[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 167 (Tuesday, October 22, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5934-S5935]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Drug Caucus Hearing

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, this Congress, I have the great honor of 
cochairing the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics with my friend 
and colleague from California, Senator Feinstein.
  As our country continues to battle the scourge of the opioid 
epidemic, fight drug trafficking at our borders, and attack illicit 
drug sources abroad, the work of this caucus could not be more timely 
or more important. We must do more, I believe, to treat addiction, and 
we need to do more to stop Americans from using illegal drugs in the 
first instance.

[[Page S5935]]

  Earlier this year, we had a hearing to examine the global narcotics 
epidemic--and it is a global one--and discuss our country's 
counternarcotics strategy. At this first hearing, we were lucky to have 
the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, as a witness. He spoke in depth 
about the scope of this problem and how the State Department is working 
with our friends and allies abroad to curb the supply of these illicit 
drugs. We learned a lot from Secretary Pompeo and our other expert 
witnesses about the complexity of this problem and a need for a whole-
of-government approach. It was a strong way to kick off our agenda.
  I am looking forward to our second hearing tomorrow, which I will 
talk about briefly, where we will have experts testifying on the public 
health effects of the most commonly used illicit drug--marijuana.
  A 2018 report found that an estimated 43.5 million Americans used 
marijuana in the last year. That is the highest percentage since 2002. 
While marijuana is still a prohibited drug under Federal law, we know 
that more than half of the States have legalized it in some form, 
making the rise in usage not all that surprising.
  Now, there is no shortage of people who claim that marijuana has 
endless health benefits and can help patients struggling with 
everything from epilepsy to anxiety to cancer treatments. This reminds 
me of some of the advertising we saw from the tobacco industry years 
ago where they actually claimed public health benefits from smoking 
tobacco, which we know, as a matter of fact, were false and that 
tobacco contains nicotine, an addictive drug, and is implicated with 
cancers of different kinds.
  We are hearing a lot of the same happy talk with regard to marijuana 
and none of the facts that we need to understand about the public 
health impact of marijuana use. We have heard from folks here in 
Congress, as well as a number of our Democratic colleagues who are 
running for President, about their desire to legalize marijuana at the 
Federal level. But for the number of voices in support of legalization, 
there are even more unanswered questions about both the short-term and 
long-term public health effects.
  Between 1995 and 2014, THC concentration--that is the active 
ingredient in marijuana--has increased threefold, making today's 
version of the drug far stronger and more addictive than ever before. 
It is true that for some people marijuana can indeed be addictive.
  There has been an effort throughout the medical and scientific 
communities to learn more about the public health effects of marijuana 
use, but the results of these studies haven't provided any definitive 
evidence. I must say that among all the discussion at the State and 
Federal level about marijuana use and its benefits and its hazards, 
Congress really hasn't had an opportunity to soberly and deliberately 
consider this question, which, hopefully, we will be enlightened about 
tomorrow, about what the public health benefits are of this trend in 
our country.
  A few years ago, the National Academy of Sciences convened an expert 
committee to review the health effects of cannabis and cannabis-derived 
products. The committee members were experts in the fields of marijuana 
and addiction, as well as pediatric and adolescent health, 
neurodevelopment, public health, and a range of other areas. Their 
findings were released in January of 2017, and while I will not read 
you the entire 468-page document, I will tell you that it raised more 
questions than it provided answers.
  For many of the claimed medicinal uses of marijuana, the committee 
found that there was insufficient evidence to conclude its 
effectiveness, which is a pretty basic question. The benefits aren't 
the only thing clouded in mystery--so are the risks. There is simply a 
lack of scientific evidence to determine the link between marijuana and 
various health risks. That is something, I would think, Congress and 
the American people would want to know before we proceed further down 
this path.
  This is especially concerning when it comes to marijuana's youngest 
users and the impact, for example, on the adolescent brain as it 
develops. We don't know enough about how this could impair cognitive 
function or capacity or increase the risk of mental illness or perhaps 
serve as a gateway for other drugs that are even more damaging to the 
health of a young person.
  With increasing use and a growing number of States giving the green 
light for marijuana use, we need better answers. At our hearing 
tomorrow, I am eager to dive into this subject and learn more from our 
witnesses to help us fill the knowledge gaps that exist when it comes 
to this subject.
  We are honored to have Surgeon General Jerome Adams among our 
distinguished witnesses. Surgeon General Adams has raised concerns in 
the past about the increasing use of recreational marijuana among 
adolescents and its impact on the development of cognitive functions in 
a growing and developing brain.
  We will also hear from Nora Volkow, who is the director of the 
National Institute on Drug Abuse.
  Our second panel includes experts in the fields of psychiatry, 
psychology, pathology, and epidemiology. So we will get a holistic look 
at the potential health implications. There is simply too much we don't 
know about the risks and the claimed benefits of marijuana use, and I 
am looking forward to hearing from our witnesses tomorrow to get a 
better sense of the facts as Congress contemplates future legislation.
  I appreciate the bipartisan commitment of my colleagues on the 
committee, particularly the cochair of the Caucus on International 
Narcotics Control, Senator Feinstein, so that we can get to the bottom 
of the risks and benefits associated with marijuana use, and I believe 
tomorrow it will get us moving in the right direction.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Scott of Florida). Without objection, it 
is so ordered.