced me he
had stopped, and he asked for one last chance.
I gave him another chance, and went back in December. Things were
much better--for a while. On Christmas Eve I found out he was using
again.
He had been spending most of his time in the garage--supposedly
working on his truck. But something wasn't right, and on December 28,
1999, I climbed up in the attic over the garage and found a meth lab.
I packed my bags, and Megan and I went to my parents. I called my
brother who is a police officer. I told him and my parents what I had
found. We called the drug task force and two officers came over. I knew
that Jeff would probably hate me for having him arrested, and it was
probably the end of my marriage, but I loved him and knew that this was
the only way to get him to stop.
I described to the police what I had found and gave them permission
to search the house. Officer Randall asked if my daughter or I had been
sick lately. I told her that both of us had been experiencing severe
headaches the past few months. She said the headaches were probably
caused from the chemicals. She advised us to see a doctor because the
chemicals used in making meth can cause serious health problems.
Jeff was arrested that afternoon and the Drug Task Force cleaned up
the lab. I wasn't able to go back to my house until the health
department said it was ok. When I went back home, I found yellow police
tape around my house and a quarantine notice on the garage. The whole
neighborhood had watched, and it was front page in the newspaper. I was
embarrassed. Even though I had done nothing wrong, I felt ashamed.
The whole point of having Jeff arrested was to get him into
rehabilitation. He needed a wake up call to realize that he was an
addict and he couldn't quit on his own. He had destroyed his life and
lost all that was important to him because of meth. While he was using,
the only thing that mattered to him was getting high. Meth consumed
every minute of his day--when he could take another hit, how long his
supply would last, when he could get some more, how he was going to pay
for it, what if I found out. He was out of control, and I was afraid he
would die from it.
Like a stone thrown into water, the rippling effects of meth are
far reaching. Jeff once told me it was his choice, his body and he
could do whatever he wanted to it. He believed it only affected
himself, but he has hurt so many people. First of all what he's done to
Megan and myself--I think of the horrible way he acted toward us. I cry
when I think of what my little girl has gone through. When I married
him, it was for eternity. Now because of meth our family is broken.
Megan and I moved out of our home, had to sell most of our things and
move in with my parents. Megan has lost her daddy for a while, and she
also has to adjust to having her mom work full time.
Besides the financial hardships, I am going through the pain of
divorce and the struggles of being a single mom. Jeff's parents and my
parents are heartbroken. His brothers and sisters as well as my
brothers and sisters feel hurt and betrayed. My brother worked for
Jeff. He believed he had a future with the company. He bought a house;
his wife had just had a baby. Then suddenly he had no job. The men who
had invested a great deal of money into Jeff's business lost it all.
Our neighbors felt betrayed to find out their very lives were in danger
living next to a meth lab. When I bump into friends they always ask me,
``How could someone as smart as Jeff do something so stupid?'' I don't
know the answer to that. He had everything: a wonderful family, a
successful business, good friends, and meth destroyed it all.
Jeff spent 132 days in jail. He entered a treatment program in Salt
Lake city last Friday. When he has completed the program, he still has
to face sentencing and possibly more jail time. I hope he can recover
from meth. I love Jeff and want him to get better, but the odds are
against him. As an addict, he will have to battle meth everyday for the
rest of his life.
Chairman Hatch. We're very grateful for your testimony.
We're going to turn to you, Bradley, and I think your
testimony is going to be like that. Can we get a mic over
there?
STATEMENT OF BRADLEY DAVIS
Mr. Davis. Hello, I'm Brad Davis. I would like to say it's
a privilege to be here. I would like to thank my family for
being here.
I'll tell you a little story how it came on me. I'm 43
years old now. I've spent 4 years in prison because of drugs. I
feel it all started with my friends who I was running around
with when I was younger, started with tobacco, alcohol in grade
school. By the time I got to eighth grade I was smoking
marijuana. By the time I reached high school I got into speed,
downers, PCP, cross tops. I did LSD by the time I was in high
school. I did all kind of hallucinogenics.
When I got out of high school I kept on partying. I did get
busted a few times. But seriously nothing ever happened,
really.
And then I started stealing anything I could to get drugs.
I was stealing pills from my mom and dad, stealing pills from
my grandpa. It was just a never ending thing to get the drugs,
any kind of drugs at the time.
And then I ended up getting married when I was 23 years
old. I was married for 11 years, had four wonderful children.
But the drugs were still in my life. I still smoked marijuana,
doing speed. I wasn't really into the methamphetamine that
much; I was using cross tops. Went into cocaine, marijuana a
lot, and alcohol.
