[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 42 (Wednesday, April 5, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H1495-H1500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1345
     EXPRESSING SENSE OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES THAT A NATIONAL 
         METHAMPHETAMINE PREVENTION WEEK SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED

  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree 
to the resolution (H. Res. 556) expressing the sense of the House of 
Representatives that a National Methamphetamine Prevention Week should 
be established to increase awareness of methamphetamine and to educate 
the public on ways to help prevent the use of that damaging narcotic.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 556

       Whereas methamphetamine is a highly addictive, man-made 
     drug that can be injected, snorted, smoked, or ingested 
     orally, the effects of which include feelings of euphoria 
     that last for up to 24 hours and psychotic behavior such as 
     auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, delusions, and 
     paranoia, potentially causing the user to experience 
     homicidal or suicidal thoughts as well as violent behavior 
     and brain damage;
       Whereas the number of admissions to treatment in which 
     methamphetamine was the primary substance of abuse increased 
     exponentially from 20,776 in 1993 to 116,604 in 2003;
       Whereas methamphetamine is easily produced in clandestine 
     laboratories, known as ``meth labs'', using a variety of 
     volatile and toxic ingredients available in stores, and 
     presents a danger to the individual preparing the 
     methamphetamine, the community surrounding the laboratory, 
     and the law enforcement personnel who discover the 
     laboratory;
       Whereas the Drug Enforcement Administration reports that 
     domestic meth lab seizures have increased from 7,438 in 1999 
     to 17,170 in 2004;
       Whereas studies have found that methamphetamine use is 
     strongly linked to identity theft, domestic violence, overall 
     crime rates, child abuse, and child neglect;
       Whereas the National Association of Counties has conducted 
     surveys with law enforcement and child welfare officials in 
     more than 500 counties, and found that 87 percent of all law 
     enforcement agencies surveyed reported increases in 
     methamphetamine-related arrests in recent years, and 40 
     percent of all the child welfare officials in the survey 
     reported increased out-of-home placements of children due to 
     methamphetamine use;
       Whereas methamphetamine use and production is prevalent 
     around the world;
       Whereas approximately 65 percent of the methamphetamine 
     supply in the United States is trafficked in the form of a 
     finished product from other countries;
       Whereas the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 
     reports that more than 30,000,000 people around the world use 
     amphetamine-type stimulants, a number that eclipses the 
     combined global use of cocaine and heroin;

[[Page H1496]]

       Whereas methamphetamine and narcotics task forces, judges, 
     prosecutors, defense attorneys, substance abuse treatment and 
     rehabilitation professionals, law enforcement officials, 
     researchers, students and educators, community leaders, 
     parents, and others dedicated to fighting methamphetamine 
     have a profound influence within their communities; and
       Whereas the establishment of a National Methamphetamine 
     Prevention Week would increase awareness of methamphetamine 
     and educate the public on effective ways to help prevent 
     methamphetamine use at the international, Federal, State, and 
     local levels: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of 
     Representatives that--
       (1) a National Methamphetamine Prevention Week should be 
     established to increase awareness of methamphetamine and 
     educate the public on effective ways to help prevent 
     methamphetamine use at the international, Federal, State, and 
     local levels; and
       (2) the people of the United States and interested groups 
     should be encouraged to observe National Methamphetamine 
     Prevention Week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boozman). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland) and the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Davis) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia.


