[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 83 (Monday, June 14, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6969-S6971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             RURAL METHAMPHETAMINE USE RESPONSE ACT OF 1999

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I am introducing legislation on behalf 
of myself, Senators Kyl, DeWine, Hagel, and Kohl, a bill referred to as 
the Rural Methamphetamine Use Response Act of 1999.
  I do this in my capacity not only as a Senator from Iowa but as 
chairman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus of the Senate--a 
caucus that has had a tradition of working in a very bipartisan way on 
legislation and oversight hearings.
  Methamphetamine is emerging as a new major drug problem across the 
entire country. It is one of the most dangerous drugs currently 
available. Its use destroys individuals and its production harms the 
environment. It is a problem that disproportionately affects rural 
America, even in our most urban States.
  Methamphetamine is not a new drug in this country, but its growing 
use is very much a new problem. As the chart shows, meth has been 
around our country since the early 1980s, but its use then was largely 
confined to biker gangs and with a very limited market. Even then, much 
of the meth was produced in homemade labs in this country. Very little 
of it came out of Mexico and not so much in rural America.
  The chart shows the city of Philadelphia with lots of examples of use 
of meth and meth laboratories. The numbers were few then and medical 
cases of meth-related problems were limited.
  In San Francisco, for example, there were only 65 medical cases of 
meth-related problems, even in the year 1984. Let me assure Members 
that very low level activity situation for methamphetamine was not 
going to last very long because it began to change in the late 1980s 
and early 1990s.
  During that period of time, Mexican criminal gangs began to become 
more

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involved, taking over production and marketing from the biker gangs in 
America. In doing so, they began to rapidly expand the availability of 
drugs and at the same time lowering the costs. Use began to grow, as it 
will, when drugs became widely available at affordable prices. It will 
also grow if there is a perception of low risk with that drug.
  Somehow--and wrongly so--meth got a reputation for being harmless. It 
is simple. Most new drugs start that way. They are pushed on 
particularly young people as safe and OK. Of course, it is a lie. But 
it is common enough. Thus, it should come as no surprise that as meth 
use increased and spread beyond the Western States, along with this, so 
did reports of meth-related medical problems.
  In 1989, medical cases in San Francisco reached 1,125, or 17 times 
the 1984 level of 65 which I already mentioned. The number of lab 
seizures increased, as well.
  Remember, on this chart, the previous chart, and the next chart I 
will show, the red lines show an expanding importation of 
methamphetamine into our country with some from outside of Mexico, but 
most of the lines coming from Mexico and spreading all across our 
country--it is now beginning to reach the West and the Midwest--not so 
much in the East where it was when it started with biker gangs, but all 
over the United States.
  While most of the drug is produced in Mexico by Mexican criminal 
gangs, there is a growing domestic production, much of this in rural 
areas. It is devastating.
  Looking again at the chart previously shown, from 1982 to 1985, we 
had very little meth coming from Mexico into the United States. Most of 
what we had was domestic production. The numbers here in green 
illustrate the dimension of medical-related meth problems that are 
reported in the media. It also relates, to some extent, to the lab 
busts in that particular case. But from 1982 to 1985, it was very much 
limited to biker gangs being involved in that, very little out of 
Mexico.

