[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 104 (Thursday, June 20, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4172-S4173]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. PORTMAN:
  S. 1925. A bill to authorize State opioid response grants, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, today I am here to continue the important 
conversation we had on this floor about the ongoing addiction crisis we 
face in this country. Over the past 2 years, I have come to the floor 
57 times to talk about addiction, and usually it has been about opioids 
and the impact opioids are having--tearing our families apart, 
devastating our communities. There is certainly an opioid epidemic in 
this country with prescription drugs, fentanyl, heroin--it is true--but 
we also have to focus on the fact that we have a broader problem. That 
is what I am going to talk about today, along with what we can do about 
it.
  Congress has done a lot in the last several years. When looking at 
what was proposed and what was passed, we put new policies in place at 
the Federal level to promote better prevention, better treatment 
programs, and better long-term recovery. We passed legislation to stop 
some of these deadly drugs from coming into our country. That has 
helped somewhat. Those legislative initiatives, such as the CARA Act, 
the 21st Century Cures Act, and the STOP Act, are starting to work.
  Over $3 billion of additional funds has been appropriated by this 
Congress just in the last 3 years alone to ensure that we have the 
ability to push back against this epidemic. In my home State of Ohio--
one of the States hardest hit by this epidemic--we received nearly $140 
million from the CARA and Cures grants. It is going toward stuff that 
is working--evidence-based prevention, innovative approaches to 
treatment and getting people into treatment, and closing some of the 
gaps in the continuum of prevention, treatment, and recovery. A lot of 
people were falling between the cracks. Closing those gaps has a made a 
big difference in my State. We also equipped our first responders with 
what they need and the training they need to help push back.
  The good news is, these programs are starting to work. Drug overdose 
deaths are still way too high, but for the first time in 8 years--8 
years of increased overdose deaths every year--we are seeing a 
reduction in overdose deaths.
  In my own State of Ohio, we have seen significant progress. We have 
had a 21-percent drop in our overdose deaths finally after 8 years of 
increases. This was the biggest drop in the Nation from July 2017 to 
June of 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control National 
Center of Health Statistics. Nationally, again after 8 years of annual 
increased deaths, we have seen a leveling out--in fact, a very modest 
downturn. Between 2017 and 2018, overdose deaths fell from 73,000 to 
71,000. In all, the overdose rate dropped in 21 States. Overall, there 
has been only about a 1-percent drop, so it is very modest but a lot 
better than the alternative we have seen for 8 years, which is 
increased deaths.
  As we begin to turn the tide on the opioid epidemic, I am convinced 
that we would be doing even better if not for the influx of fentanyl. 
About 4 or 5 years ago, fentanyl came to our country in a big way--
almost entirely from China and almost always through our own U.S. 
Postal Service, believe it or not--and it has caused all kinds of 
havoc. It is the deadliest of all the drugs. When you look at overdose 
deaths, the primary cause now is fentanyl. It is a synthetic drug that 
is 50 times more powerful than heroin.
  We are beginning to push back again, including with our STOP Act, 
which has now been passed, which requires the post office to begin 
screening and stopping some of these packages from coming in. We will 
do a better job in working with China. We have commitments from them, 
and we hope they will follow through on them.
  Even as this limited progress is being made on the opioid front, we 
have a new, growing danger. I have heard this over the past few years 
from law enforcement and from providers--from people on the frontlines 
of the drug epidemic. They are seeing a resurgence of what are called 
psychostimulants. Mostly it is pure, powerful methamphetamine from 
Mexico--crystal meth.
  In the last couple of months, I have heard about this from the people 
in the trenches all over Ohio. I have talked to community leaders in 
Knox County; treatment providers in Southeast Ohio; service providers 
in Columbus; the ADAMHS Board in Adams, Lawrence, and Scioto Counties; 
the leadership of

[[Page S4173]]

the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition; and community leaders and law 
enforcement in Butler County and the Dayton area just last week. From 
all over the State, they all tell me the same thing: We are making some 
progress now on heroin, and that is good. We are making limited 
progress on keeping the fentanyl out. But we are spinning our wheels on 
combating particularly crystal meth, and they are also seeing a 
resurgence of cocaine--both of which are stimulants, and both of which 
are causing havoc in these communities, in part because, as a 
psychostimulant, it leads to more violent behavior.
  They are having a devastating impact in my State. According to a 2018 
report from Ohio University, these psychostimulants--including meth--
were found in just nine overdose deaths in 2010. That number rose to 
556 overdose deaths in 2017, which is the most recent data we have. 
That is an increase of 6,000 percent. That same year, Ohio had more 
than 1,500 people die of cocaine overdose, which is an almost 140-
percent increase from the year before.
  This problem isn't isolated to Ohio. According to the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, deaths involving cocaine, crystal meth, 
and other psychostimulants have increased nationwide. In the more than 
70,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017, more than 23,000 or nearly one-
third involved cocaine, meth, or both. Just from 2016 to 2017, in that 
1 year, death rates involving cocaine and crystal meth increased by 
approximately 33 percent. Increases occurred across all demographic 
groups and in all ZIP Codes.
  In the case of meth in particular, usage rates have gone up as opioid 
rates have gone down. I am told by experts that this is for a few 
reasons. Some meth users initially turned to this drug to manage the 
heavy crashes that followed prolonged usage of opioids--heroin, 
fentanyl, and other opioids--and then they became just as addicted to 
meth as they had been to opioids. Others turns to meth because the drug 
is stronger and cheaper than other options.
