[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 27, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3034-S3035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE CIRCLE OF HURT

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, we have heard a great deal on this floor 
about the problem of drugs in this country. Senator Hatch, Senator 
Feinstein, Senator Moynihan, and others, have spoken eloquently about 
the personal and societal costs that we bear because of illegal drug 
use. Add in the abuse of legal drugs in this country and the costs are 
staggering.
  The record of the harm done is clear. The facts accumulate in 
depressing measure, detailing the damage done to individuals, to 
families, to communities, and to our civic life. Drugs destroy a 
person's capacity to live a decent life. They contribute to a widening 
circle of hurt that goes far beyond any individual choice to use drugs.
  Like a stone dropped into a pond, the ripples move outward in an 
ever-widening circle. The result is an arc of pain and loss that is no 
respecter of social position, education, age, race, or location. 
Nothing brought this home to me more forcefully than a letter I 
received recently from a constituent. A constituent whose family has 
borne the brunt of what illegal drug use truly means. We can pile up 
facts and figures. We have the numbing statistics. But these cold, 
sterile numbers do not bring home to us the true meaning of what is 
involved. In order to understand the circle of hurt, let me share with 
you this story. As the dismaying figures on family violence, crime, and 
drug-addicted babies only too clearly show, this record is not unique.
  Although is it not unique, it is, nevertheless, a story whose very 
prevalence is part of the harm done everyday by illegal drug use.
  Kay and Jim Degrado of Marshalltown, IA, a community of 25,000, know 
firsthand what the facts and figures mean. Some years ago, their son 
began experimenting with drugs at 9 and was an addict by 13. Nothing 
that these good people could do made a difference. They watched as 
their son slowly sank into addiction and a world of violence, drug 
dealing, and abuse. As with many families, they were unprepared to deal 
with the problems. Their son became an addict and a dealer.
  At 26, during his second treatment episode, he met a 22-year-old 
prostitute and crack addict. They subsequently moved in together after 
they were expelled from the treatment program. In addition to living 
together, they also began dealing together. They had an 800 number, 
beepers, and a separate apartment to deal from. Sales helped them 
maintain a $1,500 a day habit. This in a town of only 25,000. It was at 
this time that the couple learned that they were to have a baby, the 
woman's second. The first child was raised in a drug-addicted 
household, with all the emotional scars that involves. The second 
child, Tomi, now four, suffered a worse fate. She was born addicted.
  As the Degrado's learned, drug use damages the unborn child in 
profound ways. In ways that endure for a lifetime. Their granddaughter, 
young Tomi, was born with multiple problems. She has difficulty 
sleeping. She is averse to being touched. She's irritable and has a 
short attention span. In addition, she has difficulty swallowing, a 
common feature of drug-affected children. At four, she still must 
receive supplemental food and medication through a feeding tube in her 
abdomen. She is unable to use a spoon, lacking the coordination. The 
grandparents have adopted the child--after years of effort--and can 
give Tomi a loving home. But they can never heal the hurt. And there 
are many Tomis in this country.
  According to some estimates, as many as 100,000 or more such babies 
are born every year to addicted mothers. The disabilities are lifelong. 
Tomi requires constant medical attention. And she has learning 
disabilities that will affect her as long as she lives. But this is not 
the end of the story. As with Tomi's parents, many addicts have more 
than just one child. These children are born addicted. Or they come 
into drug-using homes where physical and sexual abuse are common. Tomi 
has an older half-sister, and her mother is pregnant again.
  Fortunately, the Degrados' son is in treatment, again, after two 
suicide attempts and numerous relapses. He visits his daughter but has 
not taken an active role in her life. It is still unclear if he will 
stay clean and sober. If he does, and I wish him well, it will come at 
great effort, one that will occupy him for the rest of his life.
  And the cost? The monetary costs, of course, have been enormous. But 
that is only a small part of the expense. From the seemingly individual 
choice to use drugs, the Degrados' son, destroyed his own life. He 
brought pain and suffering to his family. It is a pain that still 
remains. In addition, he also fathered a child born with lifelong 
disabilities. Pushed drugs to others. And engaged in numerous crimes. 
From his one act, a decision to use drugs, the circle of hurt spreads 
outward in ever-widening arcs. That is the reality of drug use. The 
damage and harm are personal, immediate, and enduring.
  Yet, what we hear from many these days--from some of our cultural and 
political elite--is that we should legalize such drugs. That we should 
make

[[Page S3035]]

them widely available. The common argument is that we should not 
interfere with a personal choice. A choice which is, according to the 
argument, a victimless crime. No one is harmed. What a cruel and 
insensitive lie that is. No wonder so many decent people like the 
Degrados feel like the country, or its culture leaders, has taken leave 
of its senses.

