[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 13, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5099-H5100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HEROIN AND SYNTHETIC DRUG EPIDEMIC

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Katko) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, as the House considers 
legislation to address a heroin and synthetic drug epidemic plaguing 
our country, to honor the memories of two young people from my 
district: Morgan Brittany Axe, who died from a heroin overdose more 
than 2\1/2\ years ago, and Victor Orlando Woolson, who drowned after 
using synthetic drugs that he bought over the counter almost 6 years 
ago.
  Morgan and Victor and so many others were touched by this terrible 
epidemic. Morgan and Victor were both active members of our community 
and touched the lives of every person they interacted with.
  Before she passed away, Morgan worked at the Dewitt Animal Hospital 
and treated sick and injured animals on a daily basis. Victor was a 
high-achieving graduate of Mexico High School and was enrolled in 
Cayuga Community College, where he studied criminal justice and 
psychology.
  Drug addiction is a terrible disease. Morgan became addicted to Xanax 
after the suicide of her boyfriend. She was just 17 years old at the 
time. Morgan became dependent on Xanax and needed it to function on a 
daily basis. She then progressed to other pills in order to numb her 
pain.
  After a long battle with heroin and prescription painkillers, Morgan 
found the strength of sobriety for 8 months and was on the drug 
Vivitrol. Vivitrol magically makes it impossible for addicts to get 
high on heroin or painkillers.
  After she found out that she was pregnant, Morgan went off Vivitrol 
because she did not want it to harm her child. Unfortunately, post-
acute withdrawal set in, and Morgan relapsed.
  Morgan did not have to drive to a drug house on Syracuse's west side 
to buy the bag of heroin that killed her. Instead, a career drug dealer 
delivered it to her house in Fairmount after cajoling her to use it.
  After doing one bag of heroin, Deanna Axe found her daughter lifeless 
in her bedroom. Morgan overdosed and died, and her unborn child, Isaiah 
Douglas Lee Mathis, died with her. Morgan's drug dealer, Anthony Vita, 
was federally prosecuted and is now in prison for the next 15 years. 
However, Vita being in prison where he belongs, will never bring Morgan 
back.
  Victor Woolson was your average happy-go-lucky teenager who had many 
friends. He was not only a loyal friend but a loving brother, uncle, 
and grandson. Victor graduated Mexico High School with an advanced 
regents diploma and had 4 years in the Marine Corps Junior ROTC 
program. In college, Victor was contemplating a career in law 
enforcement while attending Cayuga Community College.
  While attending community college, Victor began experimenting with 
synthetic drugs that he was able to purchase legally over the counter. 
Because he could buy these substances over the counter, Victor assumed 
these illicit substances were safe. They were not.
  At the young age of 19, Victor went into a shop, bought a packet of 
K2/Spice over the counter at a head shop in Oswego, New York, suffered 
a fatal reaction from smoking that synthetic marijuana, and drowned in 
Lake Ontario.
  After Victor's tragic death, his mother, Teresa channeled her sadness 
and anger into advocacy and founded the Victor Orlando Woolson 
Foundation, or the VOW Foundation for short, which advocates for 
stronger legislation against synthetic drugs and assists individuals 
and organizations in providing services for mentally ill, homeless, and 
low-income youth in Oswego County.
  It has been my honor to fight alongside Teresa, and this year I 
invited her to be my guest at the State of the Union in order to 
highlight the need to address and combat the use of synthetic drugs.
  I am proud to fight in memory of Morgan and Victor and so many 
others, and in this Congress I introduced the Stop the Importation and 
Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues Act, or SITSA for short.
  The SITSA Act modernizes the Controlled Substances Act by speeding up 
the process of placing synthetic drugs on the controlled substances 
list. Under current law, drug producers often make minor tweaks to 
legal substances that mimic the effects of

[[Page H5100]]

banned drugs and use this loophole to prevent law enforcement from 
removing these drugs from circulation.
  In addition, the SITSA Act outlaws 13 synthetic fentynals that have 
been identified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as an immediate 
threat to public health.
  Together, by passing this legislation, we can prevent synthetic drugs 
from, one, being imported into this country; two, being routinely mixed 
with heroin in fatal doses; and, three, being sold over the counter in 
head shops and bodegas throughout this country.
  These efforts can't bring Victor Orlando Woolson back. They can't 
bring Morgan Brittany Axe back and so many others from our district and 
our country, but this is a start in the right direction to stop this 
terrible epidemic.
  Every hour in this country, five people die from heroin overdose--
every hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. We have got 
to stop it. We have got to keep pushing.
  I am proud to be part of the legislation, and I am proud that the 
Congress is acting in such a meaningful manner.

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