                             General Leave

  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Georgia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise in support of H. Res. 556 offered by the distinguished 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Baird). This resolution would recognize 
the importance of educating people of all ages about the dangers of 
methamphetamines.
  Methamphetamines are highly addictive, dangerous stimulants that are 
sold in powder, pill and capsule forms and can be inhaled, swallowed or 
injected. The physical effects of methamphetamines use include 
alertness, euphoria, appetite loss, elevated heart rate, and increased 
respiration. The most popular form of the drug, referred to as crystal 
meth, has become increasingly widespread and can result in overdose, 
causing both stroke and heart failure.
  While the median age of the habitual meth user is 30 years, the drug 
is starting to strengthen its hold on younger generations. The number 
of teenagers who have reported using meth has increased dramatically 
over the past few years. It is extremely easy for young people to 
access Internet information outlining recipes and places to obtain 
ingredients for manufacturing the drug.
  This legislation would help to increase awareness of this serious 
epidemic and educate the public about the dangers of meth use.
  I urge all Members to come together and to commit to the task of 
educating our youth about the dangers of methamphetamines use by 
adopting H. Res. 556.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he might 
consume to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Baird), the author of 
this legislation.
  Mr. BAIRD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois and the 
gentleman from Georgia as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to rise in strong support of H. Res. 556, a 
resolution I have introduced to establish National Methamphetamine 
Prevention Week.
  As was mentioned earlier, methamphetamine is a cheap, addictive drug 
that has penetrated the smallest of communities and has reached 
epidemic proportions in this country and throughout the world. In fact, 
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports that more than 30 
million people around the world use amphetamine-type stimulants, a 
number that surpasses the global use of cocaine and heroin combined.
  Domestically, we have seen the number of meth lab seizures decline in 
some areas over the last years, yet increase in others as the epidemic 
has moved from west to east. For example, in 1999, California busted 
2,579 meth labs domestically, while Missouri that year busted 439. 
However, by 2004, California had reduced their labs to 764, while 
Missouri increased to an astonishing 2,788.
  The situation with methamphetamine is evolving, and as local police 
and drug task forces become more efficient in shutting down the local, 
clandestine labs, the supply shifts to become increasingly filled by 
finished product imported from Mexico and other countries, often in a 
more potent form.
  In my home district in southwest Washington, for example, we have 
seen the purity of meth increase on the street by over 43 percent in 
just the last 4 years. This is a disturbing pattern. Its history has 
taught us that along with increases in purity, so goes admissions to 
treatment centers, drug-related crimes, arrests and overdoses.
  Judge Woolard from Clark County in my home district has explained to 
me that the meth epidemic can be encapsulated in the following 
statistics: 80 percent of the kids in foster care in my home county 
have parents who are meth addicts; 80 percent of the criminal cases 
brought before the courts involve drug use; and 75 percent of the kids 
in juvenile detention are now involved with meth.
  This is not a problem that is going away without a comprehensive plan 
for action.
  My colleagues and I have recently addressed the issue of domestic 
supply with the passage of the Combat Meth Act which had overwhelming 
support in this body. We also continue to move forward on efforts to 
deal with the international supply of meth precursors, and will soon 
insist that companies where these products are produced limit and track 
the shipment of methamphetamine.
  We have to address the demand side as well, and we can do this by 
continuing to fund programs such as the National Youth Anti-Drug Media 
Campaign and Safe and Drug Free Schools. Additionally, we can encourage 
our communities to get involved in the fight against meth at the ground 
level. That is why National Meth Prevention Week is so important.
  This bill will allow and encourage local communities in a nationwide 
effort to address all aspects of the meth problem from prevention to 
intervention to treatment.
  It will also provide us an opportunity to dedicate 1 week out of the 
year that should actually be a nationwide effort to engage students and 
children in discussions and activities that will underscore the 
importance of avoiding methamphetamine use.
  I am pleased that the legislation has 63 bipartisan cosponsors, as 
well as the support of the National Association of Counties, National 
Narcotic Officers Coalition, National Criminal Justice Association and 
the Association for Addiction Professionals.
  I want to particularly thank the co-chairs of the Meth Caucus, 
Chairmen Larsen, Boswell, Cannon and Calvert, as well as Chairman 
Souder who has been a leader on this issue throughout the Congress. 
They have been tremendous allies in this fight, and I am happy to work 
with them on a bipartisan basis.
  I also want to again thank Chairman Davis, Ranking Member Waxman and 
Ranking Member Cummings for their support of the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, finally, I want to thank my own staff, Katie Stevens, 
for her work on this, as well as the law enforcement treatment and 
prevention professionals in my district who have done such an 
outstanding job combating this horrific drug.
  I urge my colleagues to support the adoption of H. Res. 556 today. I 
hope the action will then be followed by the speedy adoption of the 
companion bill in the other body, S. Res. 313, offered by my colleague 
and friend Senator Cantwell.
  Let us unite today to send a joint message to our local communities, 
as well as our friends overseas, that we acknowledge the devastating 
impact of this drug and are united in our fight against it.
  I thank the gentleman for the time.
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume 
to the gentleman from the great State of Georgia (Mr. Gingrey), my 
friend and distinguished colleague.

