[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 130 (Monday, October 7, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H7038-H7041]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1400
EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR PRESIDENT'S 2002 NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY
Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
resolution (H. Res. 569) expressing support for the President's 2002
National Drug Control Strategy to reduce illegal drug use in the United
States.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Res. 569
Whereas nearly 20,000 Americans, many of them children, die
of drug-induced deaths, more than 52,000 Americans die from
drug-related causes, and more than 600,000 Americans visit
hospital emergency rooms for drug-related episodes every
year;
Whereas the United States has for years been one of the
largest consumers of illegal drugs in the world;
Whereas more than 50 percent of high school seniors have
experimented with an illegal drug at least once prior to
graduation, 2,800,000 Americans are considered to be
``dependent'' on illegal drugs, and an additional 1,500,000
are in the less severe ``abuser'' category;
Whereas the societal costs, including lost productivity, of
the illegal drug problem in America have reached a staggering
$160,000,000,000 per year;
Whereas the United States is experiencing a dramatic
increase in the potency of marijuana and sharply escalating
use of drugs such as methamphetamines, ``club drugs'' such as
MDMA (``ecstasy'') and abuse of legally prescribed drugs such
as Oxycontin;
Whereas the Office of National Drug Control Policy within
the Executive Office of the President was established by the
National Narcotics Leadership Act of 1988 to coordinate the
Nation's overall counter-narcotics efforts;
Whereas the United States has consistently and firmly
supported a ``balanced'' approach in the war on drugs, and
the National Drug Control Strategy for 2002 calls for
stopping drug use before it starts through education and
community action, healing America's drug users by getting
treatment resources where they are needed, and disrupting the
market by attacking the economic basis of the drug trade;
Whereas more than 5,000 community anti-drug coalitions
across America have been created to bring together parents,
teachers, coaches, mentors, business leaders, faith-based
organizations, and Federal, State, and local governments to
reduce drug use through effective grassroots efforts;
Whereas the President of the United States has directed the
Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attorney
General to better define and address the so-called
``treatment gap'' in America through increased and more
effective drug treatment facilities across America and by
convincing nearly 90 percent of drug abusers, particularly
adolescents, that they in fact need help;
Whereas the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign plays
an important role in reducing drug use and social disapproval
of drugs;
Whereas there is a well-established link between the
profits from the illegal drug trade and the financing of many
of the world's leading terrorist organizations, including the
Taliban, al-Qaeda, and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia (FARC), and the illegal narcotics trade has
contributed directly to social and political instability and
loss of innocent life in democratic nations in the Andean
region and around the world;
Whereas the United States Government and the House of
Representatives are working closely with allied nations to
stop the international production and transit of illegal
drugs and promote alternative development and means of
economic growth;
Whereas the capabilities of the United States Coast Guard,
the United States Customs Service, and the United States
Border Patrol are critical to our Nation's drug interdiction
efforts and must be maintained at no less than their current
levels;
Whereas Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies
are working diligently to enforce laws prohibiting the use of
illegal drugs and to interdict illegal drug traffic to the
United States;
Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States decisively
reaffirmed that the Controlled Substances Act is binding
national law in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Collective, 532 U.S. 483 (2001); and
Whereas the use of illegal drugs has been decisively
rejected by the American people as inconsistent with the
general welfare of the United States and individual dignity:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) expresses its support for the President of the United
States and the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the
goal to reduce drug use in America by 10 percent during the
next 2 years and 25 percent during the next 5 years;
(2) calls on all Americans to join in the effort to
prevent, reduce, and reject illegal drug use in America by
talking to children about the dangers and consequences of
illegal drug use and encouraging other responsible adults to
do the same in their families and communities;
(3) calls on the President, the Secretary of State, the
Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of
the Treasury, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the
Secretary of Transportation, the Director of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy, and the heads of subsidiary
agencies (including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the
United States Customs Service, the United States Coast Guard,
and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration) to
work together to effectively implement the 2002 National Drug
Control Strategy and continue to seek ways to improve the
coordination among Federal, State, and local governments,
nonprofit organizations, corporations, foreign governments,
and private citizens to reduce the demand for international
supply of illegal drugs in the United States;
(4) expresses its sense that narcotics control is an
integral part of homeland security and should be a priority
mission for any new Department of Homeland Security;
(5) commends all Federal, State, and local government
personnel working to combat illegal drug use in the United
States, as well as community leaders who seek to make a
difference across the United States; and
(6) reaffirms the sense of the House of Representatives
against any use of narcotic and other drugs in a manner
inconsistent with the Controlled Substances Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Aderholt). Pursuant to the rule, the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) and the gentleman from Illinois
(Mr. Davis) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder).
