[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 206 (Thursday, December 19, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7224-S7225]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMBATING METH AND COCAINE ACT
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I would also like to talk for a moment
about the legislation we just passed on the appropriations side.
There were two bills. One focused more on the national security and
defense side. There are a lot of good things in there for Ohio,
including the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and also for the Lima
Tank Plant. Also, much more importantly, it is good for our military--
for our men and women in uniform, who are on the frontlines every day,
sacrificing for us.
We have shown through this legislation we just passed that we
appreciate them. There is not only a pay raise, but also we are
providing them the equipment and the modern technology they need to be
able to be successful.
But I also noticed in the agreement that just passed, the first
appropriations bill, that there is really important language with
regard to the drug crisis that we face in this country.
I see my colleague Sheldon Whitehouse is on the floor. I have worked
with him over the years on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery
Act. Now we have a CARA 2.0 bill that we would like to see passed.
But the bottom line is that this House and Senate and President Obama
and now President Trump have begun to address this problem in different
ways over the last 3 or 4 years, and it is beginning to work. We are
finally beginning to see, with regard to the opioid crisis, some
success.
[[Page S7225]]
Recall that the opioid crisis is the worst drug epidemic we have ever
faced in this country. In 2017, 72,000 Americans lost their lives to
overdoses. That is more than we lost in the entire Vietnam war. Last
year, we had a little better number. After 12 years of increases every
year in overdose deaths, finally, last year, we had a slight decrease,
and I think it is because of a lot of good work that has been done
here, particularly with regard to the opioid crisis.
In Ohio, unfortunately, we have been in the center of the storm. We
have been one of the top two or three States in the country in terms of
overdose deaths.
Last year, in 2018, because of all the hard work we have done here at
the Federal level, at the State level, and at the local level, we
actually saw a decrease. We led the country with a 22-percent decrease
in overdose deaths. So that is the good news, and it is because of the
Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act, which is bipartisan and which is
working to provide more treatment and recovery services, to provide
better prevention, and to provide more Narcan to reverse the effects of
overdoses. It is also because of the 21st Century Cures Act, which
provides funding for evidence-based programs to the States and the
States decide how it is spent.
I was back home just this past week meeting with people who are
getting the benefit of those programs. On Monday, I was at a home in
Dayton, OH, that provides residential treatment for women who are
addicted and pregnant and helps their children to be able to overcome
the neonatal abstinence syndrome when they are born to a mother who is
using. It is beginning to work.
I met two mothers who have turned their lives around, and I saw a
beautiful baby who, at 5 weeks old, is going into the world brighter,
cheerier, and with more opportunity because of the work that we have
done here to provide funding to help.
But I will say we have found, having made progress on opioids, that
other drugs are starting to come into our communities. This is not just
an opioid problem. This is an addiction problem, and addiction is a
disease that must be treated like other diseases.
Although we have made progress, we can't rest on our laurels. When I
talk to those on the frontlines, as I did on Monday in Dayton with law
enforcement--the sheriff was there for Montgomery County--but also to
treatment providers, to those who are in the trenches, and talking to
those who are recovering addicts who were there, they tell me about
what is happening, which is that, increasingly, other drugs, including
psychostimulants like crystal meth and cocaine, are making a horrible
comeback in those communities.
Crystal meth coming in from Mexico is more pure and less expensive
than ever. In fact, law enforcement tells me that on the streets of
Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland, or Cincinnati, crystal meth is sometimes
less expensive than marijuana and yet much more powerful and much more
dangerous.
So it is important that here in Congress we focus on how to respond
to that. Although we have some great legislation out there with regard
to opioid addiction, treatment, recovery, and how to deal with this, we
have not done as well with regard to these new drugs coming in.
Part of the solution, of course, is to build up our security at our
southern border, where we have seen larger and larger quantities of
crystal meth, manufactured in Mexico, being brought into our country by
these cartels from super labs, as they call them, in Mexico.
By the way, there were crystal meth labs over the years, but the
volume was not nearly as high, and the cost was much higher. Now that
it is cheaper and there is higher volume, you see the meth labs in our
communities closing down, but for the wrong reason. It is not being
made here anymore because the stuff coming from Mexico is so much more
pure, more powerful, more deadly, and less expensive.
So for the people already struggling with methamphetamine or cocaine
addiction, it is important that they have access to treatment, too, so
they can get help.
What I have heard at the local level is this: We appreciate the
funding on opioids, but we want more flexibility now to be able to use
this funding to combat what is, in many of our communities, in Ohio,
even a bigger problem, which is crystal meth and sometimes cocaine.
So I am pleased to say that in the legislation that we just passed
here this evening, legislation that provides appropriations to deal
with this addiction issue, we have provided that flexibility. We have
said: Yes, we are going to continue to provide grants to help with
regard to prevention and treatment and recovery and help with regard to
getting people back on their feet and helping law enforcement, but we
are going to allow local communities to use this funding both for
opioids and for crystal meth and other drugs.
So my hope is that what we will see is some of the same progress we
have made in opioids now happen with regard to some of these other
substances.
I have introduced a bill called the Combating Meth and Cocaine Act--I
introduced it in June of this year--to allow this kind of flexibility.
That is an authorization bill that has already been introduced, and we
have good bipartisan support for that.
But we went ahead today in these appropriations bill and did it for
this year. So for this fiscal year, essentially, that legislation will
be in effect. So for 2020 we are going to provide that flexibility.
I applaud the Senate appropriators for doing that. Again, I am proud
of Congress showing that we can be flexible and continue to fight a
many-front war on this issue. It is not just about opioids. It is about
addiction.
We also need to pass the authorization bill, the Combating Meth and
Cocaine Act, and I hope that we will be able to do that after the first
of the year to ensure that we can continue to address these public
health threats and we can continue to provide for those whose future is
so dim because of the addiction, and instead they be able to achieve
their God-given purpose in life.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
____________________