[[Page H1497]]

  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from 
Georgia, as well as my colleague, Representative Davis from Illinois, 
and I thank Representative Baird from Washington for bringing this bill 
up, H. Res. 556.
  I am a physician Member of the body, and I see, and I did in my 
practice, of course this has been 4 years ago, a lot of drug addiction 
unfortunately, and this methamphetamine issue, Mr. Speaker, has reached 
exponential and unbelievable proportions.
  When some of us were in college, Mr. Speaker, I do not know if you 
remember this or not, but I certainly do, to study and cram for a test 
at the last minute, there were always these little pills floating 
around the fraternity house that you could take. It would literally 
allow you to stay up all night, and you had an accelerated sense of 
awareness and could not sleep, and sometimes you literally could go 
through a whole calculus textbook and do a whole semester's worth of 
work in one night and think that you were going to go in and ace the 
test. That rarely happened. That sense of euphoria was there, Mr. 
Speaker, but when you got that final grade back, that A you thought you 
had made might more often was a C- or a D. But that was then and this 
is now.
  Just listen to this little bit of background and why this idea of 
Representative Baird's of having a National Methamphetamine Prevention 
Awareness Week is so important.
  Methamphetamine is a highly addictive, man-made drug that can be, and 
I remember you just swallowed a pill, but today can be injected, 
snorted, smoked and, of course, ingested orally. It causes these 
feelings, Mr. Speaker, of euphoria that last up to 24 hours, psychotic 
behavior, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, delusions, 
paranoia, potentially causing the user to experience homicidal or 
suicidal thoughts, as well as violent behavior, brain damage.
  The scary part about this is it is so easily made, as the previous 
speakers have talked about, and these clandestine labs in these homes 
are a lot of times in rural areas.
  Mr. Speaker, I represent a fairly rural area, northwest Georgia. I 
have one county in particular who are a great people. I will not 
mention the name of the county because they do not deserve, I do not 
think, to be overly criticized because they are working really hard to 
try to solve this problem in the northwest, but it is a huge problem, 
and I wanted to take an opportunity in particular, and in this instance 
I will name names.
  One of my constituents, she is a real estate agent, works hard, 
single parent. Her name is Betty Brady. When I was in that county 
recently, Betty gave me a book that she had written, and it was just 
kind of a small paperback, almost a syllabus. It was the first time, 
Mr. Speaker, that she had ever made any attempt at authoring a book. 
That was not her profession. She is not a professional writer, but she 
wrote that book talking about her daughter Jennifer.
  Jennifer's now, thank God, recovered fully from her methamphetamine 
addiction. She is 24 years old, young lady who is working very hard in 
the community now, with an outreach, working with law enforcement, 
talking in school, trying to bring awareness, just as this bill is 
going to do and why I am so much in favor of it. But it is a 
heartrending story of this perfect child. They have a son as well and 
this little perfect daughter, you know, the apple of their eye, and 
then all of the sudden she fell in with the wrong crowd and got into 
this methamphetamine addiction and just about destroyed her life. As 
Betty says in the book, so many of this young lady, her daughter 
Jennifer's friends did lose their lives, either by getting too much or 
main-lining something and then going into respiratory depression or 
whatever.
  I am just shocked when I read some of the statistics, Mr. Speaker, 
the fact that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports that 
more than 30 million people around the world use methamphetamine-type 
stimulants, a number that eclipsed the combined global use of cocaine 
and heroin.
  That is the problem that Representative Baird is so aware of and why 
this H. Res. 556 is such an important thing to do, so that people like 
Betty Brady that are out there in the trenches struggling to make 
youngsters aware, this will be a week where they can really bring that 
focus and get into the schools and let people know that this is highly 
addictive. This is not just the speed that truck drivers used to take 
so they could drive to the west coast without stopping. This is 
something that is a very, very serious drug.
  I thank the gentleman from Georgia, my colleague, Representative 
Westmoreland, for letting me take a few minutes and just talk about 
this, and I commend Representative Baird. We are fully supportive of 
it, and I am sure that an overwhelming majority, if not unanimous, vote 
on this is in order.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such 
time as he might consume to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), 
the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Drug Policy and the former 
Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