And, like I say, I was married for 11 years. I ended up
getting divorced because of drugs and alcohol.
And then about 6 years ago, July 3, I lost my son in a car
accident; he got hit in an auto accident. I kind of blame
myself because I was on drugs at the time. I know it was an
accident, but I still blame myself for it because I know--I
don't know if I could have done anything wrong, but I know I
was on drugs.
At the time I was doing methamphetamine, then like the lady
said methamphetamine that's my whole--it was my whole life.
Then I met a Mexican, illegal Mexican, where what I was
doing was selling drugs, and he started bringing me in a pound
to 2 pounds of meth a week, 3 to 4 pounds a week. And it was an
ongoing thing. I was supplying all of Cedar mainly. Cedar, St.
George, all of Southern Utah. And I finally ended up getting
busted.
Like I say, I didn't really care about life that much
anymore. I started using more and more drugs. I was using about
an eight ball a day, which was probably $200, $250 a day habit.
I went to prison. Well, I got out--first I got busted here
in Cedar and I got out, did 30 days and got out. And them 30
days was some of the toughest days of my life because I was so
strung out on meth then and being in jail without it, it was
hard for me. I was 3 or 4 days I didn't even get out of bed,
you know.
And then I got out and got right back with my friends, old
friends again, old playmates and playground, and I was out 2
weeks out of jail and I got busted in St. George for
methamphetamine again, half a pound of weed, marijuana. I did
another 30, 40 days of jail down there and I finally got bailed
out. Got right back out, got right back into with old friends
again, and stuff ended up getting worse.
Three months later after the first time I got busted, I got
busted again up in Vernal for methamphetamine and stuff again,
another ounce of methamphetamine.
To make a long story short, I ended up getting convicted. I
did 2 years in prison then for possession with intent, cocaine,
marijuana and heroin--I mean, not heroin, but methamphetamine.
And I got out, was doing pretty good at the time, but I thought
I could use it again. I thought I could do a little bit again.
I got with some old friends again. That first time I was right
back into it again. I was hooked again. It didn't--it didn't
take no time at all.
I couldn't really afford it at the time and I didn't have
that much money, I was working--you know, money was tough. I
run into a friend showed me how to make it. It was a lot easier
for me to make it and do it, and then, you know, some of the
friends I made it for and they ended up wanting it, and I got
right back in. I was full board again.
And I had only been out of prison for about a year is all,
and I ended up getting busted again for manufacturing. And now
I'm doing 2 years. I'll go back to the board of pardons in
November. I'll have 2 years then.
Chairman Hatch. You've been through this. What advice would
you give to our young people who are tempted to use
methamphetamine? What would you tell our young people?
Mr. Davis. It's not on the right road. To me I think a lot
to do with the friends, your acquaintances. I mean, I take
responsibility for what I have done. I've hurt a lot of people.
I've hurt--like she said, a ripple, you know. It hasn't hurt
me, it's hurt my family. It's hurt my kids. It's hurt people I
have sold to down the line.
I really think it's the family. I mean, family and friends,
if you can keep them away from them, if you're going to do it.
That's up to you. I really believe it's friends.
Chairman Hatch. And you're in jail for another 2 years?
Mr. Davis. I get out--well, I go to the board in November.
This November.
Chairman Hatch. Are you getting any rehabilitation while
you're in prison?
Mr. Davis. That's another thing I would like to talk about.
Where I'm at now, I'm in St. George Purgatory Facility. They
really have no correctional facility for substance abuse. I've
taken life skills three times now. That's the only class I've
got that they've got there.
What I would like to see is since I've been in prison and
in and out now, I would like to see like a jail for nothing but
drug offenders where we can get help. There was one substance
abuse class in St. George that lasted a couple months and the
lady quit. She's a voluntary lady, she was really good, but she
quit. And there hasn't been no substance abuse nothing in there
for now. I think there should be like some kind of a jail where
they have--down there right now it's sex offenders and they
have therapy, and anything like that, but they have nothing for
drug offenders.
You know, I'm going to get out some time and I would like
to have some kind of a trade, you know. I do heavy equipment,
but I would like to have maybe some fall back on electrician,
plumbing, anything, because when I get out, you know, times get
tough, I hate to say it but who knows as time gets tough, I
need money, I don't want to fall back and have to make drugs
and do drugs again. I know I can make money there. It's a bad
thing. That's why I would like to see maybe a trade or get some
kind of other trade, or something, while I'm in prison. I think
there should be something to look at there, you know.
Chairman Hatch. Well, you told the story, it's a pretty sad
story, abusing story. And you got my money working on what we
can do to help. There's got to be some way to help people who
really want to get out of this thing.