General Leave
Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
on this legislation.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Indiana?
There was no objection.
Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
This resolution expresses the support of the House for the
President's National Drug Control Strategy as well as for the work of
the many individuals across America, in the government and in the
private sector, who dedicate themselves to controlling and preventing
drug abuse and helping drug abusers.
I introduced this resolution in my capacity as chairman of the
Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources,
joined by, as original cosponsor, the ranking member, the gentleman
from Maryland (Mr. Cummings). I very much appreciate his bipartisan
support for this resolution and on so many other issues during this
Congress.
I would also like to recognize the continued work of my co-chairs on
the Speakers' Task Force for a Drug-Free America, the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. Portman), the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), as well as
the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis), who has been a great member
and asset to our subcommittee.
I believe it is also appropriate to take a moment to recognize the
lifelong work on drug control of the vice-chairman of the subcommittee,
the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the former chairman of the
Committee on International Relations. He has tirelessly advocated
vigorous efforts to stop drug abuse and trafficking and protect
American youth throughout his distinguished career, and his unwavering
leadership in this House will be sorely missed, especially on this
issue.
As the resolution details, drug abuse continues to be a serious
problem in
[[Page H7039]]
America today. The death of nearly 20,000 Americans this year will be
caused directly by illegal drugs. Fifty-two thousand Americans will die
of drug-related causes, and more than 600,000 Americans visit hospital
emergency rooms for drug-related episodes every year.
In the past year, we have redirected the focus of the vast apparatus
of the Federal Government to the threat of catastrophic terrorism. I
want to remind my colleagues, however, that day-to-day and town-by-
town, the slow, deadly, painful, and disruptive toll of illegal drug
use continues unabated. Today, in addition to the continued tremendous
challenge of holding the line on traditional drugs like cocaine and
heroin, we also face emerging threats such as high potency marijuana,
which many know as ``BC Bud,'' the growth of methamphetamine use, the
so-called ``club drugs'' like Ecstasy, and increased abuse of the
prescription drug Oxycontin.
Earlier this year, President Bush and Director Walters of the Office
of National Drug Control Policy released the National Drug Control
Strategy to detail the administration's approach to reducing drug use
in America. It is a balanced strategy that calls for stopping drug use
before it starts through education and community action, healing
America's drug users by getting treatment resources where they are
needed, and disrupting the market by attacking the economic basis of
the drug trade through interdiction and vigorous law enforcement.
As part of the strategy, the President has set the aggressive goal of
reducing drug use in America by 10 percent during the next 2 years and
25 percent during the next 5 years. This resolution expresses the
support of the House for the balanced strategy set forth, as well as
the goal of a measurable reduction of illegal drug use in America. I
believe that meeting these specific goals will be a challenge but that
the House should strongly support the effort to restore accountability
and performance measurement to the Nation's drug control programs.
I also believe that the House should express its support for the
tireless and often thankless work which so many Americans do every day
to combat illegal drug traffic and abuse within our country and around
the world.
Whether it be a drug counsellor who helps the addicted, the DEA agent
who risks his or her own life to fight the often violent drug cartels,
the community coalition leader who tries to keep kids from starting
drug use, the Customs, Immigration, or Border Patrol officer on the
front line at the border, the doctor or nurse who offers the medical
help, the Coastie on the water in the transit zone, the local cop, the
Foreign Service officer in a source country, or even the mother who
reports suspicious activity on her block, these and countless other
Americans work every hour of every day to fight illegal drugs. We ought
to recognize and thank them. This resolution does that.
The resolution also expresses the sense of the House that narcotics
control should continue to be a priority mission for the new Department
of Homeland Security, as well as our continued opposition to any use of
narcotics not permitted by the Controlled Substances Act, the basic
Federal law prohibiting use of illegal drugs.
Finally, I want to note that this resolution calls on all Americans
to join in a united effort to fight drug use in our communities. This
is especially true of our parents, who we want to urge to talk to their
children about the dangers and consequences of illegal drug use and
encourage others to do so in their families and communities.
