[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 67 (Wednesday, April 25, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5097-S5098]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Mr. Grassley):
  S. 1211. A bill to amend the Controlled Substances Act to provide 
enhanced penalties for marketing controlled substances to minors; to 
the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today I join with Senator Grassley in 
introducing the Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act of 2007. This bill 
would increase the criminal penalties that apply when criminals market 
their illegal drugs to our children, using appalling techniques like 
the recently reported sales on our streets of candy-flavored 
methamphetamine.
  In particular, the bill would: double the maximum penalties 
applicable to drug crimes if a criminal defendant manufactures, offers, 
distributes, or possesses with intent to distribute a controlled 
substance that is flavored, colored, packaged or otherwise altered in a 
way that is designed to make it more appealing to a person under the 
age of 21; if the violation is a repeat offense, the maximum sentence 
would be tripled; and a mandatory minimum prison sentence of at least a 
year would apply in every case involving illegal drugs that targets its 
marketing at minors.
  The growing problem of marketing illegal drugs to minors was 
highlighted in a recent USA Today article, entitled ``Flavored Meth Use 
on the Rise,'' which stated, ``Reports of candy-flavored 
methamphetamine are emerging around the nation, stirring concern among 
police and abuse prevention experts that drug dealers are marketing the 
drug to younger people.''
  Normally, methamphetamine--a highly addictive stimulant--is a 
brownish, bitter-tasting crystalline powder. But drug dealers, 
recognizing that this may not be appealing to children or teenagers, 
have reacted by reaching a new low: they are using candy and soda 
flavors to market their meth.
  Soda flavors. Strawberry methamphetamine that they market as 
``Strawberry Quick.'' Reddish methamphetamine marketed as an energy 
drink like ``Red Bull.'' Even ``chocolate quick.''
  Scott Burns, Deputy Drug Czar at the White House Office of National 
Drug Control Policy, warns that this development may negatively affect 
the gains we have recently made in getting the word out to our young 
people about how horrible this drug is.
  According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the number 
of people 12 and older who used methamphetamine for the first time in 
the previous year decreased from 318,000 people in 2004 to 192,000 
people in 2005. That's the good news.
  But Deputy Drug Czar Burns warns that with drug dealers having a 
tougher time selling their product, especially to young people, ``they 
have to come up with some sort of gimmick.'' And that gimmick, he 
warns, is the use of flavored methamphetamine.
  In my own State of California, San Francisco police since late 
January have arrested teens with quantities of meth designed to taste 
like chocolate. The Haight-Asbury clinic also confirms chocolate-
flavored methamphetamine being used on the streets.
  Dr. Alex Stalcup, a nationally renowned drug counselor, reports 
seeing teenage patients at the New Leaf Treatment Center suffering the 
ill effects of flavored methamphetamine since the first of this year.
  One of Dr. Stalcup's patients was unaware that the substance was meth 
at all, and said he was told that it was a solidified form of the 
energy drink Red Bull. Dr. Stalcup warns that this new form of the drug 
also may be more likely to lead to an overdose, by users who may not be 
aware of, or who may underestimate, a candy-flavored drug's impact.
  Perhaps the first report of this problem emerged in late January, 
when a Carson City, Nevada police informant purchased 2 grams of a 
strawberry-flavored methamphetamine from an alleged member of the Lima 
Street gang. Officers later served a search warrant on his home and 
found more. Police bulletins warned this ``new type of meth will be 
more attractive to a younger crowd and may surface in schools.''
  Additional reports also came in. On February 13, a police officer in 
Greene County, MO, seized a bag of ``strawberry meth'' from a female 
passenger in a car stopped in a rural area of Greene County, MO. And in 
Idaho, the Administrator of the Governor's Office of Drug Control 
Policy warned of how drug dealers were producing ``strawberry quick'' 
and ``chocolate quick'' forms of meth, to attract young buyers and 
spawn a new generation of drug buyers.
  The Idaho Press-Tribune even reported that at Valentine's Day, drug 
dealers compressed the flavored form of the drug into heart-shapes, 
colored it bright pink, and wrapped it in shiny paper.
  Based on intelligence gathered by Drug Enforcement Administration 
agents from informants, users, police and drug counselors, flavored 
crystals are now available in California, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, 
Texas, New Mexico, Missouri and Minnesota.

[[Page S5098]]

  The bill I offer today would address this problem, by enacting 
penalties to discourage colored and flavored drugs and the marketing of 
drugs to minors.
  Under current law, there is already an enhanced penalty if someone 
distributes illegal drugs to a minor. The maximum sentence is doubled, 
and tripled for a repeat offense, and there is a minimum of at least a 
year in prison. But the enhancement applies only if there is an actual 
distribution to a minor. Even possession with intent to distribute 
doesn't qualify. And current law doesn't address flavored drugs or 
marketing illegal drugs in ways appealing to kids.
  The bill I introduce would fix that. If someone manufactures, 
creates, distributes, or possesses with intent to distribute an illegal 
drug that is flavored, colored, packaged or altered in a way designed 
to make it more appealing to someone under age 21, they would face this 
same enhanced penalty.
  This bill will send a strong and clear message to the drug dealers--
if you flavor up your drugs or alter them in a way that makes it more 
appealing to our children, there will be a very heavy price to pay.
  Flavored meth is designed to get people to try it a few times. It's 
all about hooking young people. And that is truly tragic. Listen to 
what one former addict wrote after hearing about this new development:

