[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 13, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  METHAMPHETAMINE CONTROL ACT OF 1996

                                 ______


                             HON. VIC FAZIO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 12, 1996

  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce 
legislation which will be a powerful tool in the fight against 
methamphetamine production and usage in our country.
  The production and usage of methamphetamine, also known as meth, 
speed, crank, or ice, in the United States has grown alarmingly over 
the last several years. Meth has accounted for a dramatic escalation in 
the number of overdoses, emergency hospital admissions, drug shootings, 
and related violence in America's largest western cities and rural 
areas. Meth has unfortunately become the crack of the 1990's.
  Meth causes psychotic and violent reactions in its users because it 
interferes with the brain's production of the natural chemical dopamine 
which plays an important role in governing movement, thought, and 
emotion. Users can go on binges which last as long as 24 hours and 
result in permanent psychological and physical injury. While most users 
are young males, meth has inevitably affected the very young. In fact, 
a generation of meth-addicted crank babies requiring constant care is 
rapidly filling our Nation's hospitals. These babies appear comatose, 
often sleeping 24 hours a day. Caretakers are forced to wake them in 
order to feed them, forcing their mouths open to accept nourishment.
  Meth-related deaths increased nationally by 145 percent between 1992 
and 1994. In California, which has been identified by the Drug 
Enforcement Administration as a source country of methamphetamine, more 
than 400 deaths and suicides have been blamed on meth use. Other States 
have reported similar record numbers.
  Meth production also poses severe environmental problems. It 
literally poisons the communities where it is produced. For every pound 
of meth that is produced, seven gallons of waste are also produced. A 
record 465 meth labs were seized in California in 1995, each a toxic 
waste site requiring immediate and expensive cleanup by hazardous 
materials teams. In rural areas, this waste is dumped into waterways 
and on to fertile farming soil. In 5 to 10 years, this poisonous sludge 
is found in the ground water of nearby communities. In urban areas, 
abandoned meth labs in apartment buildings make these units and 
buildings virtually uninhabitable.
  This bill is a straightforward solution to the problems created by 
meth production and usage. First, the bill establishes new controls 
over the key chemicals necessary to manufacture meth by forcing 
chemical supply houses to control more strictly the sale of the legal 
substances which are the precursor chemicals of methamphetamine. 
Second, the bill increases the criminal sentences for possession and 
distribution of these chemicals or of the specialized equipment used to 
make meth. Civil penalties collected will be used by the Environmental 
Protection Agency to clean up clandestine meth labs seized by law 
enforcement.
  The problems posed by meth are real. This highly addictive drug is 
cheap, readily available, and easy to manufacture. By more closely 
regulating the raw materials used to manufacture methamphetamine and by 
strengthening the criminal penalties for possession of key chemicals 
and meth paraphernalia, this bill will be an excellent tool in the war 
against the crank cartels.

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