[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 67 (Thursday, May 19, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H3681-H3682]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        METHAMPHETAMINE PROBLEMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Marchant). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, this evening I would like to discuss a 
major problem that is moving rapidly across the country. That is the 
problem of methamphetamine.
  Methamphetamines first came into prominence during World War II. Many 
Japanese kamikaze pilots were given methamphetamine to allow them to 
finish their mission.
  From that point on it spread to Hells Angel and other biker groups on 
the West Coast and has been slowly spreading its way from west to east 
across the country. It is the most highly addictive drug that is known 
at the present time, often causes complete addiction after only one 
usage.
  It creates a euphoria that lasts between 6 and 8 hours. There is a 
huge dopamine release in the brain, and it is cheap. It costs much less 
than heroin and cocaine, provides increased energy. Many young mothers 
who have two or three kids and have a tremendous energy drain become 
drawn to this particular drug.
  People who are working two jobs, sometimes truck drivers who want to 
stay awake for 2 or 3 days on end find that methamphetamine serves 
their ends. Often it always results in fairly rapid weight loss.
  However, whatever goes up must come down, and we find that those who 
are using methamphetamine usually will experience, at times, extreme 
anxiety, depression, hallucinations, many times will actually sink into 
a psychosis.
  Violent behavior is often a side effect. Many methamphetamine addicts 
experience crank bugs. These are the hallucination that there is a bug 
underneath the skin. As a result, in order to get those bugs out, they 
will pick at their skin. That will cause rather extreme skin lesions to 
result.
  Also, when they use it orally, their teeth disintegrate very rapidly, 
extremely quick aging, and usually death ensues within a few years of 
methamphetamine use.
  It always causes brain damage. And much of this brain damage is 
irreversible. An 18-year old who has been on meth for a year will have 
a brain scan that will look very like an 80-year old Alzheimer's 
patient. There is so much brain tissue that has been destroyed, that 
the two brain scans are somewhat indistinguishable.
  It is very common to see a great deal of meth abuse in rural areas. 
And this is due to the fact that when you manufacture meth, there is a 
very strong odor of ether. And as a result, if you manufacture in the 
city, sometimes that odor is easily detectable.
  The chief ingredient of methamphetamine is pseudophedrine, a common 
cold medicine. Oklahoma has done a fairly effective job of eliminating 
the meth labs by making pseudophedrine a class V substance. And that 
puts it behind the pharmacy counter.
  But many other States have failed to follow suit. Other ingredients 
of methamphetamine are lithium batteries, drain cleaner, starter fluid, 
anhydrous ammonia, and iodine.
  It is a tremendously toxic mix, and of course it lease a lot of toxic 
waste. In order to clean up a methamphetamine lab, it will cost 
anywhere from $5 to $6,000. Many of the suits that are worn by those 
cleaning un those meth labs cost about $500, and they can only be used 
one time because of the toxicity.

[[Page H3682]]

  Some areas of middle America have had as many as 1,500 to 2,000 meth 
labs per year in these States, so it a huge expense to clean up, and a 
huge problem in terms of addiction.
  The average meth addict, in my State, Nebraska, will commit roughly 
60 crimes a year to feed that habit. So if you have ten meth addicts in 
a community that is 600 crimes a year. If that a small town that is a 
huge impact.
  Much of the child abuse, child neglect, homicides, suicides that we 
see in these areas are due directly to methamphetamine abuse. Many 
counties in these areas spend 70 to 80 percent of their law enforcement 
dollars and their manpower on meth issues.
  Our jail cells and our prisons are filled. We simply cannot keep up 
and take care of the methamphetamine problem. So the question is, what 
can Congress do with this huge problem? Currently our Byrne and our 
HIDTA funds, which are high intensity drug trafficking funds have been 
drastically reduced. We need to restore these funds. This is a huge 
problem in terms of funding.
  The gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt) and also the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Souder) have introduced legislation that regulates the 
sale of pseudophedrine that is necessary in the manufacture of 
methamphetamine. And also they would provide extra funds for meth lab 
clean-ups.
  The gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder's) bill tracks manufacturers 
of pseudophedrine worldwide. And of course the pseudophedrine goes to 
many of the super labs, they are only seven or eight factories for 
pseudophedrine worldwide. And so if we know where those drugs are 
going, where the pseudophedrine is going, we have a pretty good idea 
where the super labs are.
  So these bills would be tremendously helpful. So I call attention to 
the meth problem, call attention to the reduction in funding, and we 
really need to do everything we can to stamp this problem out.

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