  And one finds the argument and its logical consequences increasingly 
prevalent. Recently, a member of my staff learned that a bookstore 
right here in the Washington area had a whole display on how to process 
your own drugs at home. The display was full of books on how to start 
your own drug business in the comfort of your living room. This in a 
store in a suburban shopping mall frequented by teenagers and families. 
This is reminiscent of the 1960's. That was the last time we flirted 
with the ``drugs-are-OK-for-everybody'' theme. But this is not the 
1960's and I had hoped that we had learned something from our past. 
Seemingly not. At least not some.
  Turn on MTV or listen to much of the popular music these days and you 
get the drugs-are-OK message. First, leading political figures and 
cultural gurus openly discuss the idea of making drugs readily 
available at over-the-counter prices. Second, newspaper editors flirt 
with the idea of legalization. Third, movies and TV shows are once 
again introducing drugs as okay into their plots. Fourth, many of our 
political leaders are sending confusing messages. So far, the most 
notable comment from the President on drug use was, ``I didn't 
inhale.'' Just think of the unfortunate signal that sends, however 
inadvertent. And fifth, one of the most remembered policy 
recommendations from this administration was the call by the Surgeon 
General for legalization.
  Lately we have William F. Buckley, Jr., repeating the legalization 
theme. And he is in good, or rather, bad company. Some newspapers, 
magazines, and a variety of pundits have picked up the theme. This does 
not mean, however, that this is an idea whose time has come. All of 
this fulminating over the virtues of drugs or the harm caused by 
preventing people from self-administering deadly substances, is limited 
to a few, if well-financed, individuals. But their voice has a 
disproportionate access to the media. A media that then broadcasts and 
enlarges on the theme, making it seem more influential than it really 
is. Unfortunately, this posturing encourages young people to dismiss 
not only the harm that drugs cause but to question whether it is wrong 
to use drugs. And so, the hurt goes on.
  After years of decline, after years in which teenage attitudes toward 
drugs was moving in the right direction, we now see dramatic reversals 
in teen drug use, heading back up. More disturbing, we see a decline in 
negative attitudes to drug use. We have not yet returned to the 1979 
levels of abuse, but we have made notable gains in that direction. As 
recent studies show, an increasingly large percentage of high school 
kids now report frequent marijuana use. The age at which use is 
beginning is also dropping. Experts now recommend that we must begin 
our antidrug prevention message in grade school.
  Meanwhile, the casualties mount. The most recent data, released by 
the drug czar's office, confirm--as if more confirmation was 
necessary--that drug use is on the rise, especially among kids. This is 
particularly true of marijuana use. As we learned to our regret, 
marijuana is a gateway drug for further substance abuse. Heroin use is 
also on the rise. And much of the West and Middle West face a growing 
problem of methamphetamine use--the so-called workingman's cocaine. 
This drug is responsible for dramatic increases in family violence, in 
violent crime, and in hospital emergencies. What the numbers tell us is 
a depressing story of returning drug abuse.
  We are still dealing with an addict population created by the drugs-
are-OK argument from the 1960's and 1970's. Our current hardcore 
addicts were the 15-, 16-, and 17-year-olds of then. Today we are 
putting our 12-, 13-, and 14-year-olds at risk. We are mortgaging their 
futures and the lives of everyone they touch. We are exposing them to a 
cycle of hurt and suffering. I can imagine few more irresponsible acts. 
The last time we did it unconsciously or by inattention. If we do this 
again, we can make no claim to ignorance. We cannot appeal to our 
innocence. What we do now, we do with full knowledge. We simply cannot 
let this happen again.
  I would like to ask my colleagues to look at my remarks from the 
standpoint of it portraying the problem of drugs that a family in Iowa 
had, the Kay and Jim Degrado family of Marshalltown, IA. It tells a 
story about how early drug use of a child leads to greater and greater 
problems. It talks about crack babies, and in the case of this family a 
crack grandchild that has been adopted by this family--the problems 
that families get into down the road of time in prison; all the crime 
that comes from illicit drug use.
  I compliment this family for sharing their story with me and the 
granting of permission to me to discuss this issue on the floor of the 
Senate.

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