                              {time}  1400

  Mr. CUMMINGS. I want to thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want 
to thank Mr. Baird for this resolution, which I strongly support.
  As the ranking member of the Drug Subcommittee of the Government 
Reform Committee, I have traveled, along with Congressman Souder, 
throughout this entire country, and we have had an opportunity to go to 
many, many places that are usually rural in nature, and we have seen 
the effects of methamphetamine use. We have heard drug court judges, we 
have listened to foster care parents, we have listened to wonderful 
people like the lady that was just mentioned who have seen their 
children go through being addicted to methamphetamine.
  While I am from an urban area, if I were to close my eyes and if we 
were to substitute the name of this drug for crack cocaine or cocaine, 
a lot of the same types of stories I have been hearing for many, many 
years in the 7th Congressional District of Maryland are the stories Mr. 
Souder and I heard all over urban areas throughout our country.
  Drugs are a major damaging element in our society. I have seen so 
many families destroyed. And by the way, it is not just the person who 
uses the drug but their families are affected, their communities are 
affected and their children are affected. So often the property values 
go down in a neighborhood because of the use. Methamphetamines fall 
right in that category.
  Methamphetamines are easy to produce. As a matter of fact, you can 
find the ingredients and how to do it and make them on the Internet, 
and that is one of the things that is so frightening about this. When I 
think about some of the addicts that live in my district, they often 
have a hard time getting ahold of the crack cocaine or getting ahold of 
the cocaine. When I think about methamphetamines, however, it seems as 
if this is one of the things that folks could do and find it might be a 
little easier and a little bit cheaper to get to.
  That is one of the many reasons why we have to stand up and we have 
to do things like Representative Baird has suggested in this 
legislation. We have to make sure that parents are aware, that coaches, 
and that people in our communities are aware, neighbors and friends are 
aware so that perhaps we can prevent some of this.
  As we traveled throughout the United States in our subcommittee, we 
had people come and testify and show us pictures of how they looked 
before using methamphetamines. And when we would see them, sometimes 
maybe a year later after using them, maybe 7 months later, they looked 
like a ghost of themselves.
  As one young man said to me, and I shall never forget it as long as I 
live, it is embedded in the DNA of every cell in my brain, he said, 
when I went out there to simply get a high, I went and I got high over 
and over again. I would stay up for days. Stay up for days. And he 
said, I got high. Man, I thought I was on cloud nine. He said, then 
there came a time when I tried to get off and it was very difficult to 
do it. He said, but I finally licked it. But he said, then I looked at 
myself in the mirror and I said, self, will you forgive me? And he said 
self said back to him, yeah, I forgive you. And then he said something