We have seen how increased vigilance to threats to our society and
way of life can help make us safer as a Nation, and I hope that
families and communities can do the same with respect to parenting and
drug use.
I urge my colleagues to support the resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to join with the gentleman from
Indiana (Chairman Souder) in consideration of House Resolution 569, a
bill expressing support for the President's 2002 National Drug Control
Strategy to reduce illegal drug use in the United States.
I also want to commend the gentleman from Indiana for his outstanding
leadership on this issue and especially for the convening of a field
hearing in Chicago, where I live. I have appreciated the work that the
gentleman has done; and, as I have indicated, I am pleased to join with
him in consideration of this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the statement of the gentleman
from the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), who is the ranking
member, and for whom I am actually filling in, in the presentation of
this matter.
The statement referred to is as follows:
Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in favor of H. Res. 569, expressing
support for the President's 2002 National Drug Control Strategy. As the
Ranking Minority Member of the drug policy subcommittee, I'm happy to
join with my chairman, the gentleman from Indiana, as an original
cosponsor of this resolution.
As the War on Terror, homeland security, possible war with Iraq, and
other issues dominate headlines, it is important that the American
people, we in Congress, and the various state, federal and local
agencies involved in the War on Drugs remain vigilant with regard to
illegal drug control. Illegal drugs still claim many more American
lives than terrorist attacks and they are responsible for much of the
violent crime and property crimes that undermine the stability and
safety of communities across the country, including my own city of
Baltimore.
The increasing linkage between illegal drug trafficking and the
financing of terrorist activities makes it all the more imperative that
we keep our eye on the ball and not let the war on drugs slip as a
national priority. Chairman Souder and I share this concern and worked
together in the Government Reform Committee on a provision in the
homeland security bill to create a high-level position within the new
department that will be responsible and accountable for coordination of
drug control functions within and outside the new department. A similar
provision has been included in the bill approved by the whole House and
I would urge our colleagues in the other body to preserve it.
Mr. Speaker, the President deserves credit for making drug control a
high priority in his administration. The national drug control strategy
unveiled in February by the President and Office of National Drug
Control Policy Director John Walters reflects a balanced and thoughtful
approach to combating the drug problem. It recognizes that U.S. demand
for drugs is the root of our domestic drug problem, identifying U.S.
demand-reduction as a ``central focus.'' Consistent with this
recognition, the strategy boldly states the goal of reducing domestic
drug use by ten percent over two years, and by 25 percent over 5 years.
The strategy further reflects a recognition of the essential role
that treatment plays in reducing drug-demand. The President's proposed
drug control budget includes a $1.6 billion increase in drug treatment
funding over 5 years, in addition to a solid commitment to the Drug
Free Communities Program, the National Youth Anti-Drug Campaign, drug
courts, and other vital demand-reduction programs.
In the areas of treatment and domestic law enforcement, the
President's strategy reflects an emerging pragmatic consensus around
the concept that drug treatment and law enforcement are most effective
when approached as complementary rather than competing objectives. The
criminal justice system must work in concert with treatment initiatives
in order to achieve positive long-term outcomes for users, addicts, and
communities afflicted with drugs and drug-related crime.
This is the approach vindicated by a recent, groundbreaking drug-
treatment study, focusing on Baltimore, entitled ``Steps to Success.''
Commissioned by Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems, Inc., and conducted
by a blue-ribbon panel of experts from Johns Hopkins University, the
University of Maryland, and Morgan State University, the study showed
that a substantial increase in funding for drug treatment resulted not
only in dramatic decrease in addiction and abuse, but also in equally
dramatic reductions in emergency-room deaths, HIV/AIDS transmission,
and both violent and property crimes. ``Steps to Success'' is the most
thoroughly researched study of its kind and should put to rest the
notion that treatment dollars are not dollars well spent. This is a
lesson that communities nationwide can benefit from.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman fro Indiana, Mr. Souder,
for his constructive leadership on the drug policy subcommittee and in
bringing this resolution to the floor. I know we both look forward to
continuing to work together, and with Director Walters, in maintaining
our government's focus on the critical goal of reducing illegal drug
use.
[[Page H7040]]
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, last year the Chicago Defender
published an article entitled ``Cook County Drug Offenders Lose Out in
Drug Treatment Revival.''