       They do need to worry about our children because I happen 
     to know quite a few 10 and 12 year olds on up that are 
     already using it and selling it out there. So whoever thinks 
     it's not a threat to our children--WRONG WRONG WRONG! It's 
     more and more dangerous out there when people cannot handle 
     it and they develop a chemical imbalance and lose their mind 
     to where they don't even know who they are anymore. I happen 
     to know a very, very young pretty girl I've met, and she will 
     never come back to who she was. She's gone. She is crazy and 
     is gonna end up hurt then dead one of these days. I pray for 
     this girl all the time . . .

  Estimates now place the number of habitual meth users worldwide at 26 
million worldwide--more than the combined total for heroin and cocaine. 
It is extraordinarily addictive. We must act to preserve the gains we 
have made, and keep kids from getting cruelly tricked into an addiction 
they may never break.
  These new penalties will make dealers think twice before flavoring up 
their drugs, and punish them appropriately if they don't. I urge my 
colleagues to support this legislation and ask unanimous consent that 
the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1211

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Saving Kids from Dangerous 
     Drugs Act of 2007''.

     SEC. 2. SENTENCING ENHANCEMENTS FOR MARKETING CONTROLLED 
                   SUBSTANCES TO MINORS.

       Section 418 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 
     859) is amended--
       (1) in the section heading, by adding at the end the 
     following: ``; marketing to minors'';
       (2) in subsection (a), by inserting after ``twenty-one 
     years of age'' the following: ``, or who manufactures, 
     creates, distributes, or possesses with intent to distribute 
     a controlled substance that is flavored, colored, packaged, 
     or otherwise altered in a way that is designed to make that 
     controlled substance more appealing to a person under twenty-
     one years of age, or who attempts or conspires to do so,''; 
     and
       (3) in subsection (b), by inserting after ``twenty-one 
     years of age'' the following: ``, or who manufactures, 
     creates, distributes, or possesses with intent to distribute 
     a controlled substance that is flavored, colored, packaged, 
     or otherwise altered in a way that is designed to make that 
     controlled substance more appealing to a person under twenty-
     one years of age, or who attempts or conspires to do so,''.

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague today, 
Senator Feinstein, in introducing the Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs 
Act of 2007. I believe we have a moral obligation in this country to 
ensure our young people have every opportunity to grow up without being 
accosted by drug pushers at every turn, whether on TV, in the movies, 
or on the way to school.
  This important legislation comes in response to the recent warnings 
issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy of candy-flavored meth and other illegal 
drugs being colored, packaged, and flavored in ways that appear to be 
designed to attract use by children and minors. As co-chairman of the 
Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, I can tell you that 
the most at-risk population for drug abuse is our young people. 
Research has shown time and again that if you can keep a child drug-
free until they turn 20, chances are very slim that they will ever try 
or become addicted. Unfortunately, unscrupulous drug dealers are all 
too aware of statistics like these and have developed new techniques 
and marketing gimmicks to lure in younger users. As a parent and now 
grandparent, this is extremely worrisome.
  Last year, we worked to pass the Combat Meth Act into law. Since that 
time, the number of clandestine meth lab seizures have dropped 
dramatically across the country. By placing the essential ingredient 
pseudoephedrine behind the counter, we have lifted a heavy burden from 
the shoulders of our local law enforcement and made our communities a 
safer place to live and raise a family. In my home State of Iowa alone, 
the number of seizures fell a remarkable 73 percent since the sale of 
pseudoephearine was restricted. But as anyone can tell you, we have a 
long way to go.
  Despite our best efforts and recent success, meth continues to wreak 
havoc on families and communities across the country. While local ``mom 
and pop'' meth labs are being dismantled everywhere, drug dealers 
continue to look for new ways to market their poison. This legislation 
is intended to protect our young people by expanding existing penalties 
for those marketing their poison to kids.
  Currently Federal law enhances Federal penalties for selling drugs to 
anyone under the age of 21. When a violation occurs, the Federal 
penalties are doubled--tripled for a repeat offense--and a mandatory 
minimum of at least 1 year also applies. However, only the dealer who 
directly sells drugs to someone under 21 is subject to a double 
sentence.
  The Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act would expand the 
circumstances under which these enhanced penalties apply. Under our 
bill, the enhanced penalties that already exist would also apply to 
anyone who ``manufactures, creates, distributes, or possesses with 
intent to distribute a controlled substance that is flavored, colored, 
packaged or otherwise altered in a way that is designed to make it more 
appealing to a person under 21 years of age, or who attempts or 
conspires to do so.''
  The fight against meth and other dangerous drugs is and will continue 
to be an ongoing struggle. We must adapt and change our tactics just as 
the dealers, distributors, and pushers have changed theirs. We must do 
all we can to protect the most vulnerable among us and send a clear 
message to those wishing to prey on our youth.
  I ask that my colleagues join us in support of this important 
legislation and pass the Drug Endangered Children Act of 2007.
                                 ______