[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 27 (Thursday, February 13, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E246-E247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   INTRODUCING THE CLEAN-UP METH ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DOUG OSE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 13, 2003

  Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, today I reintroduce The Clean, Learn, Educate, 
Abolish, Neutralize, and Undermine Production of Methamphetamines Act--
or CLEAN-UP Meth Act.
  This bill is a bipartisan, comprehensive effort to help local 
agencies address the growing threat that meth production and use poses.
  I am pleased to be joined in this effort by more than 60 original 
cosponsors that include all three Co-Chairs of the Speaker's Task Force 
for a Drug Free America, both the Chairman and Ranking Member of the 
House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human 
Resources, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, 
the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and the House Majority 
Whip. The cosponsors include Republicans and Democrats, liberals and 
conservatives, from Hawaii to North Carolina, and in almost every state 
in between.
  In addition, this bill was supported during the 107th Congress by 
more than two-dozen national, state and local organizations concerned 
with the impact of Meth on our society. Among the bills supporters are 
the National Narcotics Officers Association, the National Sheriffs' 
Association, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the 
National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Fertilizer 
Institute, the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, the 
California Narcotics Officers Association, the California Peace 
Officers Association, the California Police Chiefs Association and the 
Peace Officers Research Association of California.
  As a Californian, I have a heightened awareness of the danger posed 
by meth. California is the source of more than 80 percent of the meth 
made and sold in the U.S.
  Between 1995 and 1999, the number of meth labs discovered in 
California shot from

[[Page E247]]

559 to 2,061--nearly a four-fold increase in just five years. In 2001, 
199 of the 273--or 84 percent--of all ``super labs'' found in the U.S. 
were in California. The next most common state was home to just 17 
``super labs.''
  My hometown of Sacramento is particularly hit by Meth. Many of you 
may remember when an out of control trucker deliberately drove his big 
rig into the side of California's state capitol building. The driver 
was on meth.
  The Sacramento Sheriffs department alone spends more than $1.3 
million each year fighting meth--roughly 75 percent of their entire 
anti-narcotics budget. In 2000 the Sacramento Sheriffs dealt with 27 
clan labs, in 2001 that was up to 44.
  The CLEAN-UP Meth Act addresses three areas where our state and local 
officials really need help.
  First, the Environment.
  The CLEAN-UP Meth Act authorizes $30 million for cleanup and 
remediation of our federal, state and local parks, forests and 
farmlands. All too often, the environment is the first victim of a meth 
lab.
  It also authorizes $30 million to train law enforcement and other 
first responders in how to safely enter and clean-up a lab, as well as 
how to meet the OSHA requirements for working in such a hazardous 
environment.
  Finally, it authorizes $1 million for the EPA to conduct a study of 
meth waste's impact on the environment.
  It is important to address environmental concerns as 4 pounds of 
waste are created for every 1 pound of meth. In 2001, 12,013 super 
labs, labs and waste or dump sites required clean-up and remediation.
  Second, Health and Education.
  H.R. 3782 will provide $20 million to local schools and education 
groups to provide anti-drug--and especially anti-meth programs.
  An additional $10 million is provided to local health care groups for 
the treatment of both meth abusers, and those abused by meth producers 
and users. One quarter of that money is specifically set aside for 
programs helping children found in the toxic environment of meth labs 
or abused by meth users.
  Finally, the bill authorizes $1 million for the Department of Health 
and Human Services to conduct a study on the impact of not only meth 
use, but also meth production on community health. We need to help stop 
the use of this deadly drug that 9.4 million Americans admitted to 
having used at least once in 1999 and that in 2000, 7.9 percent of high 
school seniors said they had tried.
  Finally, Law Enforcement.
  With meth growing so quickly, many local law enforcement agencies, 
district attorneys and other members of the law enforcement community 
are not prepared to deal with its spread into their community. It is 
all well and good to find the offenders, but you need to know how to 
catch them--and perhaps most importantly--prosecute them to get them 
out of the system.
  This legislation authorizes an additional $20 million under the COPS 
program for training of state and local prosecutors as well as sheriffs 
and police officers in the prosecution of meth law violations. And one 
quarter of these funds are set aside for rural communities that are 
often hardest hit but lack the resources to attack this emerging 
threat. One example of this rapid growth: DEA arrests for meth 
production and distribution between 1993 and 1999 shot up from 1,944 to 
8,618--an increase of more than 400 percent.
  Speaking of training, the bill provides $10 million to expand the 
great Clan Lab training program run by the DEA in Quantico, Virginia. 
They do a great job down there, and we need to support them.
  Regarding criminal penalties, the CLEAN-UP Meth Act tightens criminal 
laws used to prosecute the promoters of ``raves,'' the for-profit 
parties aimed at young people that are often the places where our 
children our first exposed to these dangerous drugs--too often with the 
full knowledge and consent of the promoter.
  In conclusion, no matter what you call it--meth, crank, crystal, or 
whatever--this drug is an emerging threat across the country. And it 
threatens not just those who use it, not just those who know someone 
who use it, but all Americans who drink our water, breathe our air, 
send their kids to school or work our lands. It hits rural and suburban 
areas, perhaps even harder than it does our cities. You cannot just sit 
back and say it is someone else's problem. That is why I am grateful 
that this Administration, so many of my Republican and Democratic 
colleagues, and members of the law enforcement community is focused on 
the emerging meth threat. And why I am pleased to have so many of them 
supporting our efforts to CLEAN-UP Meth as I reintroduce this important 
legislation today.

                          ____________________