Though the article focused on Cook County in Illinois, it brought to
the forefront a national trend towards treatment for drug offenders.
Troubled by the devastating impact of drugs on the criminal justice
system, the courts are diverting more drug offenders away from prisons,
mandating instead that they enroll in substance abuse rehabilitation
programs.
Keevin Irons, for example, a 41-year-old native of suburban Chicago
Heights, had been hooked on drugs for 20 years when a Cook County
circuit judge gave him 4 years' probation on a drug possession charge
and ordered him to 28 days in a residential treatment center.
Mr. Irons said of the treatment that was aimed at getting him to
recognize the patterns of abuse in his life, and I quote, ``Treatment
has brought me a long way to learn about my disease and what made me do
the things that I did. I see my life differently now. I can go out to
society and be a productive citizen. Recovery is a beautiful thing.''
Mr. Speaker, recovery is a beautiful thing, which is why I am pleased
to see that President Bush's 2002 National Drug Control Strategy
includes over $850 million for various drug prevention programs and an
additional $1.6 billion over the next 5 years for drug treatment
programs.
This money, and more, is sorely needed to address the devastating
impact of drugs on the criminal justice system. More and more addicts
are streaming into the system than it can help. The problem is
particularly acute in Cook County, where the drug caseload has exceeded
those of other Illinois counties. Cook County drug offenders are far
less likely to receive drug treatment as part of their probation than
those in Illinois' other 101 counties, shown by an investigation by the
Chicago Reporter.
According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, the number of
prison sentences for drug crimes increased more than 12-fold from 1983
to 1999, when 13,766 drug offenders were sentenced to prison. Once
discharged, about 40 percent of them will end up back in prison within
3 years.
Furthermore, drug users are among the most active perpetrators of
other crimes. Nearly two-thirds of jailed inmates nationwide said they
used drugs regularly prior to their arrest, and about one in six
committed their current offense to sustain a drug habit, according to a
2000 study by the Department of Justice.
In response to this, as the Chicago Defender reported, States are
moving away from incarceration to initiatives such as drug courts. Drug
courts divert offenders to treatment, but they also impose penalties
for misbehavior. The drug courts program uses the coercive power of the
court to force abstinence and alter behavior through a combination of
escalating sanctions, mandatory drug testing, treatment, and strong
aftercare programs.
The 2002 drug strategy provides an additional $2 million for drug
court programs, bringing the total to $52 million for fiscal year 2003.
According to the 1997 National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study
by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, such treatment
programs cut illicit drug use by 48 percent and reduce arrest rates by
64 percent. These programs help stabilize communities by making them
safer and making productive citizens out of drug offenders.
I support the President's drug prevention and treatment strategy and
its continued funding. Recovery is a beautiful thing; and, Mr. Speaker,
I urge the adoption of this resolution.
Once again, Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleagues, the
gentleman from Indiana (Chairman Souder) and the ranking member, the
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), for the outstanding leadership
they both have brought and continue to bring to this issue.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, this is a very important resolution that we
acknowledge that, even under this time when we are under a terrorist
attack, that we are under chemical attack as well.
In my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana, we have seen in the past month
a very gruesome murder that occurred to cover up another murder, where
kids were high on drugs and alcohol. In fact, they not only beat up and
then shot but then burned two of their acquaintances in a field.
This past week we saw another group murder. It appears to be gang-
related. It appears to be related to narcotic sales in the City of Fort
Wayne.
The principal of South Side High School had to have teachers and
police at the football game. He has been actively reaching out and
looking for prevention programs and trying to reach the kids, whether
it is through community churches, community organizations and the
classroom, to try to show the evils of narcotics and the impact they
have on the community and the evil of gang warfare that often is
closely related.
We may or may not ever see terrorist attacks in Fort Wayne and we may
or may not see terrorist attacks around the United States, but we are
certainly going to see drug abuse. For the people in the field, those
working in the programs and prevention in the schools and prevention in
the communities, those who work with treatment, it is often very
discouraging.
A lot of people ask me, as chairman of the Subcommittee on Criminal
Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, why can you not just
eliminate this problem? But let me remind the Members that, at core,
there are a couple of different things. One is that we will never
eliminate evil from the world. We try to control it as much as
possible. This is true of rape, it is true of child abuse, it is true
of spouse abuse, it is true of child abandonment. They have been with
us for a long time.