  Then you go to the period of the late 1980s, early 1990s. You see 
more red lines, meaning quantity and diverse distribution coming out of 
Mexico, some from Korea, probably some from other countries we will not 
show on this particular map but still, relatively little. Then after 
1994, you see a very dramatic acceptance of meth use, but also most of 
it coming from Mexico and most of it from that source just finding 
itself spread all across the United States, so very much a growing 
problem, very much a problem of Mexican sources and cartels being the 
source of our problem in this country.
  In 1998 we had 321 methamphetamine labs found in my State of Iowa. 
This was more than double the year before. As of the first quarter this 
year, over 170 labs have been found in my State. If you multiply that 
by 4, you are going to see Iowa doubling the trouble of meth again in 
local production. That is what we know about. It does not account for 
the flow of meth from Mexico.
  I know many other States in the West and the Midwest can tell a very 
similar story. We know this is a problem that is moving eastward. We 
are becoming a producing country for this dangerous drug. You can get 
the formula for producing meth off the Internet, and many of the 
chemicals to produce it can be found in local hardware stores and 
pharmacies. One of the common chemicals used in production is 
increasingly being stolen from farms.
  The problem of production and use is growing worse. As it does so, it 
leaves in its wake broken homes and ruined lives. It is known on the 
street as crank, ice, speed, or meth. However it is named, the drug 
hooks users from all socioeconomic backgrounds. What is worse, medical 
experts and law enforcement officials point to younger and younger 
users. This is one of the most dangerous drugs we have ever seen. It is 
highly addictive, and it is a brain toxin. It attacks important 
functions of the brain, and, over time, prolonged use poisons these 
functions, in some cases permanently. The word on the street is that 
meth is a safe drug, but in fact it is a very vicious drug.
  The physiological side effects of meth include brain damage, heart 
attacks, and seizures. It can cause insomnia and lead to paranoia as 
well as violent, erratic behavior. It has made routine police 
encounters with motorists more dangerous, and it has made investigating 
lab sites a risky undertaking. This highly dangerous, addictive 
stimulant disrupts homes, schools, workplaces, hospital emergency 
rooms, and even our courts. Worse yet, the production creates toxic 
waste dumps that endanger the environment and public safety.
  Much of this problem disproportionately affects rural communities. 
Even in our most urban States, the threat is just overwhelming to local 
resources that have to bear the brunt of fighting the methamphetamine 
problem, because few small communities such as we have in rural America 
can cope with the explosion of users, pushers, and labs.
  So those of us introducing this legislation--as I said, Senators Kyl, 
DeWine, Hagel, and Kohl, and I--are then introducing this Rural 
Methamphetamine Use Response Act of 1999 today because we cannot turn a 
blind eye to this threat anymore. Passage of this legislation will move 
us forward in our efforts to protect our children and our future from 
the ravages of meth.

  There are several key areas where this legislation will improve our 
ability to respond to the threat.
  First, we need to get a handle on what the problem is. This 
legislation requires that the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
report to Congress on how drug use, and particularly methamphetamine 
use, is different in rural versus urban settings. Today we can break 
drug use down into patterns by sex, by age, region of the country, 
education, and the type of drug use. We have some idea when kids--and 
they are kids--first try drugs. I believe there is a more serious 
problem in rural America today than there has ever been. Meth 
production and use disproportionately affect rural areas, even in large 
urban States such as California.
  Meth is often called the poor man's cocaine, because it is most 
widely used in blue-collar communities, rural areas, and small to mid-
sized cities. Yet our resources and focus tend to go to large urban 
areas, because that is where we can more easily document the problem.
  After getting a better handle on the problem with better statistics 
on a national basis from our Secretary of HHS, we, second, suggest the 
Attorney General, through this legislation, provide the Congress with 
an annual strategy on how to deal with the problem systematically and 
coherently. This will establish a benchmark to guide future research 
and action. As part of this problem, this strategy is meant as a 
mechanism for tracking both use and the proliferation of meth labs. We 
do establish, then, this mechanism to do it. This will require the 
administration to relate resources to action. We do not see that 
connection today in a coherent way.
  In addition, the legislation will support the creation of rapid 
response teams at the Federal level to provide language and 
intelligence-collection expertise to communities that must deal with 
foreign-based meth gangs.
  Next, the legislation will increase resources to provide training in 
meth lab cleanup as well as increased funding to the Drug Enforcement 
Agency so it can improve assistance for lab cleanup and disposal. That 
is not something a lot of States are waiting for the Federal Government 
to do, but it is being done on an ad hoc basis, State by State. In my 
particular case, the State of Iowa has set up two teams with the 
resources to help in this cleanup, because it is such a dangerous 
environment.
  One of the problems with meth is we have this proliferation of home 
meth labs, large and small. They are toxic waste dumps filled with 
dangerous chemicals. Handling these labs requires special training and 
equipment. My legislation will create a number of regional training 
centers to help struggling communities deal with the explosion in meth 
production.
  The legislation would enhance the ability to provide training to 
local police and sheriffs to meet this challenge.
  Finally, this legislation will increase penalties for trafficking 
anhydrous ammonia, one of the major components in one method of 
producing meth, across State lines and would provide assistance for 
research methods for making

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anhydrous ammonia useless in meth production.
  The intent of this legislation is to address a problem that is 
growing and spreading across the country, one that disproportionately 
affects small and mid-sized cities and rural areas.
  I urge my colleagues in this body to join in supporting the 
Methamphetamine Use Response Act of 1999 and respond now to this 
challenge before it grows worse and before it spreads any further if, 
in fact, it can spread much further.
  I yield the floor.

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