[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 101 (Thursday, July 19, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7966-S7967]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. 
        Durbin, Ms. Landrieu, Mrs. Clinton, and Mr. Schumer):
  S. 1208. A bill to combat the trafficking, distribution, and abuse of 
Ecstasy (and other club drugs) in the United States; to the Committee 
on the Judiciary.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today, along with my colleagues, 
Senators Grassley, Lieberman, Durbin, Landrieu, and Clinton, to 
introduce the Ecstasy Prevention Act of 2001; legislation to combat the 
recent rise in trafficking, distribution and violence associated with 
MDMA, a club drug commonly known as Ecstasy. Ecstasy has become the 
``feel good'' drug of choice among many of our young people, and drug 
pushers are marketing it as a ``friendly'' drug to mostly teenagers and 
young adults.
  Last year I sponsored and Congress passed legislation which drew 
attention to the dangers of Ecstasy and strengthened the penalties 
attached to trafficking in Ecstasy and other ``club drugs.'' Since 
then, Ecstasy use and trafficking continue to grow at epidemic 
proportions, and there are many accounts of deaths and permanent damage 
to the health of those who use Ecstasy. The U.S. Customs Service 
continues to report large increases in Ecstasy seizures, over 9 million 
pills were seized by Customs last year, a dramatic rise from the 
400,000 seized in 1997. According to the United States Customs Service, 
in Fiscal Year 2001, two individual seizures affected by Customs 
Inspectors in Miami, FL totaled approximately 422,000 ecstasy tablets. 
These two seizures alone exceeded the entire amount of ecstasy seized 
by the Customs Service in all of Fiscal Year 1997. The Deputy Director 
of Office of National Drug Control Policy, ONDCP, Dr. Donald Vereen, 
Jr., M.D., M.P.H., recently said that ``Ecstasy is one of the most 
problematic drugs that has emerged in recent years.'' The National Drug 
Intelligence Center, in its most recent publication ``Threat Assessment 
2001,'' has noted that ``no drug in the Other Dangerous Drugs Category 
represents a more immediate threat than MDMA'' or Ecstasy.
  The Office of National Drug Control Policy's Year 2000 Annual Report 
on the National Drug Control Strategy clearly states that the use of 
Ecstasy is on the rise in the United States, particularly among 
teenagers and young professionals. My State of Florida has been 
particularly hard hit by this plague, but so have the States of many of 
my colleagues here. Ecstasy is customarily sold and consumed at 
``raves,'' which are semi-clandestine, all-night parties and concerts. 
Numerous data also reflect the increasing availability of ecstasy in 
metropolitan centers and suburban communities. In the most recent 
release of Pulse Check: Trends in Drug Abuse Mid-year 2000, which 
featured MDMA and club drugs, it was reported that the sale and use of 
club drugs have expanded from raves and nightclubs to high schools, 
streets, neighborhoods and other open venues.
  Not only has the use of Ecstasy exploded, more than doubling among 
12th graders in the last two years, but it has also spread well beyond 
its origin as a party drug for affluent white suburban teenagers to 
virtually every ethnic and class group, and from big cities like New 
York and Los Angeles to rural Vermont and South Dakota.

  And now, this year, law enforcement officials say they are seeing 
another worrisome development, increasingly violent turf wars among 
Ecstasy dealers, and some of those dealers are our young people. 
Homicides linked to Ecstasy dealing have occurred in recent months in 
Norfolk, VA; Elgin, IL, near Chicago; and in Valley Stream, NY. Police 
suspect Ecstasy in other murders in the suburbs, of Washington, DC, and 
Los Angeles, and violence is being linked to Israeli drug dealers in 
Los Angeles and to organized crime in New York City. Ecstasy is also 
becoming widely available on the Internet. Last year, a man arrested in 
Orlando, FL, had been selling Ecstasy to customers in New York.
  The lucrative nature of Ecstasy encourages its importation. 
Production costs are as low as two to twenty-five cents per dose while 
retail prices in the U.S. range from twenty dollars to $45 per dose. 
Manufactured mostly in Europe, in nations such as the Netherlands, 
Belgium, and Spain where pill presses are not controlled as they are in 
the U.S., ecstasy has erased all of the old routes law enforcement has 
mapped out for the smuggling of traditional drugs. And now the trade is 
being promoted by organized criminal elements, both from abroad and 
here. Although Israeli and Russian groups dominate MDMA smuggling, the 
involvement of domestic groups appears to be increasing. Criminal 
groups based in Chicago, Phoenix, Texas, and Florida have reportedly 
secured their own sources of supply in Europe.
  Young Americans are being lulled into a belief that ecstasy, and 
other designer drugs are ``safe'' ways to get high, escape reality, and 
enhance intimacy in personal relationships. The drug traffickers make 
their living off of perpetuating and exploiting this myth.
  I want to be perfectly clear in stating that ecstasy is an extremely 
dangerous drug. In my State alone, between July and December of last 
year, there were 25 deaths in which MDMA or a variant

[[Page S7967]]

were listed as a cause of death, and there were another 25 deaths where 
MDMA was present in the toxicology, although not actually listed as the 
cause of death. This drug is a definite killer.
  The ``Ecstasy Prevention Act of 2001'' renews and enhances our 
commitment toward fighting the proliferation and trafficking of Ecstasy 
and other club drugs. It builds on last year's Ecstasy Anti-
Proliferation Act of 2000 and provides legislation to assist the 
Federal and local organizations that are fighting to stop this 
potentially life-threatening drug. This legislation will allot funding 
for programs that will educate law enforcement officials and young 
people and will assist community-based anti-drug efforts. To that end, 
this bill amends Section 506B(c) of title V of the Public Health 
Service Act, by adding that priority of funding should be given to 
communities that have taken measures to combat club drug trafficking 
and use, to include passing ordinances and increasing law enforcement 
on Ecstasy.
  The bill also provides money for the National Institute on Drug Abuse 
to conduct research and evaluate the effects that MDMA or Ecstasy has 
on an individual's health. And, because there is a fear that the lack 
of current drug tests ability to screen for Ecstasy may encourage 
Ecstasy use over other drugs, the bill directs ONDCP to commission a 
test for Ecstasy that meets the standards of and can be used in the 
Federal Workplace.

  Through this campaign, our hope is that Ecstasy will soon go the way 
of crack, which saw a dramatic reduction in the quantities present on 
our streets after information of its unpredictable impurities and side 
effects were made known to a wide audience. By using this educational 
effort we hope to avoid future deaths and ruined lives.
  The Ecstasy Prevention Act of 2000 can only help in our fight against 
drug abuse in the United States. Customs is working hard to stem the 
flow of Ecstasy into our country. As legislators we have a 
responsibility to stop the proliferation of this potentially life 
threatening drug. The Ecstasy Prevention Act of 2001 will assist the 
Federal and local agencies charged to fight drug abuse by raising the 
public profile on the substance-abuse challenge posed by the increasing 
availability and use of Ecstasy and by focusing on the serious danger 
it presents to our youth.
  We urge our colleagues in the Senate to join us in this important 
effort by co-sponsoring this bill.
                                 ______