  By the way, the days of home chemists and one-pot meth labs in 
America are largely gone. You probably can remember, 5, 10, 15 years 
ago, the meth labs in your community. You are not hearing about those 
now. That is the good thing, but the bad thing is that you are not 
hearing about them because the stuff coming from Mexico is more 
powerful and less expensive. The super-labs in Mexico run by the drug 
cartels are mass-producing this meth. It is powerful, deadly, and low 
cost. I am told by law enforcement in Columbus, OH, that crystal meth 
now costs less than marijuana on the streets of Columbus.
  Most of this pure crystal meth enters the United States from Mexico 
in bulk at ports of entry along our southwest border, often hidden in 
cars and trucks. Our Customs and Border Protection officers, who are 
already stretched thin by the ongoing migration crisis, don't have the 
resources to identify these smuggled shipments. The INTERDICT Act, 
which we passed here, is beginning to help by providing some 
technology, but, frankly, we need research on better technology, and we 
need to provide more funding to ensure we can stop this deadly 
substance by identifying it at the border to keep it from coming in.
  According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the amount of 
methamphetamine at our ports of entry has soared from about 14,000 
pounds in 2012 to 56,000 pounds in 2018. We have also seen a 38-percent 
increase in methamphetamine trafficking along the southern border just 
in the 1 year from 2017 to 2018. One troubling measurement is that the 
number of crystal meth submissions to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal 
Investigation lab rose from 2,000 in 2015 to over 12,000 in 2018. That 
is a 500-percent increase in my home State. This is an indication of 
how much of this is being detained, being found by law enforcement and 
taken to these labs.
  As I heard from folks all across Ohio, we are also seeing meth laced 
with other drugs, including fentanyl, heroin, and sometimes cocaine. I 
am told that sometimes the cartels mix these drugs into methamphetamine 
to lower the cost of the final product, meaning that the users may be 
consuming dangerous opioids without realizing it. Other traffickers do 
so because they know that fentanyl is incredibly addictive. You may 
think it is one thing, but it is really another. Any street drug you 
use is potentially deadly--remember that.
  We still don't have the full picture of how these drugs are being 
mixed together and sold for consumption. Over the past 2 years, I have 
seen more reports of individuals in Ohio who used cocaine that, unknown 
to them, had been mixed with fentanyl. In the last month alone, at 
least 49 Ohioans in my hometown of Cincinnati, OH, were killed by that 
deadly combination. It has been hitting our African-American 
communities particularly hard.
  Again, this highlights how the drug cartels sometimes try to hook 
users by cutting stimulants with addictive, deadly fentanyl, often with 
lethal outcomes.
  The bottom line is, we have to address the broader issue of 
addiction, not just the issue of individual drugs. We know that crystal 
meth and cocaine are increasing pretty dramatically. That is why we 
have to continue our fight against opioid use but also provide more 
flexibility to our communities. As a result, today I am introducing new 
legislation designed to address the resurgence of crystal meth and 
cocaine into our communities.
  To date, the grants provided by the 21st Century Cures Act--these are 
grants that go directly back to the States, and the States determine 
how they are used in local communities. These are called State opioid 
response grants. They have been used to increase access to naloxone--a 
miracle drug that reverses the overdose. They have also been used for 
longer term addiction treatment and support services for opioids.
  For all the good they have done, these grants can't be used 
effectively to combat the drug crisis beyond opioids, which ignores the 
new on-the-ground reality of addiction in my State and many others. So 
the legislation I am introducing today will make a simple change to 
existing law. It will allow the State opioid response grants to be more 
flexible so they can be used for whatever the drug addiction problem is 
on the ground, which will be a little different for every State and, 
for that matter, every community. In particular, dollars would be able 
to be used in programs focused on methamphetamine and cocaine treatment 
and recovery.
  We know these existing funds are making a difference. We have to be 
sure and keep this program going. That is why my legislation will also 
reauthorize the State opioid response grants program with this 
flexibility but reauthorize it for 5 years, providing $500 million 
annually to ensure there is stable funding.
  A stable funding stream to these States is absolutely essential to 
having the predictability and the certainty we need to continue to make 
progress and to avoid these new drugs coming in and creating more 
devastation in our communities. It is a simple, commonsense change that 
will allow State and local organizations the flexibility they need to 
fight what is quickly becoming a two-front war on addiction.
  The fact that we are continuing to see these new types of drugs pop 
up in Ohio and around the country highlights the reality that this is a 
fight against addiction. Addiction is a disease. Again, this Congress 
has done an unprecedented amount of work in this area in the last few 
years, and I commend us for that, but we have to do more. We have to 
provide this flexibility. We have to be sure we are focusing on the 
fight against addiction, not just on individual drugs.
  While I am encouraged by the welcomed progress in preventing opioid 
overdose deaths, we cannot rest on our laurels. The cartels continue to 
pump new combinations of opioids and stimulants into vulnerable 
communities, hooking individuals on yet another toxic drug and 
perpetrating this cycle of addiction. Let's keep our unprecedented 
bipartisan efforts going in this body. Let's continue to partner with 
allies, local government and State governments, and with our 
nonprofits. Let's make sure the resources are there to continue to save 
lives and restore communities.
                                 ______