[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 16, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H7539]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HEROIN USE HAS BECOME EVEN MORE DEADLY

  (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, in recent years, while cocaine abuse has 
leveled off, heroin use once again is rapidly on the rise.
  Today's heroin from abroad is cheaper, purer, and much more deadly 
than ever before. In fact, estimates of heroin's street-level purity 
indicate it has gone from an average of 4 percent up to a staggering 70 
percent or more on purity level.
  A recent GAO study indicated that worldwide opium production has 
nearly doubled since the late 1980's, while U.S. emergency room 
episodes from heroin overdoses increased by some 50 percent.
  Just recently, in New York City, we had the much-publicized Red Rum 
heroin overdose death of a member of the Smashing Pumpkins Band, along 
with the arrest of that band's drummer for possession of heroin, and 
cancellation of the band's sold-out performances.
  Spelled backward, Red Rum is murder, and in the case of the Smashing 
Pumpkins member's overdose, it was indeed lethal, taking his life. It 
surely is murder. Let us hope that the Red Rum message is not one that 
Red Rum and other forms of heroin are trendy; rather than heroin use is 
serious and in this case can be deadly.

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