I would like to say, in addition, welcome to Alan Gardner,
Washington County Commissioner, and H.C. Deutschlander, Mayor
of Brian Head. We're happy to have them here as well.
Let me just ask a couple of questions. Excuse me, I can't
tell you how much we appreciate your testimony here today, your
willingness to share the stories of your family's tragedy. And
you've been one of the most articulate witnesses I've had.
Ms. Houston. Thank you.
Chairman Hatch. And I've seen thousands of thousands of
witnesses in my years in the Senate. I applaud your courage and
welcome your courage to recognize the signs of drug use and
addiction.
In your opinion, what are some of these telltale signs that
family members should be on the lookout for ?
Ms. Houston. Well, in retrospect I feel a little stupid for
not recognizing them sooner. But I really wasn't aware that
those were the signs of meth. First of all, the way he would go
through days without sleep, I think that that's some--a very
common symptom, and it's one that is easily noticeable. He
really would stay awake 3 or 4 days, and then he would have to
sleep for a long time.
Second is the sores. Often people who do meth will pick at
their skin because they think there's imaginary bugs there.
It's just one of the symptoms. And like I told you, he had
sores up his arms and they spread to his face and neck. And
they never went away. And even now he has scars left because
they were such bad sores.
I think that those are two symptoms that people could look
at and really question if there was drug use going on.
Chairman Hatch. Ms. Harmon, is there any way you can tell
whether a person is on drugs by looking in their eyes?
Ms. Harmon. Well, pupils are dilated on some drugs and some
drugs constrict the eye. So I don't think it's a really good--
--
Chairman Hatch. Not a sure way?
Ms. Harmon. No.
Mr. Davis. I would like to say----
Chairman Hatch. Go ahead.
Mr. Davis [continuing]. Something. A lot of people don't
eat on drugs. The nervousness, you can't sit still that long,
you got to be doing something.
Chairman Hatch. Mr. Davis, what point in your life did you
know that drugs had taken effect and what, if anything, do you
think could have been done, or what, if anything, could have
been done to break this down on meth?
Mr. Davis. I was addicted right off the first thing. And
drug addicts, such as myself, we won't go get help. I wouldn't.
I had to be forced to get into substance abuse some help.
You know, I could tell myself and stuff. When I was on
probation at first, I was really hoping they make me go through
counseling, some kind of a treatment program, because I
wouldn't--I wouldn't ever commit myself.
Chairman Hatch. Well, methamphetamine has many social
causes in addition to the cause of users and bringing dealers
to justice. It ruins lives, it ruins families, property, as we
just heard from today's witnesses.
Let me just ask you this, you four women and leaders, from
what you have seen if you could describe more of the
devastation that comes from this particular drug. Ms. Milne.
Ms. Milne. We have lived with our family we adopted a young
man and he has chosen the route of drugs, and it's probably
been the reason that I have tried so hard in prevention. I
believe we've got to get to these young people at an early age
with persistent, consistent messages on antidrug use, because
what happens is that these youth, as Mr. Davis alluded to, it
may be one, it may be several times that they have to use, but
you don't know who is the addict.
This young man came from a family where both mom and dad
were addicts. We thought we could change all of that just by
cleaning up and loving him, and you can't. You can't take away
some of those things. And it leaves its scars forever.
When you look at these children that are harmed, when they
are put in foster care and protected, can they function in
school? Not generally. Can they function in their social
skills? Not generally.
So we've got to look at keeping it from happening, in my
opinion, if we're really truly going to make a difference.
Chairman Hatch. Ms. Corry, do you have any comments on
that?
Ms. Corry. Just one second. My husband and I were
discussing drugs the other day, and we have a nephew who's a
fetal alcohol syndrome child, and I also have a nephew who's a
Downs child, and we were contrasting the care that this Downs
individual is getting in the schools and in the community, how
well he's accepted and how people go out oftheir way to make
him respectable and feel like a useful member of the community, and yet
this fetal alcohol person youth is shunned and has been in trouble with
the law and the courts because there's no system where he needs to be
in a home. He needs to be in a situation where he's under control all
the time.
And, you know, we have taken drugs and criminalized them
and not worked to help the individuals, because, you know,
drugs a lot of times they take over. I mean, they do. They take
over who you are, and you are no longer that individual. You
have no control. And to me it is very heart breaking to see
that people that get on drugs and cannot get off do not have
any support, support against society, to get them off and keep
them under control to where they are in control of their lives.
Chairman Hatch. Thank you.
Ms. Harmon.