[[Page H1498]]

that is embedded in the DNA of every cell of my brain. He said but my 
body wouldn't forgive me. My body that now looked about 10 or 15 years 
older with all kinds of sores all over his body.
  So we must continue this fight. It is a very important fight. It is a 
fight for the soul of America. So often what happens is that people 
look at the drug war, if you want to call it that, the efforts to stop 
drugs, as a negative issue. But let me tell you something, there are 
too many lives that are being robbed every day, too much potential. 
When we think about our children and we think about people who are 
living a wonderful family life and doing well, the one thing that can 
suck the blood out of them, suck the life out of them and their 
communities is drugs.
  So I applaud Mr. Baird and all of our colleagues who have made this 
methamphetamine war effort their effort. For I have often said that our 
children are the living messages we send to a future we will never see. 
But the fact is, if we do not address this issue now with prevention, 
intervention, and treatment, they will never see that future either.
  And so I would hope that all of the Members of this great House will 
vote in favor of this legislation and that when methamphetamine week 
comes around that we will not just think of the rural areas and what is 
going on there with methamphetamines, but we will think about all our 
efforts dealing with drugs, all kinds of drugs, and remind ourselves 
that we are determined to make sure that this element, that this 
negative element, that this poison of death does not invade our 
communities. And if it does, that we will stand up and fight with 
everything we have got, as if our lives depended on it, because they 
do.
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
my distinguished colleague from the State of Nebraska (Mr. Osborne).
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to add my congratulations 
to Congressman Baird for H.R. 556.
  First of all, the good news. In many parts of the country, cocaine 
and heroin are being diminished rather rapidly. The bad news is that 
the reason in many cases this is happening is simply because 
methamphetamine has come in. Methamphetamine is cheaper. It is more 
addictive. If we had a map here, we could see the sweep of the growth 
of methamphetamine from the southwestern part of the United States all 
the way across the country, and now maybe just a few States in the 
northeast are somewhat preserved from having to battle this problem. 
But, of course, that problem is going to be coming in their direction.
  The State of Nebraska recently released a study which indicated there 
were 22,000 people addicted to methamphetamine. In the State of 
Nebraska, that would be equivalent to about the eighth or ninth largest 
community in the State of Nebraska. A study in Arkansas recently 
indicated that the average meth addict will cost the State of Arkansas 
$47,500, in view of crimes, children in foster care, time in prison and 
so on. So if you multiplied that out, 22,000 people by $47,500, you are 
talking about over $1 billion in a State with 1.7 million people. So it 
is a significant, huge problem.
  Just as an example of one of the more innocent victims, a child born 
to a mother addicted to methamphetamine will usually cost anywhere from 
$700,000 to $1.7 million to get that child from birth to age 18 because 
of the devastation and the defects the methamphetamine has caused in 
that child, not to mention the amount of pain the child goes through.
  So as has been mentioned earlier, there really is not one answer to 
this problem. It has to be multifaceted. And, really, we are looking at 
three things.
  Number one is education. And as Congressman Baird mentioned, the 
scary thing is that the age is getting less and less and less. So you 
have to start in about the 3rd or 4th grade letting kids know what this 
is, what is in it. You also have to educate parents, because parents 
are the number one determinant as to an attitude that a person is going 
to have towards substance abuse.
  So for every dollar that we spend at the front end in education and 
prevention, it has been proven that we save $10 or $15 at the back end 
in terms of the devastation that the drugs cost. So we have to spend 
more in prevention, we have to spend more in education, and I think 
that is something this body needs to keep in mind.
  Secondly, law enforcement. The number one law enforcement tool we 
have for methamphetamine is the drug task forces, and this is funded 
primarily by the Byrne Grants. Last year, we zeroed out the Byrne 
Grants. And we fought with every fiber that we had here to get about 
two-thirds of that funding back, but it wasn't enough. So we have to 
make sure that the Byrne Grants are fully funded, because again, in the 
White House budget, they have been zeroed out this year. We absolutely 
have to have those.
  And the last issue is treatment. It has been proven that drug courts 
are much more effective than throwing people in prison. We have so many 
people who are simply addicted and they are sent to prison. A drug 
court enables them to be tested twice a week, they get treatment, and 
they can usually hold their families together and pay taxes. So we 
think these are all things that are very, very important.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time 
I have left?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boozman). The gentleman from Illinois 
has 8 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Salazar).
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Davis) for giving me time to speak in favor of H.R. 556. 
I would like to especially thank one of my own constituents, way in the 
past, back in the early 1950s, I think, when Congressman Baird stomped 
my district, the Third Congressional District. I want to thank him for 
his leadership in this arena.
  Mr. Speaker, an epidemic is sweeping our great Nation. It is an 
epidemic that affects people in all congressional districts, especially 
those congressional districts that are mainly rural. It has no regard 
for gender, race, economic status or where you live. Of course, I am 
speaking about the use of methamphetamine. This drug is easy to make, 
easy to get, and easy to fall victim to.
  We have all seen the ways in which meth transforms individuals, from 
soccer moms to addicts living on the streets. Mr. Speaker, I fully 
support H.R. 556, and I am a cosponsor of this important resolution.
  I am a believer in the old saying that an ounce of prevention is 
worth a pound of cure, and it is clearly understood that for every 
dollar that the Federal Government spends in prevention programs, it 
saves the Federal Government $7 in cure. By passing this important 
resolution and expressing our support for the National Methamphetamine 
Prevention Week, we take one more important step towards eliminating 
meth.
  As we are having this debate, I want to raise awareness of other 
actions, as our previous speaker talked about. I have joined my 
colleagues in urging the Budget Committee to restore funding for the 
JAG-Byrne Grants and the COPS programs. Both of these funding streams 
aid local law enforcement agencies in their work to eradicate meth from 
our neighbors. This money goes towards paying the cost of 
investigating, prosecuting, and cleaning up peddlers of meth and their 
highly toxic labs. We cannot stop idly by and watch this important 
funding disappear.
  Mr. Speaker, today I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 556 and 
support restoring funding for other important law enforcement tools as 
we take up the budget this week.
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers at this 
time, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Baird).
  Mr. BAIRD. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Salazar, Mr. Cummings, 
Mr. Osborne, and Mr. Gingrey for their thoughtful remarks.
  Just to close my portion of this commentary, people sometimes ask why 
I am so committed to this. Before I was in Congress, I spent 23 years 
as a clinical psychologist and I saw cases of families and lives 
devastated by meth. Since coming to Congress, I visit every high school 
in my district, I try to do it every 2 years, and last fall, I visited