As leaders in this country, we cannot say, oh, it is not working;
therefore, we are going to abandon it. We have to redouble our efforts.
Furthermore, in the area of narcotics, we see every day new people
who heretofore we thought were invulnerable to a narcotics attack,
whether it is young kids who now are being exposed for the first time
in elementary school, the first time at a party in junior high, or at a
club scene as a high schooler who had never been exposed to narcotics
before.
We have to be there in prevention, be there when they are first
exposed, be there for treatment, and also be there to intercept the
drugs as they are coming into this country, so we keep the prices from
going so cheap and the purity so high that, when they have that
exposure, they die on simple impact.
This is a combined strategy that never gives up, that understands
that we are battling all the time to try to change these families,
people who have lost work, people who have gone through a divorce,
people who are vulnerable at that moment, much like they are for other
types of things. We need to be working aggressively, and this
resolution praises all those in the field who have worked with this and
reminds Congress and the American people that we have tens of thousands
of people who lose their lives, who get shot, who go to emergency rooms
because of this evil of narcotics.
Mr. Speaker, I commend this resolution to the House and hope that it
passes unanimously.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res.
569, a resolution expressing support for the president's 2002 National
Drug Control Strategy. I urge my colleagues to lend it their
wholehearted support.
This resolution expresses the support of the Congress for President
Bush's 2002 National Drug Control Strategy to reduce illegal drug use
in the United States. It recognizes the alarming rate of drug abuse in
our country, the serious toll it takes on American families and
communities in the form of damaged or destroyed lives, and the
financial support which drug traffic provides for terrorist and other
criminal enterprises. Finally, it expresses the support of the House
for the balanced approach to the Nation's war on drugs, focusing
equally on supply and demand reduction.
Drug abuse is a widespread problem effecting more than 9 million
individuals. Recent years have shown disturbing trends in the use of
heroin, various club drugs, and methamphetamine, especially among our
younger population. Moreover, the drugs available on the streets today
are cheaper, purer and easier to acquire than at any previous point in
our Nation's history.
[[Page H7041]]
All told, it is estimated that 85 percent of all crime committed in
the United States is somehow related to either drug or alcohol
addiction. Furthermore, U.S. taxpayers spend an average of $150 billion
per year in drug-related criminal and health care costs. Moreover,
since last year we have learned of the insidious link between the drug
trade and international terrorism.
Equally troubling is the long term impact on the families, and
especially the children, of alcoholics and drug abusers. Far too many
children grow up in homes where one or both parents consume are more
likely to suffer abuse or neglect from their parents, and have a higher
risk of becoming alcoholics or addicts themselves.
We have made enormous progress in improving drug and alcohol
awareness. Thanks to the tireless efforts of groups like mothers
against drunk driving, alcohol-related traffic fatalities have
decreased considerably from thirty years ago.
Yet we still have far to go. Far too many people do not view alcohol
as a drug, and an alarming number of Americans do not realize that
various alcoholic beverages contain different amounts of alcohol.
We also have far to go on the drug front as well. Recent years have
seen a proliferation of efforts to create back doors to legalization,
best shown by the medical marijuana argument. However, anti-drug
efforts are seeing signs of finally working after years of neglect. A
return to a balanced approach that attacks both the supply and demand
side of the problem has made a difference.
Drug treatment is an important component of demand reduction that has
proven itself to work, but it requires enormous commitment on the part
of both doctor and patient. This is especially true for those addicted
to opiate narcotics and alcohol.
H. Res. 569 supports the President's argument that the current time
is ideal to reinvigorate the American people public in the war on
drugs. In implementing this strategy, we should apply the recent
lessons learned to formulate a balanced approach that attacks both
demand and supply of illicit drugs.
The President has outlined a bold strategy that is designed to: Stop
drug use before it starts, provide appropriate treatment for America's
drug users, and disrupt the current illicit drug market.
I have spent the last thirty years in the Congress fighting the
scourge of illegal drugs. I am pleased to see an administration that is
strongly committed to this goal, and recognizes the dangers posed by
this illicit trade, both in lives affected, wasted talent, and the
turmoil caused by drug-financed terrorism.
Success in our drug war requires the commitment of every American.
This resolution is a good start. I therefore urge its adoption.
Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cantor). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) that the House
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, House Resolution 569.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________