Ms. Harmon. I think she's right. There's definitely the
social stigma that goes with some youth. Ms. Houston alluded to
that even though she wasn't a substance abuser, she felt
ashamed and her neighbors shunned her.
I think that we as a society need to address that and
accept that when people begin using drugs they have a choice,
but when that--eventually some place in that progression they
lose their free choice and it becomes an obsession. I've even
heard people that I have treated describe it as a possession,
they no longer have free will. They are possessed by their
obsession to get drugs and they'll do anything to do that.
Chairman Hatch. Mr. Davis has certainly indicated that's
the case. Ms. Houston, where is your husband now? Is he----
Ms. Houston. He's in the treatment center in Salt Lake.
Chairman Hatch. Is he in jail?
Ms. Houston. No, he was released from jail to go to
treatment.
Chairman Hatch. So he's voluntarily trying to at a house?
Ms. Houston. Yes, sir. He wants to quit now.
Chairman Hatch. I see. Do you stay in contact with him now?
Ms. Houston. I do. He calls me once a week or writes
letters.
Chairman Hatch. I take it that he is a graduate from
college?
Ms. Houston. Yes, he is.
Chairman Hatch. And he's skilled in computers?
Ms. Houston. Yes, he is.
Chairman Hatch. And Internet type work?
Ms. Houston. (Nods head.)
Chairman Hatch. He really has the world on the tail with
this addiction.
Ms. Houston. He certainly does. And that is a part of the
tragedy of his story and that he could have so much, and he did
have so much before he became a meth addict.
Chairman Hatch. There are some people, Mr. Davis, that
think that we ought to shoot the manufacturers of drugs
influencing our children. Would that help solve the problem?
Mr. Davis. Say that again.
Chairman Hatch. If you were threatened to be shot or
executed, do you think that would help stop the drugs?
Mr. Davis. In a way.
Chairman Hatch. You can see that question causes a lot of
problems. I just wanted to hear your reaction.
Let's say that there was a capital penalty, let's say there
was a capital penalty for manufacturers of drugs, would that
play a role and would that help you give up the----
Mr. Davis. Well, yeah, maybe. If the money and the demand
is there, it's something--somebody is going to be available and
supplying it. As far as the chemicals you were talking about
earlier, getting rid of some of the chemicals, it seems like
they try to get rid of like some of the pseudoephedrine, and
stuff. They tried to get rid of the iodine crystals, and stuff
like that. Cultured iodine, they make their own iodine
crystals. Now they're trying to do it. Now it's lithium. It
seems like somebody is going to find a way to do it if the
money is still there.
Chairman Hatch. I see. Just a question I wanted to ask you
because some people I really feel that it's just a scourge to
our society.
Mr. Davis. It really is.
Chairman Hatch. It would be an element on those people. I'm
not sure, but I wanted to ask the question.
Ms. Harmon. Senator.
Chairman Hatch. Yes.
Ms. Harmon. Also when you are using drugs your thinking is
diluted so you're not thinking rationally. You believe that
your 10 feet tall and bullet proof. And even though you're
doing something illegal, you're not likely to get caught.
Chairman Hatch. You don't suffer the consequences.
Ms. Harmon. And you believe you're not going to get caught;
somebody else will get caught.
Chairman Hatch. The arguments of why we might do anything
about the--you know, the people who are already hooked, but it
might wake up everybody who is thinking of getting into it. And
I just--I would look at everything to find an answer, or some
answer.
There's no question we need to do more in prevention.
That's something I'm getting from these hearings and that's why
we're holding hearings.
I just have to say, you know, the treatment on juvenile
justice bill that we worked so hard on in the Senate, there was
really nothing in there about guns. It was mainly--it was one
of the few times when both parties had more convention money
than they had law enforcement money, so there was plenty for
both, and they succeeded in making it a gun bill and making it
a politicized bill. I can't even bring up a conference because
all it would lead to is a bunch of political talk and screaming
and shouting for political purposes.
But if we could pass that juvenile justice bill we would go
a long way of solving these problems, providing the money that
is essential for these areas. And I'm really almost bitter that
this has become a gun bill rather--hardly anything about guns.
It's all juvenile justice prevention and law enforcement.
There's a lot of information in here that deals with it and how
to avoid this type of things.
And I don't think we'll get anything through this Congress.
But I'm hopeful the start of the next session I'm hopeful
people on both sides who won't politicize and get something
done that will be in the best interest of our children and
people like all of you who spend more of your time to help your
society get by.
Well, I am very thankful of the people who spoke here
today, it's been very meaningful for me, and I'm glad that
we've had all of you here.
You have a question back there.
Participant. I would just like to share my testimony, if I
could, for just a minute.