[[Page H1499]]

a little tiny rural school and was talking to the kids about the danger 
of methamphetamines.
  And this little 16-year-old gal said quietly to her classmates, you 
really need to listen to what he says. I was taken aback that a young 
lady would speak out in front of her peers. And I gently said, you 
know, you must have some experience with this. And she said, I do. My 
mother died of methamphetamine use 3 months ago.
  Then I was back this spring, on our spring recess which we all just 
came back from a couple of weeks ago, and a woman handed me a letter 
that described how her 2-year-old granddaughter was beaten to death by 
a meth addict boyfriend who was in the house at the time and was 
tweaking on methamphetamine. He struck her so hard she died, and then 
just put her in bed for someone else to find the next day. This was a 
little 2-year-old girl, the apple of her family's eye.
  And as if that isn't enough, I was speaking to a rotary club about 
something entirely different, and a prominent leading businessman came 
up to me quietly, shook my hand, and said, thank you for what you are 
doing on the issue of methamphetamine. My 25-year-old son is addicted 
to this drug and it would not surprise us if he died of his use of this 
drug.
  Methamphetamine, as my colleagues have said, is a devastating drug, 
and we must do everything in our power to keep families' lives from 
being further destroyed by it. And I thank all my colleagues for 
supporting this important resolution and hope we can make a difference, 
and I know we can if we work together.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I will use the rest of my time to 
close.
  Mr. Speaker, let me commend all those who have spoken on this issue, 
and I commend Mr. Baird for bringing it before us.
  Drug use and abuse is one of the major problems facing our country 
today, not in any one part of the country but all over America. I 
happen to live in a county where there are 800,000 drug users, where 
there are 300,000 who admit to using drugs on a regular basis.

                              {time}  1415

  I admit it is a large county. It is the second largest county in the 
Nation. But even with it being the second largest county in the Nation, 
800,000 people, that is an awful lot. Much of the crime that exists in 
our country is associated with drug use and abuse. We have to make sure 
that we provide the resources for prevention. We also have to make sure 
that we provide the resources for treatment. I am an advocate for 
something called treatment on demand where we try and make sure when 
people who are addicted are ready for treatment, resources are 
available for them. I commend the gentleman from Washington for 
introducing this legislation, and I urge its passage.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 556, a 
resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a 
National Methamphetamine Prevention Week should be established to 
increase awareness of methamphetamine and to educate the public on ways 
to help prevent the use of that damaging narcotic.
  Meth addiction is a growing problem in the United States and one that 
is destroying lives, families and towns.
  I agree that the United States must face this problem head on. 
However, there are many drugs that are equally as damaging and should 
not be overlooked.
  Crack cocaine has ravaged our cities for more than 20 years. Crack is 
very addictive, and after even a small amount of use can cause 
significant damage to a user's health.
  One way the U.S. Government attempted to fight the crack epidemic was 
to impose mandatory minimum prison sentences. Under the terms of these 
mandatory minimum sentences, someone caught carrying just 5 grams of 
crack received an automatic 5-year prison sentence. To receive the same 
sentence for powder cocaine, a person must be caught with 500 grams of 
powder cocaine under current law.
  As Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) notes, mandatory 
minimum sentences affect people of color disproportionately in three 
ways: More arrests for drug crimes, overall increases in the severity 
of drug sentences, and harsher treatment compared to white arrestees.
  This sad fact is clearly revealed in our Nation's prison statistics: 
Two-thirds of the 2 million Americans in jail or prison are African 
American or Hispanic. African Americans make up approximately 12 
percent of the population and are 13 percent of the drug users, yet 
they constitute 38 percent of all drug arrests and 59 percent of those 
convicted of drug offenses. Nationwide, African American males 
sentenced in State courts on drug felonies receive prison sentences 52 
percent of the time, while white males are sentenced to prison 34 
percent of the time.
  Mr. Speaker, as Congress debates how best to address the meth 
problem, I urge my colleagues to resist the simple answer of ``more 
jail time.'' Mandatory prison sentences do not work and do not provide 
hope for our Nation's drug users.
  Instead, we should push education, as this resolution calls for. We 
should also substantially increase funding for treatment and job 
training because without these tools, addiction will be a vicious cycle 
for most people.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 556, a 
resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a 
National Methamphetamine Prevention Week should be established to 
increase awareness about methamphetamine and to educate the public on 
ways to help prevent the use of this damaging narcotic. 
Methamphetamine, or meth, has become the most dangerous drug problem of 
small-town America.
  Meth is a highly-addictive and treatment-resistant drug produced from 
readily-accessible materials found in every local hardware or drug 
store in America. The explosion of this very destructive synthetic drug 
has already taken a brutal toll on children, families and the 
environment in my district in Minnesota and across the Nation. Dealing 
with the enormous economic and social effects of meth--whether it is 
diverting tax dollars from already-strapped county budgets, or devoting 
manpower hours to locate and clean up remote meth labs, or treating 
meth addicts at the local hospitals and clinics--consumes our society's 
resources at an astounding rate.
  A daunting challenge of the meth epidemic lies in the very nature of 
this drug; it is a highly addictive substance that is considered to be 
the most treatment-resistant of all illegal drugs. Many people get 
hooked after only one use, and some recent studies have demonstrated 
that meth causes more damage to the brain than heroin, alcohol, or 
cocaine. Meth use not only modifies behavior in an acute state, but 
after taking it repeatedly, the drug also literally changes the brain 
in fundamental and long-lasting ways. Helping meth addicts is a very 
difficult and expensive proposition, because 30 days of treatment is 
often not enough. This all-consuming addiction is harmful not only to 
the user, but to that user's children, who are robbed of nurturing 
parents and a secure home; nationwide, approximately 3,200 children 
were present during the seizure of meth labs last year alone.
  Our health care and social services systems need more funding for 
prevention and treatment, because only by breaking that cycle of demand 
can we bring lasting change to the entire community. Parents and 
educators play a vital role in encouraging young people to make the 
right decisions, because many children do not understand the inherent 
risks associated with experimenting with the drug. Preventing drug use 
is the first step to avoiding drug addiction, and H. Res. 556 will 
provide the opportunity to dedicate one week out of the year to engage 
students and children in discussions and activities that will 
underscore the importance of living a meth free life.
  Like many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I am very 
concerned about the threat that the meth epidemic poses to local 
communities in my Congressional district and across the Nation. Earlier 
this year, I introduced the Methamphetamine Eradication Act (H.R. 
4763), which is a balanced, comprehensive federal approach to 
addressing problems related to meth abuse. As a Co-Chair of the 
Congressional Rural Caucus' Meth Task Force, I will continue to work 
with my colleagues in Congress to increase public awareness and to find 
a bipartisan solution to the meth epidemic.
  The Federal Government must be a more effective partner in the fight 
to eliminate the threat posed by meth. By establishing a National 
Methamphetamine Prevention Week, we can give our local communities the 
opportunity to highlight their meth-related activities and take pride 
in their response to the scourge of this drug.
  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 
556. This resolution supports the establishment of a National 
Methamphetamine Prevention Week to increase public awareness throughout 
the country of the harmful effects of methamphetamine and to educate 
local communities on ways to effectively prevent and curb 
methamphetamine use.
  The production, trafficking, and use of methamphetamine are growing 
and significant substance abuse and public health issues for the United 
States. Methamphetamine has