Chairman Hatch. Why don't you come up and do so.
Participant. I wish not to disclose my name.
Chairman Hatch. You can pick up a microphone.
Participant. I wish not to disclose my name to the area
that I live in, or the people that this circumstance happened
under that I would like to take you on a journey for our
daughter that was gang raped. She believed she had been raped
by four people. She went to four houses and couldn't get help.
The person at the fourth house called, insisted that she be
called. They took her in.
My concern is the recovery efforts of these young women
when they have been raped. I think it's very, very important
that when somebody undergoes such tragedies that there is
policies in place and laws that they might get the assistance
that they need. The American Medical Association states very
clearly to the doctors one person comes under those
circumstances that a person for administrative functions it
costs that person in their lifetime three times more than it
does to support a man or a woman in prison for the rest of
their life. Administrative fees include the procedures they go
through, mental health counseling.
I want to share what's happened to our family who did not
receive the assistance that should have been there, because I
believe rape isn't something to be ashamed of, and I think our
society in Utah especially we have a very big concern. I was
willing to talk on campus to groups because I was in a
communication class, I sense my daughter went through the
trauma and the tragedies that we have for women I took to the
health center. None of these were required.
The statistics and the facts are not there. What's
happening in our community is inaccurate, and it is not being
properly accounted for.
We are $7,000 in the hole. The promises made to my family
that if they were willing to sign papers the State would help
cover medical expenses, that didn't happen. We didn't get help.
We lost three scholarships, lost our insurance, coverage for my
daughter. She's not a full-time student. She can't go to--she
can't have insurance coverage. She couldn't even function. She
had freeze fright so bad. She couldn't function. She slept--did
not sleep for near 8 months. It caused discord in our family
and pain we will never understand.
It can be proven medically what happened to her. She--and
nothing was ever mentioned that I heard drugs. Alcohol is one
of our bigger issues. We believe date rape drugs were used. She
was paralyzed. She had no voice, she had no speech. She
couldn't resist.
Eighteen years I taught and supported the young women, and
every year we have police officers and DARE officers come in
and tell our young how to prevent rape. They weren't even
talked to.
Where is our support? Four women on the campus that we did
get some assistance through the health department couldn't go
to their parents because they would have been disowned,
freshmen in college. There's no statistical accounting for
that. All of the promises that Utah State gave and Federal aid
did not exist.
Our family has been near destroyed. And all we wanted was a
protocol, a procedure that was lawfully and respectfully put in
place that one might survive rape, because the devastation one
undergoes when you have to witness people standing taking turns
and you can't do anything about it and then you see your family
maybe lose their home because nobody cared and nobody helped. I
think it's appalling and we need the utmost care.
Who cares if they catch the bad guy at that point. First
thing should be medical priority. The drug she had been given
by her own doctor itself along with the medical--the alcohol
she had taken is a 100 percent provability that she had--that
convulsions and all the things that stated she had. Everything
she said to those people were true and factual and can be
proved.
My concern is who cares? I hope you do. And I hope we can
get some changes in place that our women are no longer accused
and shamed and blamed because rape's horrifying anyway. But to
be disowned, to have friends walk away from her, no longer want
to associate with the label with a rape victim is appalling to
me. Took near a year and a half for her to even get a job.
Chairman Hatch. Ma'am, I want to thank you for showing up,
and I'd like to urge you to contact my office here in Cedar
City and we'll follow-up with what's happened, what we can do
for your family.
Let me just finish today. I learned a lot here today, and I
hope everybody who came here learned as much as well.
Clearly, when we think about these things that could
adversely affect our young people's health as well as their
ability to learn and to make good choices, drug abuse and the
health and learning problems that go with it rank high on the
list.
Now, we've already seen the tragic ramifications of gang
activity, cocaine, crack, and other drugs. According to the
experts we have heard today, we can now add these so-called
club drugs to the growing list of threats to our kids.
I'm going to leave the record open for this hearing and for
those who want to make additional statements until July 21 for
any additional questions for the members of Judiciary
Committee, or for additional statements from Utah's elected
officials, educational, medical, or law enforcement. And I
would like to invite all of you to submit short statements as
well, in writing if you will. I hope to include a limited
number in the hearing record. Such statements may contribute a
constructive suggestion for action, a personal experience, or
additional facts concerning the perils facing Utah's youth.
I want to have a continual dialogue in these issues. I
think it's essential that we do that. This is not a problem
that can be solved overnight. And I'll do everything I can to
try and resolve some of these problems that have been brought
up here today.
So with that we'll recess until further notice. Thank you
all for coming.
[Whereupon, at 4:12 p.m., the committee adjourned.]