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emerged in recent years as a leading national drug control policy 
challenge. Coordination between all levels of government is needed if 
the challenge of curbing methamphetamine use is to be met and 
fulfilled. Public awareness and involvement is also important to 
effectively preventing the use of methamphetamine within our local 
communities.
  Guam is no exception to the alarming trends in methamphetamine use. 
The trafficking and use of methamphetamine on Guam has risen in recent 
years and directly affected the youth of our island. Today 
methamphetamine-related arrests on average constitute three quarters of 
the adult drug-related arrests on Guam each year. The Guam Department 
of Customs and Quarantine has seized more grams of amphetamines than 
any other illegal narcotic over the past several years. Additionally, 
more than half of the individuals admitted for substance abuse 
treatment on Guam are methamphetamine users.
  The increase in the abuse of the drug spans all ethnic, cultural, and 
age groups. There are currently no national observances or coordinated 
programs dedicated to the fight against methamphetamine despite the 
alarming national and local trends. A ``National Meth Prevention Week'' 
would be the first of its kind. I strongly support H. Res. 556 for this 
reason and know that such an undertaking would facilitate a national 
dialogue for communities to share information on what programs, methods 
and initiatives work best for combating methamphetamine use.
  I look forward to promoting National Meth Prevention Week on Guam. I 
thank our colleague from Washington, Mr. Baird, and our colleague from 
Indiana, Mr. Souder, for their leadership on national drug control 
policy and in particular for the efforts in promoting national 
awareness of the dangers associated with methamphetamine abuse.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the 
adoption of House Resolution 556, and I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boozman). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland) that the House 
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 556.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will 
be postponed.

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